Various: Kevin Kelly NJPW Future Update, Tyrus on Post In-Ring Wrestling Career Future, Indies

Sep 5, 2023

Kevin Kelly Comments on His NJPW Commentary Career Ending Soon

While responding to recent fan questions, AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling commentator Kevin Kelly stated that his commentary career in NJPW is coming to an end soon. Kelly stated that the main reason for his decision is due to family-related issues over his long trips away from home working in Japan.

I am at some point soon but I'll leave it to New Japan to announce it or not. I plan on calling Destruction at Ryogoku and Wrestle Kingdom/ New Year Dash https://t.co/NEvTokDVuP
— Kevin Kelly (@realkevinkelly) September 5, 2023

My wife of 32 years said she doesn't want to be alone anymore so that's why I made the decision. https://t.co/NIIbr1wZjr
— Kevin Kelly (@realkevinkelly) September 5, 2023

Kelly had been working for NJPW since 2015 as the lead announcer for their English commentary team.

Tyrus Comments on His In-Ring Retirement Decision & NWA Career Future

This past August’s NWA 75 Night 2 event for the National Wrestling Alliance in St. Louis, Missouri featured EC3 defeating Tyrus to become the new NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. As a result of his loss, Tyrus was required to retire from wrestling as part of the stipulation for the match.

In a recent episode of FOX News’ The Wise Men podcast, co-host Tyrus gave his thoughts about his decision to retire from in-ring wrestling and the future of his career in the NWA.

“It’s one of those things where Trevor and I, we had a pretty physical match, and I’ve never had anything but physical matches. It’s never unsafe, but we’re always snug. When we had the tag match for the Crockett Cup, I got hit weird and I landed weird. I’ve never had a burning sensation before, in my shoulder and neck area. It just wouldn’t go away. It was bugging me when I was benching, it was bugging me when I was squatting. It was bugging me all time, and you don’t say anything. I’ve always been, a big thing [for me], you just kind of work it out, and you’re world champ. Not just that, but even if you’re not world champ, there’s still a certain level of, you want to compete at a high level. You don’t want to compete at a low level. So when I was hemming and hawing about the deciding to retire, and after I talked to my kids, and they were fine with it, because I was like, ‘Man, I’m starting to get the tinkles in my fingers, and I notice that my fingers are kind of curling a little bit, and I started leaning forward when I was walking a little bit.’ I was like, ‘Okay. You got some decisions to make here.’ It was one of those things where, selfishly, Billy would have had to kick me out of the ring. But I was like, we’ll see how this match goes, but just coming into that weekend, at any time, I could have said to Billy, ‘No.’ Because the cool thing about our boss is that he’s like, ‘It’s your call.’ He goes, ‘This wasn’t my idea, this was your idea.’ But everything fell into place, especially seeing the live events and not being there. That was really bothering me. I understand the selfishness, because you have to be a little selfish to be a wrestler. You have to. Bring the world champion is great.
During the match, when I hit EC3 with a T-bone, I got that damn burning in my shoulder again. We were doing the deal and the chairs shots and everything. Every chair shot hurt more than it normally did, especially the ones on my ankles. The Garvin stomp Is designed for the foot. There’s a reason why they didn’t use the chair. But hey, you don’t know until you try it. Don’t try it. I had lumps and bumps everywhere.
Absolutely no regrets. I even talked to Billy this morning. I’m still gonna be a part of the NWA. I’m just not sure what form I want to do it in. He’s like, ‘Whatever you want to do, you just tell me what you want to do, and it’s done.’ That’s a great feeling. I will always be an ambassador for the NWA as long as they will have me. I will still use my platform to promote the NWA.
A lot of people were like, ‘Did you talk to Billy and Pat [Kenney]?’ No, I didn’t. It was my decision. Billy always told me that I could make my own decision, and I did. Were they thrilled about it at first? Not really. You go on a live show and make that announcement, they’re like, ‘What does this mean?’ As Pat put it, ‘How does your retirement look? What does it look like?’ I said, ‘I retire’ in quotes. He’s like, ‘Okay.’ But again, I called my shot. I Babe Ruth’ed it. I pointed. I called my shot, and I’m happy with it. But I’m also excited. Looking at the shows and the guys coming up, and it’s a just good time to be an NWA fan.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

DDT Pro Wrestling recently announced that Hiromu Takahashi will be making an appearance for the company at their Ultimate Party 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan.

One Pro Wrestling (1PW) recently responded on Twitter to allegations made by current 1PW Openweight Champion Robbie X in a recently deleted tweet that the promotion does not pay their talent to work at their events and how the promotion blocked him on Twitter over the matter. In a now deleted tweet, the company stated that the allegations are false and revealed that only one talent who works for the company is on a payment plan while everyone else who works for the company, both staff and talent, have been paid properly.

Major League Wrestling recently announced that Minoru Suzuki will be making an appearance for the company at their Slaughterhouse 2023 event on October 14th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

MLW also recently announced that their next Blood & Thunder event will be taking place on January 6th at a location to be announced later.

This past Sunday’s MLW Fury Road 2023 event in Philadelphia featured former MLW talent Salina de la Renta making her surprise return to the company.

This past Sunday’s MLW Fury Road 2023 event in Philadelphia also featured Rickey Shane Page defeating Jacob Fatu in a Weapons of Mass Destruction match to be crowned the new MLW National Openweight Champion.

Over The Top Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Nine Year Anniversary event on October 28th in Dublin, Ireland: