Sean Edmund Mooney (born May 21, 1959)[1] is anAmericannews anchor and formerWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE)play-by-playannouncer. He now works as an anchor forKVOA, theNBC affiliate in Tucson, Arizona and theNational Wrestling Alliance.[2] He was born inRochester, New York.
Mooney debuted on the May 15, 1988 edition ofWWF Wrestling Challenge, replacing announcerCraig DeGeorge.[3]
During his time in the WWF, Mooney's primary duties included play-by-play announcing for matches aired onPrime Time Wrestling,WWF Mania,WWF All-American Wrestling, as host ofColiseum Video releases (where he also provided commentary for "exclusive" matches), and hosting the "Events Center" segment[4] during the WWF'ssyndicated TV shows, such asWWF Superstars andWWF Wrestling Challenge. The "Event Center" was a segment used to promote feuds and house shows. During a moment where Earthquake squashedJake Roberts’ pet snake Damian, cuts were made to Mooney in the "Event Center" to censor out the moments of impact. Mooney made his pay-per-view debut atthe first SummerSlam in August 1988 as an interviewer.[citation needed]
On occasion, Mooney portrayed his fictional siblings, anidentical twin sister named Betty onPrime Time Wrestling (alongside heel wrestlers includingSensational Sherri) and identical twin brother Ian Mooney while co-hostingWrestling Spotlight. Mooney's last major appearances were atthe 1992 Survivor Series and early episodes ofWWF Monday Night Raw, with his actual last appearance on WWF TV promoting the Wrestlemania IX encore presentation on the April 12th edition of Monday Night Raw. In April 1993, his contract expired and he opted not to renew it.[5] He was replaced byTodd Pettengill as an interviewer and Event Center personality and byGorilla Monsoon onWWF Mania andWWF All-American Wrestling for play-by-play.[citation needed]
He reappeared on WWE TV in October 2005, during the pre-show toWWE Raw's "Homecoming" to theUSA Network. The pre-show simply ran through some past moments ofRAW on the USA Network, with several people involved with the WWE during the first years ofMonday Night Raw, including Mooney, sharing their memories of the WWE during that period.[citation needed]
Mooney once again returned to WWE on July 23, 2012, for the 1,000th episode ofRaw by interviewingDaniel Bryan backstage.
Mooney returned again on the “Old School” edition ofThe Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness and later in a 2017 DVD release calledWWE Unreleased 1986–1995 co-hosting with Charly Caruso. Mooney also appeared on the Top 25 Raw moments celebration which was shown on the WWE Network on January 15, 2018.
Mooney worked as an on-camera host and producer forMajor League Baseball Productions in the early 1980s before working for the WWF. In 1994, he became an anchorman forWWOR-TV, based inSecaucus, New Jersey. He worked there until 1997, when he was replaced byErnie Anastos. He moved that year toWBZ in Boston where he served as anchorman for just under a year.[6]
Mooney has been a reporter withFox Sports Arizona since July 2000 focusing onUniversity of Arizona football and basketball. In 2010, he presented Fox Sports coverage of Rugby around the world and the Rugbyville USA camp inGlendale, Colorado.
He was hired byKVOA TV in 2012 to become a weekend news anchor for News 4 Tucson.[7] In July 2021, Mooney became the primary evening news anchor for the station.[8]
He also hosts a podcast on the MLW Radio Network calledPrime Time with Sean Mooney, which was co-hosted by former WWE wrestler"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for its first 18 episodes.
On July 13, 2018, it was announced Mooney would commentate theALL IN broadcast withDon Callis,Ian Riccaboni,Excalibur,Alicia Atout,Justin Roberts, and Bobby Cruise.[9]
On January 27, 2020, it was announced that Mooney would be joining theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) broadcast team.[10] He debuted on the January 28 episode ofNWA Powerrr interviewingNick Aldis.[11]