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The Mid-Atlantic Legends Fanfest continued with a Tony Schiavone Q&A. Any typos will be fixed upon completion of coverage.
The discussion started with talk of Tony being bitter about the business. He said that he wasn't bitter and always loved pro wrestling. He said at the end of WCW, his work wasn't as good as he had been and WWE didnt show interest in him. He was hired by WSB Radio the same day WCW had their final employee meeting.
He said the story he was bitter came from him answering questions about wrestling on a radio show and those comments were repurposed on an interview online without permission. He said the person responsible for that can kiss his fat ass. Tony said he loved the business and ran down people he liked working with. He is so busy he can't do pro wrestling events but this weekend there are baseball games nearby and it allowed it to happen.
Growing up, he was a fan and talked up how special Blackjack Mulligan was. He said the best angle he ever saw was Ric Flair and Blackjack and talked about the build for that storyline and how he went around the territory to watch the feud.
Tony was working in baseball when he was hired by The Crockett family and was working on that end. He was called into an office by Francis Crockett after a crappy day of trying to sell season tickets and was told he was going to Ric Flair's house to interview him about Starrcade '83. He said he literally sh** his pants and was so excited.
They filmed the interview and Francis told him her brothers wanted him to do the weekly Wednesday interviews. He was told by Jim Crockett thatbwhat he saw stayed where he saw it. He was brought into the interview room and saw Ric Flair hugging Ricky Steamboat and was blown away. He saw everyone congregating and away they went. He called it thebl most jarring thing.
Schiavone was asked about the difference between calling real sports and pro wrestling. His first TV broadcast was in Shelby, NC and he was told by Steamboat he was great. Tony said he knew his job was just to make the matches sound great. He said his job was keeping a straight face and calling the matches.
They talked about the Jim Crockett TV show replacing the WWF series after Black Saturday. He was asked if there was blowback because he was on the show and not Gordon Solie. He said there was tons and he's happy there were not emails then.
He said he was asked if he wanted to do the show with David Crockett and he jumped in wanting more work. They would fly in early AM and waited until they came up with the show. They were handed a production sheet and they taped. They were never told what was going to happen.
They talked about Nikita nailing David Crockett with the Russian Sickle. Tony said he was asked by Vince Russo to do something in WCW and he said no. He once thought he broke his arm when Cactus Jack fell on him from the ring. Vader and Cactus bled all over he and Jesse Ventura at Halloween Havoc '93.
Tony was asked about being ribbed. He told a story about being asked about Ric Flair's penis by the ESPN Producer working on the Flair doc. He then told a great story about Flair in Baltimore ribbing him by asking to put a sock on his penis.
Schiavone said 70s were his favorite time as a fan and 80s were the best time in the business. He said that ended when that "piece of sh** company" Turner Broadcasting bought the company and he can say that now as they no longer own The Atlanta Braves.
They talked about The Great American Bash tour. He said he went on the road as a ring announcer as Crockett felt it added prestige to the shows. He said he got to travel with some of the greatest characters ever. He told a story about getting drunk with Barry Windham and said it was the drunkest he ever was.
He said the first Starrcade was probably his favorite. He did interviews in the back. Meeting Bob Caudle that night was one of the biggest thrills of his life. That night was the first time he met Dusty Rhodes. He didnt know Rhodes was the booker and said the show was his idea to pitch himself as a booker. The fact it was at the Greensboro Coliseum made it special. He still has ticket stubs in his attic and collected cardstock posters from Greensboro shows.
Tony talked about Wahoo McDaniel. He said Wahoo was a legitimate badass but if he as drinking, it was scary. He talked about the night Magnum TA won the U.S. title from Wahoo and Wahoo got legitimately busted open. Tony took him home and Wahoo wanted to stop for a drink. A female fan got into with Wahoo because he had turned heel so Wahoo slapped her
Tony said his opinions about Turner Broadcasting is based on them being so stupid as to sell a library they could make millions for nothing. He went to WWF the first time because he didn't want to work for Turner. He said that the fact WCW lasted so long was a credit to those who worked so hard there.
He was asked about calling scaffold matches. He said it was difficult and sometimes the build to something is better than the final result. He told the story of Ray Traylor not catching Jim Cornette.
When WCW sued Ric Flair, it didn't have any personal issue with it. He said Eric Bischoff wasn't the first person to end up in a lawsuit with Flair.
They talked about Eric Bischoff and told the story of him giving a speech about wanting to put a stake through the heart of Vince McMahon. When that was said, Tony thought that everyone wants a job there.
He said that the night Vince Russo screwed Hulk Hogan and had him lay down for Jeff Jarrett and then cut a promo on Hogan. He said he believes that was all a work and that Vince Russo took issue. He said sometimes you work so hard, you work the boys.
The comment about it being the greatest night in the history of WCW Nitro was a result of him being a "lazy a**" Sometimes he was produced and sometimes it was him.
He told a story about how one of the things they were going to do in WCW was give away a million dollars to a viewer. Bischoff pitched it and walked out of the room. Tony spent the entire Nitro pushing it even though he hated it and didnt push one wrestler. Bishoff told him great job and Tony knew they were going to hell. He said the art of getting the wrestlers over was lost in the push for the next PPV.
Tony said he was never mad at Mike Tenay when he cut a promo on him in TNA. He said when Steve Regal ripped him, it was part of the show.
They talked about Tom Miller as a ring announcer.
Jim Cornette made him laugh the most on interviews. He said Magnum had amazing charisma and intensity. He said he knew to step away so he could make faces as he held the mic.
Tony was asked how he found his voice as an announcer. He said he learned so much from Gorilla Monsoon when he was in WWF in terms of putting people over. He said a lot came from his passion as a fan.
Tony was excited and honored to work with Jesse Ventura. He wanted Jesse to be Jesse. Working with David Crockett was never hard because David signed the check. He said one of his sons are named after David and the Crockett Family lent him the down payment to buy his first home, interest free.
They talked about the night The Mulkeys won on TV.
They talked about Mike Tenay calling Lucha matches while Tony sat back. He said that was fine as he never liked Lucha and it was all highspots that never made sense. He knows people like it but what made wrestling was selling and the Lucha guys didn't selm sh**. He let Tenay do his thing. Tony said he never had an ego about having TV time.
Tony said that when he was all over WCW TV, that was all a WCW call and he was sure everyone was sick of himself because he was sick of himself.
The spoiling and knock on Mick Foley winning the WWF title on Nitro was Tony doing what he was told to do. He said the line was his words but he was instructed to say something bad. He called Foley the next day and apologized. He said he regrets doing it but would do it today if the promoter asked him to. Do it.
Tony said when WWE started the Network he called them because he wanted to go through the footage. Kevin Dunn called him back and said they would get back to him and they never have. He said that they knew he would steal the footage so everyone can see it.
Tony closed out talking about how much he loved Mid-Atlantic to the point he didn't want to go to college in PA because he would miss Mid-Atlantic.
Last edited on Fri Aug 5th, 2016 04:18 pm by bpickering
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