[soxfan93]

Tony Schiavone > A blind monkey >>>>> Mike Tenay

Just my opinion. I never knew why nobody brought him in. I guess he's doing Georgia Bulldogs football radio broadcasts now.

 

[Psycho Mantis]

I recall Heenan saying he was very difficult to work with.

Not sure how you can rate him over Ross though.

 

[Lm2]

anyone in wcw announcing was terrible besides mike tenay

 

[miles berg]

He was the best announcer since Gorilla IMO but Ross was great too and I can see why people might prefer him. Both Tony and Ross had the ability to make things feel epic and no one today can do that.

 

[SpeedStick]

Because he was a personal friend of Jeff Jerrett. Tenay is

 

[PauseMenuNotWanted]

They didn't want TNA to resemble WCW and Schiavone was pretty much the Voice of WCW. Supposedly there was an argument after the show which led Tony to announce his retirement from wrestling.

Also, the job Russo gave to him was as the interviewer for S.E.X.

 

[Sheik]

I say fuck both of these old sacks of shit, and make JB the damn play by play.

JB is the man.... and I'm not talking about Justin Bieber. :side:

 

[M.S.I.I.]

They didn't want TNA to resemble WCW

That worked out well.

From what I read, Schiavone had no interest in doing wrestling full-time anymore after WCW got bought out. He wanted to focus on his radio show gig and other stuff.

 

[PauseMenuNotWanted]

I say fuck both of these old sacks of shit, and make JB the damn play by play.

JB is the man.... and I'm not talking about Justin Bieber. :side:

Only if Don West comes back.

 

[M.S.I.I.]

Tenay is cool, he just isn't a PBP. He's better at color. Nobody in TNA is good at PBP. Hell, nobody in wrestling right now is good at PBP.

 

[Sheik]

I'd LOVE a JB and Foley team. They're good buddies and have tons of chemistry, which would make for an awesome announce team.

 

[M.S.I.I.]

Except Foley's going to leave the company soon.

 

[Sheik]

Just a thought, guy.

 

[Chismo]

Schiavone makes much more money now, outside of wrestling. He doesn't need it.

 

[Certified G]

I still think it sucks he didn't return. Especially after cutting that heel promo, has TNA ever had a face/heel announce team combo? I don't think they have, Don West and Tenay were both faces, a heel Schavione and face Tenay would've definitely worked I think.

 

[dylandtl]

I remember hearing somewhere that Shiavonne isn't even really a fan of wrestling. He got into the character because it was his job, but he didn't grow up watching and loving wrestling. Although I did love his work in WCW, I'd rather have cheap ass Taz/Tenay who love the product than someone who doesn't have his heart in the business.

Then again, I don't have a source for this information and it is just something I remember reading/hearing.

 

[Tom2]

First post here.. Long time lurker.

I've watched a lot of Heenan interviews..and for whatever reason, he hated Tony. Heenan never really explained it from what I've heard. But made it seem like Tony was terrible to work with. That's difficult to understand from a fan's perspective because they made an excellent commentating team.

Tenay does not work well with Taz. You can tell the 2 just don't mesh, and probably aren't friends behind the scenes. Tenay and Don West had great chemistry in comparison to Taz and Tenay.

Personally I would love to see DW back on commentary, fire Taz (I don't know where he could be used..), have JB do more backstage interviewing (best man for it in the business - he does not need to be doing play by play or ring announcing).

DW brought so much energy. Could you imagine if he was calling the 3-3-11 show when Sting came out? DW would have had a heart attack on air. Instead Taz and Tenay practically put the viewers to sleep.

Or even have them do a 3 man team. Mix it up from time to time.. No reason to have the same 2 boring people commentate every match for the company. I don't think JB is best at doing play-by-play, but the house show match for Xplosion he and West called was a refreshing change of pace.

 

[ellis the guru]

So if they signed tony, they may aswell call it WCW and be done with it?

 

[Dr. Ian Malcolm]

First post here.. Long time lurker.

I've watched a lot of Heenan interviews..and for whatever reason, he hated Tony. Heenan never really explained it from what I've heard. But made it seem like Tony was terrible to work with. That's difficult to understand from a fan's perspective because they made an excellent commentating team.

First off, welcome aboard to WF.

Just to address this point in your post (a lot of the rest I find agreeable), Heenan addresses it fairly well (I thought) in his book. I believe I downloaded the book from the Multimedia section on this site (under Misc) - definitely a good read if you get the time to do so!

Basically, Heenan alleges that Schiavone withheld information on what was happening on various broadcasts, so he would be better prepared for them while the other two announcers would be left in the dark. Ultimately, this gave Schiavone the floor to speak more, and 'get himself over' in the process while making the other two look like dummies. The way Heenan writes it, Schiavone was basically just a dick to pretty much everyone backstage.

It's unfortunate too, because Schiavone certainly had a great voice for the wrestling biz, and I always considered him one of my favourites growing up.