Tony Schiavone

[9.0] "AEW has seen a lot of successful comebacks - from Sting to Christian Cage - but arguably the most surprising comeback was that of Tony Schiavone, a long-time commentator who (by his own admission) had lost his passion for wrestling during the dying days of WCW, but seemed to find a renewed love of the art form after signing with AEW. I watched WCW as a kid, but it was during the dark years where Tony was checked out, so I honestly wasn't a fan and didn't have any sort of nostalgia for him. However, his work in AEW won me over to the point where he's one of my favorites today. Tony comes across as a friendly guy with a genuine excitement for the product and an earnestness in learning the wrestlers and their movesets. Tony may not have the encyclopedic knowledge of wrestling holds like Excalibur does, but his enthusiasm is infectious and resonates with the viewer, making the fans more emotionally invested in the show. Collision is where he shines the most, as his entertaining back-and-forth banter with Nigel McGuinness sounds like two old buddies having a good time, giving off a similar dynamic that Gorilla Monsoon had with Jesse Ventura back in the 80's."

[5.0] "The voice of WCW. And during that time, he was great. I wouldn't say he was as good as Bobby Heenan or even Mike Tenay, but he will always be remembered for that time and he was able to hold his own with those other guys. But then came AEW. He has little to say and either repeats what everyone else says or talks about who great AEW is. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you have little else to say, that's when it becomes an issue. I can't understand why he's the voice of Collision."

[8.0] "I know Tony from his work at All Elite Wrestling as a commentator and sometimes interviewer and frankly I like listening to him I find he has a pleasant voice to listen to and the guy has a pleasant personality as he's often involved in rivalries between certain wrestlers more than his colleagues. His only worry is that he's not always very honest, because listening to him every week he's never seen anything like it, he's clearly lying, but not as much as some, so it's okay."

[6.0] "Truth be told, Schiavone's always been a bit of a credulous jabroni and nearly wet himself with faux excitement every week on WCW. His knowledge of moves and holds is poor for someone as experienced as he is. He's the hype guy though and he hypes everything, regardless of actual interest. He's a much better commentator than the awful VKM but was leagues behind Monsoon and JR. Credit to him for still being in the game and he and Nigel have a curious odd couple tandem on Collision."

[4.0] "I actually gave Schiavone a higher rating previously, but after having rewatched a lot of late 90s WCW, I really had to change it. At this point he really just grinds my gears, he has little to say, he's got pretty much the same exact energy no matter what he's talking about, and while he tries his best to hype up storylines it often comes at the cost of whatever's happening in the ring."

[4.0] "This isn't based on his AEW work. This is based on his WCW work. He's too bland in AEW to even give a review but in WCW, that's when he is at his best and obviously his best wasn't that good. In my review of excalibur, I said his main issue was he didn't know how to do storytelling. Schivone's issue is he seemingly doesn't know when to turn the storytelling off. Like, he can call in ring action but go watch a WCW match he calls and every 20 seconds, he'll call what's in the ring, and then for 5 minutes he'll be like "MAN THIS IS GREAT BUT DO YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT'S COMING UP-" and it's 5 minutes of that. In AEW, he's not really a commentator, he's more of a cheerleader who just says how good a match was. And even you, reading this knows that's true. But in WCW he wasn't really good and MIke Tenay was much better because he actually called the matches while Schivone was like "MAN THIS IS AMAZING, BUT HULK HOGAN DID SOMETHING SO COOL AT THE START OF THE SHOW WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK? ""

[7.0] "Not too shabby as a play-by-play commentator. He had some stand-out moments, but other than that, he was just there. Happy to see him in AEW, but he's not getting the best things to work with right now. Still, this'll hopefully change for the better. And overall, solid commentator."

[7.0] "Never the best play by play but he had some great moments. His worst work was in the dying days of WCW but it was the same for nearly everyone who worked there at the time. He has a passion for the business and the fact that he stayed away for almost 20 years after WCW folded is indicative of that. You could say the opposite is true and there's a case for it but AEW is the spiritual successor to WCW (for better and worse) so it makes sense that he'd resurface to be part of it. He's done some of his best consistent work on Collision as the lead play by play and I'm happy to see him back."

