Tony Schiavone is heading back to where it all beganlive on TBS, on a Saturday night. The legendary wrestling announcer is set to call AEW Collision this Saturday, May 3, from Atlantic City, and for him, the moment hits deeper than most might realize.
On his What Happened When podcast, Schiavone opened up about how this show brings his decades-long wrestling career full circle. It never ceases to amaze me how my career has come full circle, he said. On April 6, 1985 it was 40 years to the day that I had first been on TBS, and now for me to be calling a live Saturday show on TBS again, its, to me, its very, very, very special.
Schiavone walked fans through the evolution of wrestling on TBS, starting all the way back in the Georgia Championship Wrestling days. You know when it started as Georgia Championship Wrestling in 72 in 79 the station became WTBS. In 82 they changed the name to World Championship Wrestling I first appeared in there in 1985
He went on to recall his time on WCW Saturday Night, including the name change after the Crockett sale to Turner Broadcasting in 1988. Schiavone even called the shows eventual decline heartbreaking because of how important the 6:05 time slot had once been.
Now in 2025, Schiavone is once again set to call a live wrestling broadcast on TBS on a Saturday night, and the moment isnt lost on him. Here we are in 2025 and Im going to do a Saturday night show on TBS again. Thats not lost on me. Thats not lost on how special it is for me personally, he said. So Im really, really pumped about Saturday night show from Atlantic City and being live on TBS on a Saturday night Really, really cool. Not lost on me.
Tony Schiavones legacy in pro wrestling commentary is one of the most storied in the business. He started with Jim Crockett Promotions in the early 1980s and made his TBS debut in 1985. In 1989, he briefly jumped to WWE (then WWF) to become lead play-by-play announcer, calling major events like SummerSlam and Royal Rumble before returning to WCW in 1990. Schiavone went on to become the voice of WCW Monday Nitro during the height of the Monday Night Wars, famously calling historic moments like the debut of the nWo and Goldbergs world title win. After WCW folded in 2001, Schiavone stepped away from wrestling for nearly two decades before being brought into AEW in 2019, where he quickly became one of the promotions most beloved voices.
Tony Schiavone has seen wrestling evolve across generations, and now hes back on the network where it all started, bringing things full circle in a way only a true lifer in the business can appreciate.
Do you think Tony Schiavone is the voice of Saturday night wrestling, or is it time for a new generation to take over? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
