Tony Schiavone
Encyclopedia
Noah Anthony "Tony" Schiavone (born on November 7, 1957) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sports broadcaster. He is the play-by-play broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves
Gwinnett Braves
The Gwinnett Braves are a minor league baseball team in the International League, the Triple-A affiliate of the major league Atlanta Braves. The team was previously the Richmond Braves for 43 seasons . On January 14, 2008, it was announced that the Richmond Braves would move from Richmond,...

 of the International League. He has been a sports radio
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...

 host and a professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

 announcer known for his work in the National Wrestling Alliance
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...

, World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 and World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

.

Early life and career

Schiavone attended James Madison University
James Madison University
James Madison University is a public coeducational research university located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the university has undergone four name changes before settling with James Madison University...

 in Harrisonburg, Virginia
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia in the United States. Its population as of 2010 is 48,914, and at the 2000 census, 40,468. Harrisonburg is the county seat of Rockingham County and the core city of the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical...

 and served in a play-by-play role for the school's women's college basketball team before starting his radio and television career calling high school football and basketball games in the Southeast. He also worked five years in minor league baseball with the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

 and Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...

' minor league franchises in the mid-Atlantic, most notably the Charlotte O's
Charlotte Knights
The Charlotte Knights are a minor league baseball team representing Charlotte, North Carolina. The team, which plays in the International League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox of the American League...

, which was partly owned by Jim Crockett, Jr.
Jim Crockett, Jr.
Jim Crockett, Jr. is a former professional wrestling promoter. From 1973 to 1988, he owned Jim Crockett Promotions , a wrestling company affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance...


Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

While affiliated with the Charlotte O's, he began as a wrestling announcer with another Crockett venture, Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...

, (the precursor to World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

 or WCW) in the early 1980s. When Jim Crockett Promotions got national television exposure on TBS Superstation in 1985, he was a regular host of the wrestling program. He worked alongside David Crockett in the announce booth, playing more of a straight color commentator, while Crockett did the play-by-play. Schiavone would also interview wrestlers about upcoming house show matches they would have.

World Wrestling Federation

He was signed by Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...

's WWF
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 for a stint in 1989 and early 1990, and was most notable as being the main play-by-play announcer for their SummerSlam 1989
SummerSlam (1989)
SummerSlam was the second annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation . It took place on August 28, 1989 in the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey....

 and Royal Rumble 1990
Royal Rumble (1990)
Royal Rumble was the third annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 21, 1990 at the Orlando Arena in Orlando, Florida....

 pay-per-views. Schiavone returned soon afterwards to WCW, the former Crockett promotion by then owned by media mogul Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...

. In 2003, there were rumors that Schiavone would be brought in to the WWE to replace Jim Ross
Jim Ross
James William "Jim" Ross is a professional wrestling commentator, former professional wrestling referee, restaurateur, occasional wrestler, and former company executive of WWE, where he currently works as a commentator on the WWE Raw brand...

 as co-host of RAW
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...

. This idea was apparently nixed by WWE producer Kevin Dunn.

World Championship Wrestling

Schiavone became the lead voice for WCW
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

's flagship program, Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...

. He also served as the lead announcer of Thunder
WCW Thunder
WCW Thunder was a professional wrestling show produced by World Championship Wrestling which aired on TBS from January 8, 1998 to March 21, 2001...

, typically working alongside "The Professor" Mike Tenay
Mike Tenay
Michael William "Mike" Tenay is a professional wrestling play-by-play announcer currently employed by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling . Prior to signing with TNA in 2002, he had a notable tenure with World Championship Wrestling from 1994-2001...

, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
Bobby Heenan
Raymond Louis "Ray" Heenan , better known as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan , is a former American professional wrestling manager and color commentator, best known for his time with the American Wrestling Association , World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation...

, "The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko
Larry Zbyszko
Lawrence "Larry" Whistler is a professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Larry Zbyszko. Zbyszko is perhaps best known for his feud with his mentor, wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino during the early 1980s....

, and later with Mark Madden
Mark Madden
Mark Madden is an American radio sports talk-show host in Pittsburgh and also a former World Championship Wrestling color commentator. -Career:...

. Before the advent of Nitro and Thunder, Schiavone hosted WCW Saturday Night and WCW WorldWide. He made an appearance in the movie Ready to Rumble
Ready to Rumble
Ready to Rumble is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Brian Robbins and written by Steven Brill, which is based on Turner Broadcasting's now defunct professional wrestling promotion, World Championship Wrestling...

