On the heels of his new multi-year contract with AEW, Tony Schiavone spoke with Wrestlingepicenter.com about what the future holds in his new position. Tony is still in awe that AEW is going to be premiering on TNT, as he remembers how tumultuous things were when WCW was falling apart while under Turner Broadcasting.
"I had a very bad feeling about the Turner people when I left. The good news is, the Turner people that I didn't have a good feeling towards are no longer around. I'm talking about the people that ran WCW, basically. I never thought I would do it again," Schiavone admitted. "I never thought wrestling would be back on TNT again because they were very against wrestling. I guess under Brad Siegel and James Kelner - I don't know the history. They didn't want wrestling on their networks anymore.
"When I walked away from Panama City that night (the final WCW Nitro), I thought I was done with the wrestling business. I'm like that, James. I like to move on with my life... I'm not good at staying in touch with people; that is my fault. Thank goodness for guys like Arn Anderson and Jim Ross... Guys that are my friends in the business."
Schiavone revealed that he will be acting as a producer for AEW going forward. He noted that his focus will mostly be on the videos seen throughout the show, and specifically pointed out that he has no intentions of being a part of the broadcast team the company has already established.
"Okay, well, I do know I'm a producer," Tony stated. "I'm going to be working on a lot of the videos you see in the shows. I'm going to be working behind the scenes when the live shows are going, the TNT shows. I've met with Tony Khan, I've met with, obviously, Cody. We do some production here in Atlanta... Cody and I actually live pretty close to each other so when I talked to Tony Khan, the idea was that I would do control centers and on-camera stuff, but I would not be on the broadcast team because his broadcast team was in place."
Schiavone praised the AEW broadcast team for the talent and experience they bring to their craft. He is definitely going to be involved in the production of each AEW on TV episode, however, the more specific details are still being determined by Tony Khan and the other AEW Executive VPs.
"I'm not looking to shoe-horn anyone out of the broadcast team - I'm not!" Tony emphasized. "Excalibur is a great guy. I know that Alex Marvez, gosh, is a very talented guy. But, I know that Jim Ross has always wanted me with him. I know that - He's pushed for that. So, I told Tony, 'I really want to work for you, but I don't want to be the guy who is seen as trying to shoe-horn his way into the broadcast team.' I don't know what has happened since Tony and I have talked last, I just know I'm going to be part of the show in some capacity. I didn't expect that and I don't expect right now to be a part of the broadcast team. There's not been any official announcement that has been made about that but I'm just going to have my hand in the broadcasts in some way."
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