On a recent episode of his What Happened When podcast, longtime wrestling announcer Tony Schiavone revealed that he makes a conscious effort not to watch any current programming from WWE. He explained that his decision is rooted in his desire for AEW to maintain its own unique identity, free from outside influence.
“I have no interest in watching WWE or NXT current stuff, and that’s not to say anything bad about what they’re doing,” Schiavone stated. “I just have no interest in it because I want us to cut our own path and not try to be anything like them.”
He clarified that his avoidance of the competition only applies to their modern product, as he still enjoys watching older wrestling content, including classic WWE and NXT matches. “I do have an interest in watching old independent wrestling and old ECW and even old WWE back in the day, or old NXT,” he said. “We watched, of course, one of the matches we watched was, to me, the greatest women’s match I’d ever seen with Sasha Banks and Bayley.”
Ultimately, Schiavone feels that watching the rival product could affect his work for AEW. “The current stuff, I’ll just watch our stuff and not let anything they do in the WWE influence how I call a match or what I do,” he concluded. Tony Schiavone currently serves as a lead announcer and senior producer for All Elite Wrestling.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit What Happened When with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