[4.0] "If no one else is gonna mention it here yet I will, who killed WCW Vince Russo episode mentioned a particular instance involving Tony, apparently it was his idea for David Arquette to win the world title? That moment alone drops him a ton from already being a bland commentator who was pretty much always trying to sell the next paperview and thats all. He is ok as an interviewer, and he doesn't have a voice that's annoying to listen to for an entire show *Booker*, but he was a huge step down from JR to say the least. Nothing special but then hearing it was his idea for Arquette should drop him a lot on here I'm thinkin"

[2.0] "Between what I have heard of him in WCW, and his body of work in AEW, I struggle to put up with Tony Schiavone. Bland background speak from the likes of Vic Joseph is far more tolerable than listening to this guy chime in to exclaim nonsense, and he does little to add the stories of the match. In fairness, my butt remains in my seat when he speaks, but my upper body is motioning for the my remote as I need access to my volume controls. In WCW he was somewhat tolerable I will admit (more spirited and knowledgeable), but that's nothing in contrast to what you get from him in the modern day. Its as if he just speaks-to-speak, filling a minimum-words quota with as little insight as possible. I wonder if he even cares at all anymore with his undescriptive accounts of everything he is talking about."

[9.0] "Top tier commentator. Liked him in WCW but he has only gotten better with age. When I heard him again in MLW I was impressed as he knew the product which isn't something you see with all of the older commentators. In AEW he has been the best commentator they have in my opinion."

[6.0] "Better than just about all the commentators that have come along in the last 20 years but got overshadowed in his own time when you had JR, Monsoon, Heenan, and Ventura doing commentary in WCW and the WWF."

[9.0] "A huge commentator and interviewer. He brings an aura to each of his participations. If there is one man from the locker room that I remember and stands out, it is clearly Tony Schiavone. I love her connection to Britt Baker."

[4.0] "Very boring barely says anything and when he does he just makes you want to mute the TV utterly useless."

[5.0] "He was a good play-by-play back in the early 90's (but not good in his initial JCP run, or in WWE), nothing great but his voice was certainly suited to it. He got a bit egotistical in the WCW heyday and obviously couldn't care less towards the end. He's pretty laughable in AEW now, as you can write all the words he says in a full broadcast on the back of a cigarette packet."

[6.0] "Tony Schiavone has had a pretty long career in the wrestling business, which he deserves credit for. He's best remembered for being the lead commentator for WCW for a while, but before that he had a pretty lengthy career as an interviewer. Today I sort of feel the rose tinted glasses are firmly on people's faces when listening to his insipid commentary on AEW, but at one time he was pretty dependable. Never once was Tony Schiavone the best commentator in the business."

[8.0] "I don't watch AEW, not my style. This is based on his career prior to that. I always liked Tony. You could always tell he was a fan. He's pretty good at calling baseball as well. His work in Crockett was pretty darn great! He did very well in the WWF and gelled wondrously with Lord Alfred Hayes. His commentary with Dusty Rhodes on WCW Saturday Night always left me in stiches, very fun chemistry found there. He also had extraordinary chemistry with Jesse Ventura every time they were together over the years and companies. Not without his faults though; says something was "on target" pretty much every show he's on, sometimes twice or sixteen times. Tony would also call an arm wringer a "full arm drag and twist". A full arm drag and twist is what Ricky Steamboat does - *You Know The One I Speak Of*. I don't think there was chemistry whatsoever with Bobby Heenan, but WCW just kept putting them together anyway. Dying days WCW was terrible and Tony did nothing to make it easier to stomach and in real life he curses far too much for me. Positives easily outweigh the negatives though with Skee-a-vone! 7.5 rounded up"

[6.0] "There's a lot of revisionist history when it comes to Tony Schiavone. Many will tell you he was once a great commentator back in the day but that most certainly wasn't the case. Nowadays he could do a solid enough job calling a match. He has a good voice for it but he gets on my nerves sometimes. I suppose that's just my personal opinion but Schiavone's hatred for heels like MJF and Adam Cole comes across as childish more than anything else. Sometimes I like him, sometimes I don't. Mixed bag overall but he's a lot better than Jim Ross on AEW's booth."

[7.0] "I'm not as familiar with his work in WCW where he apparently became pretty complacent and happy to just cash cheques without putting in effort, but in AEW he's been really good. He has a great announcer's voice, shows genuine interest in the matches he commentates over, and he's also been very good in the few bits of minimal character work he's been allowed to indulge in (such as his complicated relationship with Britt Baker, or his clear hatred of heels like MJF). Schiavone may not have Excalibur's extensive wrestling knowledge or JR's respected reputation, but he's easily the best all-round commentator in AEW because of the professionalism and genuine enthusiasm he displays."