. When WCW's main assets were bought by the World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 in 2001, Schiavone left.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

In 2003, Schiavone made an appearance on NWA TNA
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...

 during one of their weekly pay-per-views. Schiavone, unrecognizable with bleach blonde hair and a beard, interrupted an interview with Goldylocks and Percy Pringle and proceeded to cut a worked shoot promo. He started by insulting Pringle's weight, telling him to stand near him because he "needed to look thin". He then insulted Goldylocks by claiming she only got her job with sexual favors. Mike Tenay
Mike Tenay
Michael William "Mike" Tenay is a professional wrestling play-by-play announcer currently employed by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling . Prior to signing with TNA in 2002, he had a notable tenure with World Championship Wrestling from 1994-2001...

, TNA's lead broadcaster and Schiavone's former WCW colleague, then entered the ring and the two got into a storyline argument over their careers and what happened during the last days of WCW, where both men lost their jobs. The promo ended when Vince Russo
Vince Russo
Vincent James "Vince" Russo is an American creative writer and author, well known for his work in the professional wrestling industry. He is notable for his tenure with World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...

 entered the ring and promised Schiavone a job with him. However, nothing ever came of that as Schiavone's only made one more appearance in TNA and he hasn't been seen on a televised wrestling program since.

Back to the Diamond

Schiavone now is in the rare position of being the morning sports anchor for both WDUN in Gainesville and WSB-AM in Atlanta simultaneously, even though the two stations have different owners (WDUN has a partnership with Cox Communications, which owns WSB-TV and WSB-AM. WSB-TV's weather staffers broadcast weather on WSB-AM). Schiavone also has done morning sports reports for WHIO-AM and WHIO-FM
WHIO-FM
WHIO-FM is a news/talk radio station licensed to serve the community of Pleasant Hill, Ohio.Until October 30, 2006, WHIO-FM was known as WDPT "95.7 The Point." The station now simulcasts the programming of News/Talk 1290 WHIO in Dayton...

 in Dayton, Ohio. Additionally, Schiavone is a writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 for the Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia Bulldogs
The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams of the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference...

 Radio Network and produced the Best of the Bulldogs, which won the AP Award for Best Sports Program in 2004. Schiavone owns his own radio production company, Blind Dog Sports.

After a few years of work with the Braves system including pre-game and post-game radio coverage, and also spot duty as an official scorer for games, Schiavone returned to play-by-play duties on radio when the Gwinnett Braves
Gwinnett Braves
The Gwinnett Braves are a minor league baseball team in the International League, the Triple-A affiliate of the major league Atlanta Braves. The team was previously the Richmond Braves for 43 seasons . On January 14, 2008, it was announced that the Richmond Braves would move from Richmond,...

 began their first season in Lawrenceville, Georgia
Lawrenceville, Georgia
Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Gwinnett County, Georgia, in the United States. The Census Bureau estimates the 2008 population at 29,258...

 as Atlanta's AAA-level affiliate for the 2009-10 season.

Georgia Bulldogs Football Radio Show

Along with being a writer for the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network, Schiavone also works one of the post game game talk show's on the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network for home and away games alongside former University of Georgia quarterback David Greene.

Controversy

During his tenure with WCW, Schiavone developed a reputation for both his over-the-top announcing style and his relentless shilling of the WCW product itself; he was well-known for proclaiming any particular Nitro broadcast to be "the greatest", or "most explosive", telecast "in the history of our sport." However, when this extreme hyperbole was repeated on a weekly basis throughout the duration of the Monday Night Wars
Monday Night Wars
Monday Night Wars is the common term describing the period of mainstream televised American professional wrestling from September 4, 1995, to March 26, 2001. During this time, the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro in a...

, the phrase itself lost meaning and became a target of mockery by Schiavone's detractors.

A famous incident Schiavone is tied to came on the January 4, 1999 edition of Nitro. That week, Nitro was airing live against a pre-taped edition of WWF RAW IS WAR
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...

on USA and was to feature a rematch between WCW World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash
Kevin Nash
Kevin Scott Nash is an American professional wrestler and actor. As of 2011, Nash is signed to a five year contract with WWE under their WWE Legends program and appears as part of their Raw brand roster...

 and Goldberg
Bill Goldberg
Goldberg earned a scholarship to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team where he served as a defensive tackle. He was taken in the 11th round, with the 302nd overall selection, in the 1990 NFL Draft....

 from Starrcade
Starrcade (1998)
Starrcade was the sixteenth annual Starrcade professional wrestling pay-per-view event. It was the eleventh Starrcade event produced by World Championship Wrestling , and it took place on December 27, 1998 from the MCI Center in Washington, D.C....

