Ian Riccaboni Shoots Down Claim He Was Absent for 9/28 AEW Collision Taping

Ian Riccaboni entered the scene for AEW after Tony Khan bought ROH, and he has consistently been part of the ROH team but has also been part of the Collision broadcast team from time to time.

AEW taped the September 28 episode of Collision: Grand Slam last Saturday after the earlier Dynamite: Grand Slam episode. However, one match, Jack Perry vs. Minoru Suzuki for the TNT Title, was recorded for Collision before Dynamite. Fans may have noticed that Ian Riccaboni was providing commentary but was not present at the venue during that match.

While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discussed this situation. Alvarez stated that Jack Perry and Minoru Suzuki’s match was a standout moment, noting that it was taped before Dynamite for Collision. Meltzer pointed out that Ian Riccaboni, usually an announcer for Collision, was filling in due to the absence of another commentator, Nigel McGuinness.

Alvarez claimed that Ian was not in the building when they taped the match, which would later be inserted into a show where he was expected to commentate. Meltzer claimed that Ian was announcing remotely from a studio rather than being ringside for the match. Alvarez elaborated on the circumstances surrounding the commentary situation and added that Tony Schiavone pretended that Ian Riccaboni was under the desk during the broadcast, and Riccaboni went along with it.

“His voice was there. I know. What happened was they had Tony and Daddy Magic do commentary and pretend that he was there, so they did not do commentary in post. Only Ian did. So they had to, like, leave spaces where he would say things, and then they did the rest by themselves. And so, like, they just pretended he was there. But like, they would do long shots, and you could see there’s only two announcers there.”

“So then they start fighting over by the announce desk, and you know, they’re getting, like, this big close-up of the announce desk, and there’s no Ian Riccaboni. So apparently, Tony Schiavone, just on his feet, thought he hid under the desk. And so then Ian Riccaboni, when he did the voiceover later, he starts acting like he’s underneath the desk. But anyway, he wasn’t there. They did the entire match, pretending he was there. And they had a cover for when they got a close-up of the announcers, and he wasn’t there. He was an invisible announcer.”

In response to what Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez claimed, Ian Riccaboni took to Twitter and uploaded a photo of himself at the AEW Grand Slam: Collision taping alongside Tony Schiavone and Daddy Magic, making it clear that he was present at the show.

”If I wasn’t there, explain this. SMH.”

Regardless, it is good to know that Ian Riccaboni cleared the air when it came to this situation and made it clear no one was pretending that he was present at the AEW Collision taping last week.