Tony Schiavone | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Schiavone in 2019 | |
| Born | Noah Anthony Schiavone (1957-11-07)November 7, 1957 (age 68) Staunton, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | James Madison University (BS) |
| Employers |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 5 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 187 lb (85 kg)[1] |
| Debut | 1983 |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2018–present |
| Genre | Professional wrestling |
| Subscribers | 40 thousand |
| Views | 8.8 million |
| Last updated: March 9, 2025 | |
Noah Anthony Schiavone[2] (/ʃəˈvɒni/shə-VON-ee; born November 7, 1957)[3] is an American sports announcer,professional wrestlingcommentator andpodcaster. He is signed toAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he serves as a senior producer and theplay-by-play commentator forCollision, and formerlycolor commentator forDynamite andRampage. He has previously worked forJim Crockett Promotions, theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE),World Championship Wrestling (WCW), andMajor League Wrestling (MLW). In addition to his work in wrestling, Schiavone has also worked as a broadcaster for theGwinnett Braves/Stripers ofMinor League Baseball andGeorgia Bulldogs football.
In 2013, WWE noted that, "At the height of theMonday Night War, veteran broadcaster Tony Schiavone's voice was as vital to the onscreen product of World Championship Wrestling asJim Ross' Oklahoma growl was to WWE."[4]
In 2021, Schiavone announced aKickstarter campaign for a biographical graphic novel titledButts in Seats: The Tony Schiavone Story. Tony Schiavone can be heard on his podcastWhat Happened When? with Conrad Thompson.[5]
Schiavone was born at King's Daughters Hospital inStaunton, Virginia and raised inCraigsville, Virginia,[3] the son of Noah and Rebecca Schiavone.[6] He is of Italian descent.[7] He graduated fromBuffalo Gap High School and earned aBachelor of Science degree incommunications fromJames Madison University in 1980.[8][2]
Schiavone began his broadcasting career calling high school football games forWTON inStaunton, Virginia. After graduating from JMU, Schiavone became the play-by-play announcer for theGreensboro Hornets of theSouth Atlantic League.[8] After a year in Greensboro, he joined theCharlotte O's, which were owned by the Crockett family.[9] Schiavone, who was a wrestling fan and needed extra money to support his growing family, lobbied the Crocketts for work on their wrestling programming.[8][9]
Schiavone's first on-air appearance for Jim Crockett Promotions was a 1983 interview withRic Flair. In 1985, he left baseball to join Jim Crockett Promotions full-time.[8] From 1985 to 1989, Schiavone andDavid Crockett hosted NWA's World Championship Wrestling live in front of a small in-studio audience in Atlanta. The show aired on TBS on Saturdays at 9am and 6:05pm and was used as a vehicle to promote live NWA arena events and introduce their stars to a national audience as TBS was the premier nationally broadcast cable station at the time.
He was signed byVince McMahon'sWWF for a one-year contract from April 1989 through April 1990.[10] During his time with the company, he was most notable for being the main play-by-play announcer for theirSummerSlam 1989 andRoyal Rumble 1990 pay-per-views alongsideJesse "The Body" Ventura. Other than Ventura (whom he would also frequently partner later in WCW), Schiavone commentated alongside others includingLord Alfred Hayes,Gorilla Monsoon,Hillbilly Jim,Rod Trongard, andBobby "The Brain" Heenan. Behind the scenes, Tony produced numerous home videos forColiseum Video.
Schiavone's family did not like living in Connecticut, so he accepted an offer from media mogulTed Turner to work for World Championship Wrestling.[8] He has remained on good terms with theMcMahon family in the years since. Years after leaving the WWF he admitted that doing so was his biggest career mistake, and that he asked McMahon for his job back as soon as he realized what theTurner Broadcasting System had done to the former Jim Crockett Promotions upon acquiring it. McMahon turned him down, so that Schiavone would not have to move his young family again, but was open to working with him in the future.[11]
Schiavone became the lead voice forWCW's flagship program,Monday Nitro. He also served as the lead announcer ofThunder, typically working alongsideMike Tenay,Bobby Heenan,Larry Zbyszko, and later withMark Madden and Scott Hudson. Before the advent ofNitro andThunder, Schiavone hostedWCW Saturday Night andWCW WorldWide. He made an appearance in the movieReady to Rumble. When WCW's main assets were bought by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) in 2001, he was not retained by the WWF.
