Tony Schiavone Heel Turn in TNA

[Kenny Powers]

My friend just told me about this recently. This is a pretty epic promo in the early days of TNA. It even reminds of the old ECW.

[youtube]avGn1qkaUWA[/youtube]

I don't know what Schiavone is doing now but after seeing that promo, I would love for him to be in TNA in some form or fashion. The announce team is fine but Schiavone and Mike Tenay can really bring out the best of each other. I don't think we can see an interview this explicit on Impact but it would interesting to see an actual "shoot" or even a work shoot in TNA again. Do you think Schiavone could have an Impact in the near future?

 

[The Dewbliners]

Do I think Tony will make an iMPACT! in the near future? Quiet simply, no, I don't. The man's said on numerous occasions he doesn't want back in the business, and that he's very happy doing play-by-play for baseball in Atlanta, and doing the morning drive sports on a radio station down there. On top of that, do you even think he could hang in the TNA broadcast booth? It's entirely too fast paced for his speed, and he doesn't have a preexisting relationship with most of the guys. He wouldn't have the backstory on any of them except Nash, Booker, and Steiner.

To sum up: Schiavone to TNA isn't a good move on anybodies part. TNA would be stuck with a guy who doesn't have a passion for the business anymore, and Tony would look like a jerk, not knowing what's going on.

 

[simplyphenominal]

i actually just watched that again. i've been watching all the original tna weekly ppv's again. At the time I thought that went really well and I was surprised they only brought Tony in for that one week. I don't see him being involved though, although Tony and Mike always seemed to work well together.

 

[xkingdavid24x]

He actually works on a radio station here in atlanta. I would love to see him back he was one of my favorite announcers back in the day.

http://wsbradio.com/bulldogsradio/tony_schiavone_profile.html

 

[SoniC]

i dunno if he'll be back in TNA anytime soon but he's certainly got the look to understudy for Dante Hicks in the next Clerks movie...

 

[T2KFreeker]

Never happen. Tony just got burnt out on wrestling and ended up hating it entirely. I am sure there is still a small part of him that still remembers the fun times and the good days when he was enjoying himself, but remember that many who were behind the scenes in WCW ended up never wanting to come back. Tony found his fire for broadcasting again in baseball. Even though I am not a huge Baseball fan, I am glad to see that he found his center again, even if it is away from the broadcasting table ringside. Tony was awesome back in the day and did his job well back then. I don't see him ever coming back again though, it's just not a priority for him anymore.

 

[No Gimmicks Necessary]

First of all, I'd like to say that as a play-by-play man I like Tony. He actually would be in my top 5 play-by-play guys (behind J.R., Solie, Styles, and Lance Russell), but I don't see him going to TNA and I have to say I really wouldn't want him to. If someone else was going to join the TNA announce booth (either as a replacement or as an addition) I would want it to be a a TNA original discovery- someone to bring more of an individual feel to TNA's announcing. Tenay's voice still reminds me WCW, and Tazz' voice makes me think of Smack Down.

Also, I remember when this happened and I found it, at best, somewhat interesting (largely just because of seeing Tony, a pretty neutral figure for the previous 20 years, heeling it up). However, this was a one-off guest spot (an all too common occurrence in TNA at that time) and really did very little to advance the story going on in TNA. When i am finished watching this I am overwhelmed with the feeling that I just saw the word "shit" be substituted for legitimate creativity.

 

[Jack Tunney's Ghost]

I think what TNA did with Schiavone was about as much as they could do with him. In sense, that angle gave him "closure" with with Tenay... and wrestling, really.

Schiavone may also face the issue that he was the voice of WCW from it's inception to it's closure and will forever be "WCW" to many. For TNA to bring him back as an announcer would only be a step backward for TNA as TNA is in DESPERATE need to find it's own identity. Sure, they're hiring WWE talent and that is indeed a detriment, but, they're envisioning ratings by curiousity. Schiavone, unfortunately, doesn't mean ratings if he's announcing and it wouldn't be worth the investment by TNA.

 

[RicSpade]

I don't know I think Tony would need a guy to be able to play off of and he doesn't have that anymore in the business. You want to see the best broadcast partners he had it was Jesse Ventura in the late 80's and Bobby Heenan in the 90's in WCW and thats because those were the two teams with the best chemistry. Right now there are no good legitimate heel announcers in wrestling, they tried with Don West but it just didn't come out right so they replaced him with Taz which I was hoping for the hard ass busting he acted like with Joe but instead hes doing his whole joking gimmick and it bothers me cause Tenay doesn't get it yet. If Tony would try WWE right now they have no one good to pair him with except for Lawler because Grisham and Matthews are duller than dishwater and are only saved by the brains of striker and ross. and as for Cole he is a good play by play guy, but he just doesn't have that fire since they made everyone tone down their style and its something most wrestling fans have been use to for the last 2 and a half decades since the days of Ventura/Gorilla.

 

[Kenny Powers]

I don't think Schiavone will come back either, but it was interesting to see this video for the first time. A little piece of TNA history, even New Jack was in TNA cutting vicious promos in the beginning. I wonder why they didn't show those extras in they Year One Dvd. Ah well, there is always you tube.

 

[JBK2008]

It'd be great to see Tony back in ANY promotion. I just don't get how the guy could just fall off the face of the earth and not come back really. Not even once.