10 Wrestlers Who Improved At Something They Were Terrible At
3. Kevin Kelly - Commentating
If, in 1997, somebody were to tell you that Kevin Kelly would one day become a better commentator than Jim Ross, you'd have had none of it. Jim Ross was insightful, passionate, and endearing. Kelly was a vaguely pleasant voice with nothing to actually say.
Fast forward two decades and Kelly is quite brilliant in his role as an understated play-by-play commentator. Crucial at plugging knowledge gaps and emphasising the incredible athleticism in front of him, it's what Kelly doesn't do that makes him such a welcome and, given New Japan's western expansion, important presence. Kelly doesn't repeat himself. He doesn't sell minor moments as if they're major, thus ruining the power of the real major moments. He doesn't seek to get himself over. He doesn't do the bare minimum, coasting on clichés and his name value alike. He simply adds insight into the product without a telling and desperate hysterical inflexion.
Where he was once a complete nonentity on the level of Todd "Name one thing I've ever said that isn't "It's Christian"" Grisham, Kelly is even performing complementary calls that, like the best of 'em, linger as long in the memory as the moves themselves. His elongated, Italian football-style "Destinoooooooooooo!" call is fast becoming iconic.
Kelly isn't perfect in the role - he often pauses for an age, as if he's taken too many blows to the head, and not the mad b*stards he is paid to watch - but he does have all the tools.