Tony Schiavone recently spoke with CBS DC about WCW, keeping his cool during Ric Flair’s over the top promos and returning to announcing with MLW.
Keeping his cool during Ric Flair’s promos:
“Yeah, the one that I remember was one that we did on the set of World Championship Wrestling back in the 80s. He was doing the angle against Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin and Precious, and he was trying to woo Precious, and he brought out a mannequin. He kissed and made love to the mannequin, while I was holding the microphone. If you go back and watch it, I think you catch me laughing. He and I talk about that often, when I talk to him and I talk to him about how nutty he was. I say, ‘Yeah but, I was there when you kissed a mannequin.’”
Returning to announcing:
“Yeah. Court [Bauer] got in touch me, and we started in October, and he said, ‘Listen, I’d like for you to come down and call some action for us.’ He said, ‘I don’t have much money to give you, but I wondered if you’ll consider doing it.’ And he told me how much he would give me to do the first show. I said, ‘Well that’s kind of nostalgic because that’s what I got my first show back in 1982.’
I thought about Court and MLW and said, he and Conrad Thompson had done a lot for me by opening up the world of podcasts, and I might as well go down and try to do it. I was really apprehensive, because I didn’t think my voice could handle it based on what I used to do. It was really kind of an unknown world for me to go back and do it.”
Would he have stayed with WCW despite being unhappy:
“I would’ve continued on because the money back then and the benefits were just too good. There’s no question. It’s funny because when we finally did go down, everything was so bad, and it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I’ve often said, ‘You can’t put a price on happiness’ and I really wasn’t happy. It was just too much pressure and I remember Eric used to say, ‘I know things get nutty here and I know there’s a lot of pressure and we drive you pretty hard, but buddy that’s why you make the big money.’ I didn’t make the big money compared to the guys, but I made a very good living. But again, you can’t put a number on happiness.”
CBS DC