AEW Announcer Tony Schiavone Names His Greatest Of All Time
Tony Schiavone has heaped praise on one wrestling legend.
At WrestleDream, Bryan Danielson’s illustrious full-time wrestling career came to an end. In the main event, the veteran lost the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley before being betrayed by Wheeler Yuta who joined the new BCC. As the show went off the air, Danielson left the arena on a stretcher after being suffocated with a plastic bag.
In the days following the match, there’s been a great deal of discussion around Danielson’s legacy, and where he ranks among the pro wrestling’s great.
One man who has commented on more than his fair share of legends is Tony Schiavone.
Speaking on his What Happened When podcast, Schiavone looked back on Danielson’s last match while hailing him as the greatest ever.
“The only thing I think about right now is how lucky…I’ve talked to you about this, about me feeling lucky, about feeling lucky…I feel very fortunate to have been there for Bryan Danielson’s probably his last match because he’s gotta get healthy.
To me, am I wrong to say he’s the best of all time? Is a man like me, who has watched Ric Flair, who has seen Shawn Michaels, wrong to say that Bryan Danielson’s the best of all time? Yes [he’s the number one of all time], for me,”
The former WCW man added that while he’s unsure if Danielson will wrestle again, he hopes he’ll at least be taking a lengthy break to get healthy.
“I don’t know if Bryan’s gonna wrestle again or not, but I know he needs a rest. He mentioned on TV that he’s gonna need surgery before the year is up, so I really don’t know if he’s gonna wrestle again or not, but I do know, man, he needed to slow down. He just did.
I talked to Bryan a lot backstage, and tell him all the time, number one, how awesome he is and number two, how concerned I am for him because for instance, he goes out and he wrestles Okada right before he goes to wrestle Jon Moxley. It’s like, dude, slow down. I don’t think the guy knows how to slow down. Hopefully this will slow him down, or at least make him take a break for a little while.
But I still think he’s the best, and I think he’s the best because of just being a number one guy, just being a standup, great guy, and a guy who really knows, is really smart in the business ways. Tony Khan depends on him for a lot, he really is one of the best hires that we’ve had since I’ve been a part of AEW. He’s just tremendous,”
Tony Schiavone Planning AEW Stay
Meanwhile, during the post-WrestleDrean press conference, Tony Schiavone said he’s looking forward to staying with AEW for four to five years.
Schiavone began his wrestling career in 1983, working as an interviewer and announcer for Jim Crockett Promotions. He went on to become one of the voices of WCW after spending a year with WWE in 1989.
After the closure of WCW Schiavone largely left wrestling behind before joining MLW as a commentator in 2017. This comeback led him to AEW when the company launched in 2019.
H/t to Fightful