[9.0] "Tony isn't the most energetic guy on commentary. But I'll always be a big fan of his for his long and excellent career. Current, laid back Tony is still going strong and well. He works best when paired with a commentator that provides more energy; he's good at enhancing his partner."

[8.0] "I was not a WCW guy back in the 90s, but I still watched enough & always found Tony to have a natural voice for the sport. He lacks the pure fandom that someone like JR has. AEW is so much better with Tony involved."

[6.0] "Tony Schiavone is a tough guy to rate because of how long and varied his career has been. Are you reviewing the young Tony Schiavone in the NWA, who was one of the best in the business? Or the Tony Schiavone who was infamous for politicking and massively overhyping everything in WCW in the late 90s? Or the present-day Tony Schiavone in AEW, who's a solid but unexceptional part of a good announce crew? All three of those incarnations would get wildly different ratings. So I guess somewhere in the middle is appropriate."

[7.0] "Okay announcer wasn't as good as some of the other guys like Bobby Heenan, Jim Ross or Gordon Solie. To tell you the truth I never was really interested in him."

[9.0] "An under-rated commentator. I loved his partnership with Bobby Heenan. He did have flaws like only focusing on building for Hogan and the main event, saying everything is the greatest night ever, and talking over other people talking (but in WCW you could have 4 people talking at the same time (Wrestler, interview, ring announcer and commentator)) He is the best that any non-WWE company could have and was great in his brief run in WWE."

[7.0] "Not the greatest commentator in our sport by any means but he is pretty underrated, he had to deal with some really silly stuff in WCW but I think he did the best he could and he is certainly tons better than Mark Madden. The only major issue I ever had with him was how he would talk a lot during in ring promos. I think the announce team should shut up during promos and let the wrestlers talk."

[10.0] "Great announcer back in the day (and currently for MLW). The voice of WCW. Very underrated at times. Also an extremely entertaining podcaster in 2018."

[8.0] "Painfully underrated commentator. His work till the early part of MNW was great. He was no JR but he was way better than chumps today like Maggle Cole. He became really bad later on but he himself admits that and he was forced to say some horrible things on commentary like the Mankind line (for which he apologized to Mick immediately). As a podcaster, he is great perving on Debra and Madusa and providing unfiltered insight on what he did in WCW. Unfairly given the criticism IMO."

[1.0] "Easily one of the worst I have heard. Gratingly insincere most of the time with an ludicrous penchant for saying everything he sees is the "greatest in our sport". Worked poorly with almost every partner, had no idea how to work with Jesse Ventura, was painfully jealous of Mike Tenay's wrestling knowledge, and was frequently insulting to Bobby Heenan on air with no storyline reason to do so, shouting at him to shut up or that he was stupid. Tried to hoard information about the booking so he could look smarter than those around him on air. Once in a blue moon he'd have a good night so I won't give him a zero, but he's so bad most of the time that I'm very close anyway. Also, pretty sure he's some sort of creature pretending to be human (see Halloween Havoc '93 for that reference). Seriously though, a very poor talent mostly who is really insufferable at times. Let's not forget his venomous "butts in seats" comment helped WCW lose the Monday Night War, so he wasn't even helping his company in the end. God knows I would have switched over to Raw just so I could hear Jim Ross instead of this man."

[5.0] "In old watches, he was pretty good in Crockett promotions and early WWF, when he cared. His late WCW runs are where you see the good and bad. He wasn't as knowledgeable as he should've been (as evidenced by Heenan and/or Tenay help carry him into a conversation or when he would always say "What a move! " because he didn't know the name of it), but he had a great voice. He wasn't that good, but he wasn't that bad either."

[6.0] "would possibly give him more points if he wasn't such a smug douchebag. Also, treated Heenan like shit. Got fans to put WWE perma-over by changing the channel. looks like an even bigger douche with blonde hair. wouldn't yo agree?"

[8.0] "For the most part, a top-notch announcer. I can't think of my favorite WCW matches without hearing this man's voice in my head. Sure, he had his negative attributes on and off camera, but I think he was great at his job and he's sorely missed (at least by me, anyway. )"