Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
The name Tony Schiavone is synonymous with professional wrestling, particularly World Championship Wrestling during the Monday Night Wars. However, he had a fleeting run – a cup of coffee, if you will – with the World Wrestling Federation in the late 80s and that is the focus of today’s piece.
When mentioning the name Tony Schiavone, most wrestling fans will immediately remember him as being the lead voice of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) during the infamous Monday Night Wars. For WWF/E fans during that time, they will remember Schiavone for his brash commentary style. The man who made an emphasis of calling almost every single Monday Nitro an “historic” and “must see” event in wrestling. The man who smugly said that Mick Foley winning the WWF title on Raw “would put butts in the seats.” He was hated by many, almost despised when compared to the competition led by good Ol’ Jim Ross.
It is the same Jim Ross that brings us to this story. Tony Schiavone was a loyal employee to the Crockett family since 1983. When Turner Broadcasting bought out the Crockett family in 1988, things almost quickly went sour. Turner management decided to make Ross the lead announcer for WCW programming. Schiavone, who had seniority over JR felt slighted.
With Schiavone upset about being passed over by Turner management, he started looking elsewhere for work. As chance would have it, former manager and Jim Crockett employee J.J. Dillon took an executive job with the World Wrestling Federation. (WWF) Dillon went to Vince McMahon to gauge any interest in the disgruntled announcer. After getting the okay from McMahon, Dillon called Schiavone and told him that Vince McMahon wanted to meet him.
Tony Schiavone, at first, was in disbelief and felt that he was being ribbed, but after some assurances from J.J., Schiavone agreed to meet the WWF CEO. Schiavone and his wife were flown in on a private jet and taken by limousine to WWF headquarters. Tony immediately saw the difference between the two companies. For most of his career, Schiavone worked at a small Mom and Pop wrestling promotion. Whereas the WWF was more elaborate and first class. It didn’t take long for Schiavone to agree to a deal with the WWF.
Schiavone had become the lead voice during WWF pay per views such as SummerSlam ’89 and The Royal Rumble in 1990. He was also used as a backstage interviewer and also helped produce several WWF Coliseum Videos. Things seemed great on the surface, but in reality, Schiavone was struggling financially. While the WWF was paying him a good salary, Schiavone had a wife and five small children all under the age of seven. Add to that, homes in the Connecticut area were extremely pricey.
In the Spring of 1990, WCW management reached out to Tony and made him a lucrative offer to return to the company. With money being tight and feeling like his wife wanted to return to the south, Schiavone made the decision to quit the WWF and return to his roots with WCW. According to Schiavone, that decision would torment him for years to come. He admits that after deciding to leave the WWF, he broke down and cried for hours.
It had got to the point that Schiavone called Vince McMahon’s office. Vince’s secretary answered and Schiavone asked the secretary to relay a message to McMahon that he wanted his job with the company back. The secretary called Tony back and told him that Vince didn’t think coming back was a good idea considering that he had just moved his family back down to Georgia. The rest, as they say, became history.
When speaking about his time in the WWF, Tony has nothing but praise for McMahon and his experiences there. Tony Schiavone says that moving back south and returning to WCW was the best thing he could have done for his family. On the other hand, Schiavone says the biggest mistake career wise was leaving the WWF. What could have been if Schiavone had stayed with the WWF? Would Jim Ross have been signed to the company in 1993? Who knows what the landscape of pro wrestling would’ve turned out to be.