Tony Schiavone Discusses Why He Has To Have A 'Positive Mindset' In AEW

AEW announcer Tony Schiavone always sounds like he is having the time of his life on commentary in AEW. Whether it's sitting next to Excalibur and Taz on "AEW Dynamite," or Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness on "AEW Collision," the former voice of WCW has found a groove akin to the one he had during the glory days of the Monday Night Wars. However, it wasn't always like that when he got back into wrestling.

During a recent edition of the "What Happened When?" podcast, Schiavone was asked by former WWE Superstar Hornswoggle if it took a while for his love of wrestling to come back when he joined AEW in 2019. Schiavone admitted that it did, but when Hornswoggle asked if he has the mindset of comparing AEW to what came before, he admitted that he tries to not have that mindset. 

"There's some things that bug me, some little things that bug me, but other than that I'm really into what we're doing," Schiavone said.

He cited former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and his match with Hangman Page against The Young Bucks at Revolution 2020 as an example of how much he enjoys being back in wrestling and living in the moment instead of comparing things to WCW. Schiavone also credited a current AEW champion for exposing him to other sides of the business.

"I'm more exposed now to the wrestling that they had in Japan than I ever was," Schiavone said. "Thanks to the Forbidden Door, and also thanks to Eddie Kingston being with us and showing me some of this." He also stated that he has enjoyed seeing the luchadors from AAA and CMLL appear in AEW, which are similar to matches he used to call in WCW with the cruiserweight division.

Please credit "What Happened When?" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.