Tony Schiavone

Noah Anthony Schiavone (/ʃəˈvɒni/ shə-VON-ee; born November 7, 1957) is an American sports announcer, professional wrestling commentator and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he serves as a senior producer and the play-by-play commentator for Collision, and formerly color commentator for Dynamite and Rampage. He has previously worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Major League Wrestling (MLW). In addition to his work in wrestling, Schiavone has also worked as a broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves/Stripers of Minor League Baseball and Georgia Bulldogs football.

In 2013, WWE noted that, "At the height of the Monday Night War, veteran broadcaster Tony Schiavone's voice was as vital to the onscreen product of World Championship Wrestling as Jim Ross' Oklahoma growl was to WWE."

In 2021, Schiavone announced a Kickstarter campaign for a biographical graphic novel titled Butts in Seats: The Tony Schiavone Story. Tony Schiavone can be heard on his podcast What Happened When? with Conrad Thompson.

Schiavone was born and raised in Craigsville, Virginia, the son of Noah and Rebecca Schiavone. He is of Italian descent. He graduated from Buffalo Gap High School and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communications from James Madison University in 1980.

Schiavone began his broadcasting career calling high school football games for WTON in Staunton, Virginia. After graduating from JMU, Schiavone became the play-by-play announcer for the Greensboro Hornets of the South Atlantic League. After a year in Greensboro, he joined the Charlotte O's, which were owned by the Crockett family. Schiavone, who was a wrestling fan and needed extra money to support his growing family, lobbied the Crocketts for work on their wrestling programming.

Schiavone's first on-air appearance for Jim Crockett Promotions was a 1983 interview with Ric Flair. In 1985, he left baseball to join Jim Crockett Promotions full-time. From 1985 to 1989, Schiavone and David Crockett hosted NWA's World Championship Wrestling live in front of a small in-studio audience in Atlanta. The show aired on TBS on Saturdays at 9am and 6:05pm and was used as a vehicle to promote live NWA arena events and introduce their stars to a national audience as TBS was the premier nationally broadcast cable station at the time.

He was signed by Vince McMahon's WWF for a one-year contract from April 1989 through April 1990. During his time with the company, he was most notable for being the main play-by-play announcer for their SummerSlam 1989 and Royal Rumble 1990 pay-per-views alongside Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Other than Ventura (whom he would also frequently partner later in WCW), Schiavone commentated alongside others including Lord Alfred Hayes, Gorilla Monsoon, Hillbilly Jim, Rod Trongard, and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Behind the scenes, Tony produced numerous home videos for Coliseum Video.

Schiavone's family did not like living in Connecticut, so he accepted an offer from media mogul Ted Turner to work for World Championship Wrestling. He has remained on good terms with the McMahon family in the years since. Years after leaving the WWF he admitted that doing so was his biggest career mistake, and that he asked McMahon for his job back as soon as he realized what the Turner Broadcasting System had done to the former Jim Crockett Promotions upon acquiring it. McMahon turned him down, so that Schiavone would not have to move his young family again, but was open to working with him in the future.