Kevin Kelly recalls his interesting reply to Jim Ross that saved his job in WWE.
Kevin Kelly had a decent stint in WWE that saw him work as a backstage corresponded as well as call matches on the company’s televised programing including RAW is War and SmackDown!.
His tenure lasted until 2003 as he was let go amid a series of budget cuts. The management had originally intended for his exit in 2001, but Kelly avoided the unceremonious exit after following a conversation with Jim Ross.
During a recent appearance on the Insiders Edge podcast, Kelly revealed the WWE Hall of Famer approached him with the unfortunate news that he was about to be fired from his job. The NJPW commentator said he refused WWE’s move to sack him with a straightforward reply.
“I was in the process of buying a house. The closing was in a couple of weeks away. You can’t fire me,” Kelly said. “I’ve already told my landlord that I’m moving. I’m buying a house. ‘Do you even know what I do, JR? Do you even know how many hats I wear? Who is going to do all the jobs that I do if you’re letting me go? We need to talk about this because it’s not going to work for me.’ He said, ‘Okay.’ I was going to get fired, what’s the worst that could happen? He was going to shoot me with a gun? I didn’t call him an a**hole or MFer, I just said, ‘Hey, no.'”
Kelly was ultimately let go by the company in 2003. He had seen it coming and didn’t refuse his ouster. Only this time, the demand was for extra severance.
“Then, when they finally did fire me, I knew it was coming, but I was the last one to get cut. It was 03 and they were going department by department. You hear about it, people getting let go. I knew it was coming. I was in the last round. Everyone was very nice. They said, ‘You were here almost seven full years. We will treat that as eight years and give you four months of severance.’ I said, ‘I did a lot of work while I was here. I had two or three jobs at a time, I would like six months severance please. I feel I deserve it.’ The lady said, ‘Okay.’ Again, why not ask? What’s the worst that will happen? I didn’t ask for anything ridiculous. I asked for a couple extra months of severance.”
Kelly currently serves as the lead play-by-play commentator for New Japan Pro Wrestling in America. Stay tuned to PWExclusive for more!