, where Nash had ended Goldberg's undefeated streak and taken his title under controversial circumstances, as well as the first appearance of Hollywood Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....

 since he announced his "retirement" from professional wrestling on the Thanksgiving 1998 edition of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...

. Meanwhile, RAW was to feature Mick Foley
Mick Foley
Michael Francis "Mick" Foley, Sr. is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, author, comedian, actor, voice actor and former color commentator. He has worked for many wrestling promotions, including WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA. He is often referred to as "The Hardcore Legend", a nickname he...

, who was wrestling as Mankind at the time and had previously wrestled for nearly five years with WCW as Cactus Jack, win his first WWF Championship
WWE Championship
The WWE Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It is the world title of the Raw brand and one of two in WWE, complementing the World Heavyweight Championship of the SmackDown brand. It was established under the then WWWF in 1963...

 in a Survivor Series rematch against The Rock. However, since the World Wrestling Federation's practice of broadcasting a live episode of RAW IS WAR every other Monday and recording the next week's show every other Tuesday was still in effect, with the rise of the Internet it was possible to know the results of the following week's RAW simply by searching one of the many wrestling news sites that were available online at the time. It was also a practice that WCW had used to its advantage previously, where WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff
Eric Bischoff
Eric Aaron Bischoff is an American entrepreneur, and professional wrestling booker and on-screen personality currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...

 would use his position as lead broadcaster for Nitro to spoil pre-taped RAW episodes and not give fans reasons to change the channel to watch the WWF's show. However, by this time Bischoff had long removed himself from the broadcast booth and WCW had not resorted to spoiling the competition's programming.

According to Foley, who remarked about the incident in the first chapter of his book Foley 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 84 consecutive wins in the ratings had been snapped by RAW 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 so-called Monday Night Wars
Monday Night Wars
Monday Night Wars is the common term describing the period of mainstream televised American professional wrestling from September 4, 1995, to March 26, 2001. During this time, the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro in a...

. During the show Schiavone spoiled the result of RAW's main event by saying that Foley would win, sarcastically remarking "That'll put a lot of butts in seats". In fact, Schiavone made several references to Foley's win during the course of the three-hour Nitro.

Foley was genuinely upset by what he had heard and telephoned Schiavone to let him know. When Schiavone called Foley back, he told Foley that Bischoff had ordered Schiavone to reveal his title win over the air. The strategy backfired on Bischoff in two ways. First, almost immediately after Schiavone spoiled Foley's title win, 600,000 households switched from TNT, the network airing Nitro, to USA, RAWs home, 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 to Nitro's 5.0, vindicating Foley. WCW's ratings never saw more than a 5.0 going head-to-head with RAW again and Nitro's rating quickly sank below 5 and by the end of the year was struggling to stay above 3.0. RAW, in the meantime, continued to gain viewers and built up a huge lead.

In an RF Video Shoot interview, Schiavone was criticized by Bobby Heenan
Bobby Heenan
Raymond Louis "Ray" Heenan , better known as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan , is a former American professional wrestling manager and color commentator, best known for his time with the American Wrestling Association , World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation...

 who claimed that Schiavone would allegedly hide finishes and angles from him and Mike Tenay
Mike Tenay
Michael William "Mike" Tenay is a professional wrestling play-by-play announcer currently employed by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling . Prior to signing with TNA in 2002, he had a notable tenure with World Championship Wrestling from 1994-2001...

 during broadcasts, claiming Schiavone's key to life is "knowledge is power
Knowledge is Power
The phrase scientia potentia est is a Latin maxim often claimed to mean "knowledge is power". It is commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon; however, there is no known occurrence of this precise phrase in Bacon's English or Latin writings. However, this phrase does appear in Thomas Hobbes' 1658...

". This was an opinion shared by long-time wrestling broadcaster "Mean Gene" Okerlund
Gene Okerlund
Eugene "Mean Gene" Okerlund is a semi-retired American professional wrestling interviewer and announcer. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 by Hulk Hogan...

 who 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". One particular incident of tension happened on the Nitro following the death of Heenan's longtime best friend Gorilla Monsoon
Gorilla Monsoon
Robert James "Gino" Marella , better known by his ring name of Gorilla Monsoon, was an American professional wrestler, play-by-play announcer, and booker...

. Heenan was allowed to say a word of honor for Monsoon albeit only a small statement. Word has it that Schiavone was against any mention of Monsoon on the show and Heenan resented him for it. Later on in the show when Schiavone asked for Heenan's opinion on an upcoming tag team match Heenan responded, "I can't hear you from way down here", then mumbled some unintelligible words towards Tony, in tears, before the camera cut away.

Awards and Accomplishments

  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Worst Television Announcer  (1999, 2000)

External links

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