After wrestling, Schiavone became the morning sports anchor for bothWDUN in Gainesville andWSB-AM in Atlanta simultaneously, despite the two stations having different owners (WDUN has a partnership withCox Media Group, which ownsWSB-TV and WSB-AM.) Schiavone also has done morning sports reports for Cox sister stationsWHIO AM/FM inDayton, Ohio.[12]
Schiavone is a writer for theGeorgia Bulldogs Radio Network and produced the Best of the Bulldogs, which won the AP Award for Best Sports Program in 2004.[12] He also hosts a post game talk show on the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network alongside former University of Georgia quarterbackDavid Greene.[13]
From 2009 to 2019, Schiavone was the play-by-play announcer for theAtlanta Braves' AAA affiliate, the Gwinnett Braves.[8]
Following cutbacks at WSB that resulted in Schiavone being let go in 2015, Schiavone took a part-time job atStarbucks to supplement his income while continuing to do other broadcasting work. Schiavone has stated he had no shame in working there and praised Starbucks for their excellenthealth insurance coverage for their employees. His time at Starbucks would be alluded to on multiple occasions byBritt Baker on AEW programming.[14]
On January 30, 2017, Schiavone began hosting theWhat Happened When? podcast with co-hostConrad Thompson onMLW Radio discussing stories from Schiavone's time with Jim Crockett Promotions, his stint in the WWF and his WCW tenure. Schiavone also co-hosts the "Pro Wrestling Wednesday" podcast with lifelong wrestling fan Beau Le Blanc forWZGC FM 92.9 The Game in Atlanta, a station in which he often does fill-in work for their sports flash updates.[15]
On October 5, 2017, Schiavone returned to professional wrestling at the inaugural event of the resurrectedMajor League Wrestling (MLW).[16] At the show, Schiavone provided color commentary for the event's matches. He then continued to provide his commentary work for MLW's television show,MLW Fusion. After taking a break in early 2019 from commentating due to conflicting schedules, he returned in July 2019.[17] Schiavone noted on the November 20, 2019Clash of the Champions XIII episode ofWhat Happened When withConrad Thompson that he would no longer be appearing forMajor League Wrestling (MLW).
In August 2019, it was reported that Schiavone had signed a contract withAll Elite Wrestling (AEW).[18] It was announced that Schiavone would join AEW as a commentator. Schiavone also began working as a senior producer for AEW live events.[19]
On February 20, 2020, AEW andTNT launchedAEW Unrestricted, a weekly podcast hosted by Schiavone and refereeAubrey Edwards.[20]
On October 14, 2023, Schiavone debuted as the play-by-play announcer onCollision. He remains a member of the commentary team onDynamite, while also conducting in-ring and backstage interviews with various professional wrestlers.[21]
An infamous incident involving Schiavone occurred on theJanuary 4, 1999,Nitro.Nitro was airing live against the pre-tapedWWF Raw is War onUSA Network and was to feature a rematch betweenWCW World Heavyweight ChampionKevin Nash and former championGoldberg fromStarrcade, where Nash had ended Goldberg's undefeated streak and taken his title under controversial circumstances. TheNitro episode was also the first appearance of"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan since he announced his "retirement" from professional wrestling on the Thanksgiving 1998 edition ofThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Meanwhile,Raw was to featureMick Foley, who was wrestling as Mankind at the time and who had previously worked for WCW as Cactus Jack, winning his firstWWF Championship in a match againstThe Rock. However, at the timeRaw was taped whileNitro was live, and it was a practice for WCW and executive producerEric Bischoff to spoil pre-tapedRaw episodes, by telling the WCW audience the results of the Raw show, and not give fans reasons to change the channel.
According to Foley, who wrote about the incident in the first chapter of his bookFoley is Good (and the Real World is Faker than Wrestling), this was to be a pivotal night for WCW as people believed that WCW, whose record streak of 83 consecutive Monday night wins in the ratings had been snapped byRaw in April 1998 and had only eight head-to-head wins after that, would turn the ratings tide back to them and potentially take over the lead in the Monday Night War.[22] During the show Schiavone spoiled the result ofRaw's main event by saying that Foley, the former Cactus Jack, would win, sarcastically remarking "That's gonna put some butts in the seats".
Foley was genuinely upset by what he had heard and telephoned Schiavone to talk about it. When Schiavone called Foley back, he told Foley that Bischoff had ordered him to reveal Foley's title win over the air. The strategy, however, backfired on Bischoff. Almost immediately after Schiavone spoiled Foley's title win, 600,000 households switched fromNitro toRaw, to watch Foley win the title. This was enough to give the WWF the ratings win for the night, with a 5.7 final rating toNitro's 5.0. WCW's ratings never saw more than a 5.0 going head-to-head withRaw again andNitro's rating sank below 5.0 and by the end of the year was struggling to stay above 3.0.[23][24]
In a 2002 interview, Schiavone was criticized byBobby Heenan who claimed that Schiavone would hide finishes and angles from him and fellowNitro commentatorMike Tenay during broadcasts, claiming Schiavone's key to life is "knowledge is power".[25] Longtime wrestling broadcasterGene Okerlund concurred with Heenan, and claimed that, while he liked Schiavone and did not have many problems with him, "Tony was the consummate politician" and "Tony watched out for Tony and in doing so, had a tendency to bury people along the way".[26] One tense incident happened on theNitro following the death of Heenan's longtime best friendGorilla Monsoon, over Schiavone's alleged objection to Heenan paying tribute to Monsoon on air on the grounds that Monsoon had never worked for WCW or its predecessor organizations. Heenan was ultimately allowed to speak in honor of Monsoon, albeit only a small statement. Appearing onThe Ross Report in 2014, Schiavone stated that he never objected to Heenan mentioning Monsoon, only that he asked Heenan if he had first asked WCW presidentEric Bischoff about doing so. Schiavone accepted responsibility for the collapse of his relationship with Heenan, and said of Heenan's criticism of him: "I deserve it".[27]
Schiavone and his wife, the former Lois June Berger, married in 1981 and are the parents of five children.[6][28] They live inEast Cobb, Georgia.[29]
Craigsville—Noah A. Schiavone, BS.
...Noah Anthony Schiavone...is the son of Mrs. Rebecca Schiavone of Craigsville, Va., and the late Noah Schiavone.
| Preceded by | Nitro lead announcer 1996–2001 | Succeeded by None |
| Preceded by | Collision lead announcer 2023–present | Succeeded by current |