Tony Schiavone Shares That He Did Not Want To Work For MLW When The Job Was First Offered To Him
The voice of WCW discusses the growth of MLW.
20-year pro wrestling commentator Tony Schiavone is continuing his tenure in the business as the lead commentator for Major League Wrestling which was founded by former WWE creative writer Court Bauer. Recently, the promotion struck a deal with 'BeIN Sports' and their 'Fusion' show is currently airing on the sports network. While speaking with the Baltimore Sun, Schiavone revealed that when Bauer originally presented the gig to him as lead commentator it was not something that he was too keen on seeing as how he considered himself retired from the business.
“To be honest, I didn't want to do it. I had walked away from the business,” Schiavone said. “But Court's MLW, which hosts podcasts, he gave me a start with my podcast and I thought that I'd do it to say thanks for what you've done for me. Then I got into it and I realized that there's some great kids who are trying to get ahead and make a name for themselves and move up in the sport. If I can lend my voice to that to help them enhance their career, why not give it a shot? And I'm really into it now.”
Schiavone went on to praise the staff that Court Bauer has put together in MLW with some notable names who have great amounts of experience in the industry all at the helm of the promotion.
“[Bauer] has Dan Bynum as his director. Dan worked in WCW for many years,” Schiavone said. “Nelson Sweglar ,who is his director of production, was Vince [McMahon's] right hand man for many years. Bruce Prichard works behind the scenes as a producer. Bruce is well known in wrestling and in podcasting. Court brought me in and Rich Boccini. He has many people in place that have a great amount of wrestling knowledge.”
Even with 20 years as a commentator under his belt, Schiavone has been out of the loop so-to-speak in regards to the pro wrestling world. While he was away from the business Schivaone was doing commentary for the Atlanta Braves' AAA team and with the influx of new talent and new maneuvers that have taken over the wrestling game, he admitted that he struggled a bit to call the action.
“There's nothing the same about it. I think you'll realize on Friday. People will say, ‘Man, Schiavone doesn't know any of the holds.’ They have new names now, especially with the luchadores that we have, like Pentagon and Rey Fenix, they do some crazy things that I've never seen before and I don't know what to call them. I've been going through YouTube videos and Twitter looking at videos people have put together to learn all the names of the moves. It's more of a high spot sport than it used to be. I realize the sport has picked up speed and I need to pick up speed with it.”
Tony Schiavone would also discuss the locker room vibe in MLW, and also shared that he feels MLW's presence is similar to one of the final days of WCW. To read more comments from the long-time commentator, click here.
