Jericho welcomes Tony Schiavone to the show.
Schiavone informs that after WCW shut down he got out of the wrestling business. He didn’t want to go the indie route because he had heard that there was a lot of shady people out there, and he didn’t want to be viewed as someone who was just hanging on to his old life. He moved onto professional sports, calling games on the radio for the Atlanta Braves franchise.
Schiavone informs that Conrad Thompson reached out to him a couple of years ago about starting a podcast. He didn’t think anyone would want to hear him talk, but Thompson convinced him to try it anyway and “What Happened When” was born. He admits that the financial side played a factor for him because his only daughter was getting married and the extra cash would help him give her the wedding she deserved.
Schiavone started work for Crockett Promotions back in the day, and then was hired by Vince McMahon and WWE in the late 1980s. He couldn’t believe the difference in production value when he arrived in WWE. Jericho agrees, noting that it was like going from Black & White to full color in the Wizard of Oz. Schiavone notes that WWE actually had staff and would edit their shows in post production, which was different than his previous experiences.
McMahon actually told Schiavone at one point that he was the chosen one to replace McMahon as the lead commentator on certain shows. Schiavone worked a couple big shows as lead commentator alongside Gorilla Monsoon, and that was a huge thrill for him. He calls Monsoon one of the best commentators of all time, and he learned a lot from him.
He mentions that at a certain point McMahon lost faith in him as a lead guy on PPVs, but at the 1990 Royal Rumble McMahon showed up to the production meeting tired from a vacation weekend, and asked if Schiavone had his tuxedo. Schiavone confirmed that he was ready, so McMahon told him he was doing commentary that night alongside Jesse Ventura.
Schiavone says he was making pretty good money but was still struggling to make ends meat. His wife wasn’t happy in Connecticut and they couldn’t afford to buy a house there. When he was offered nearly double his salary to go to work for WCW he simply couldn’t turn it down. McMahon was not happy when Schiavone told him he was leaving, but after a week McMahon had calmed down and they actually parted on good terms, with McMahon telling him the door was always open for a return.
Schiavone informs that after arriving in WCW there was actually some talk of him taking over the company alongside Eric Bischoff. He’s didn’t really see a future for the company at that time, but once Bischoff took over he made a future for the company. He notes that a big difference in WCW was that Bischoff was dealing with Ted Turner’s money, whereas in WWE McMahon was dealing with his own money.
Schiavone says he called McMahon one of his first days in WCW saying he made a huge mistake and wanted to go back. He was miserable there and would often sit down and cry. McMahon noted that Schiavone had 5 small kids and they just moved across the country twice in a couple of years. He told Schivone to stay there and try to make it work.
Schiavone says he was kept in the dark when it came to the NWO angle. When Hogan turned heel that night fans got a natural reaction from him because he was quite surprised. He thinks the NWO ultimately faltered because it was watered down as WCW Officials tried to make it too big.
He notes that WCW’s undercard was great in the late 1990s. Even when main event matches weren’t good the undercard would make up for it. He notes that the main event was based on notoriety and star power back then, with guys like Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper in those spots. Unfortunately those matches weren’t always good.
Schiavone informs that McMahon was not in his ear during his time working as a commentator in WWE. Bruce Prichard was in his ear for the most part. He says that nobody was in his ear in WCW until 2001, when Terry Taylor started in that position. He says that was a train wreck because Taylor was trying to do too much backstage.
Schiavone says he started many shows in WCW without a format. Sometimes assistants would bring them out segment by segment, on live television. He points out that this was a challenge.
Schiavone says he and Bobby Heenan were very good friends. They would travel together and Heenan was so funny. Unfortunately they had a big blow up at one point, and Schiavone blames himself for that. Schiavone took control over the announcers at one point, and he had to sign off on all the announcers’ payments and had to do performance reviews as well.
When Heenan was fired by WCW, Schiavone’s boss told him to avoid contacting Heenan, who had threatened a lawsuit. Schiavone says he should have ignored his boss’ request and called Heenan, his good friend, right away, but he didn’t. That was his fault, but thankfully they were able to put that behind them years later.
Schiavone says things didn’t really work when Vince Russo came in. He thinks they were trying to be WWE light, when they should have been trying to do something different altogether. Once Ted Turner left the business was all but done.
The WCW video library was sold to Vince McMahon for $3 million. Jericho says if he had known at the time he would have pooled all his resources and borrowed money if he had to in order to buy that, because that was an incredible steal.
Schiavone talks about his infamous call, when he spoiled the results of RAW by telling the audience that Mick Foley had won the WWE Title. He says he was told by Bischoff to crap on Foley’s Title win that night and even though he didn’t want to do it, he did because that was his job. He called Foley in the days that followed to say how sorry he was, and Foley was understandably upset.
That sums up this week’s episode of Talk is Jericho. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
