Tony Schiavone Reveals What Was Behind AEW Announcer Change

Tony Schiavone has revealed he approached Tony Khan about a play-by-play opportunity before he got his chance on Collision.

Although it has had some changes over the years, the AEW Dynamite announce team has settled down to a regular three-man booth of Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and Taz. WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross had moved from Dynamite to Rampage but upon the creation of AEW Collision, Ross has been a part of the Saturday night show.

Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness joined JR at the announce desk as Tony Khan looked to give Collision a very separate identity from Dynamite. However, things changed again on the 14th of October edition of the show as Tony Schiavone joined Kelly and McGuinness throughout the broadcast. When Jim Ross came out for the main event as he usually does, Kevin Kelly was the one to give way to leave a three-man booth headed up by Schiavone.

Tony Schiavone expected to work Rampage

Speaking on his What Happened When podcast, Tony Schiavone revealed what led to him working on Collision and suggests he’s going to be a permanent fixture on the show moving forward:

“I had told Tony [Khan] – and this was months ago – I had told Tony that I would like another chance at doing play-by-play. I said ‘I can probably do Rampage,’ he said ‘Okay let me think about it.’ I thought I was gonna end up doing play-by-play on Rampage but then he hit me with this and you don’t say ‘nah I don’t wanna do that,’ you say ‘hell yeah I wanna do it.’

“I’ve told him this many times and I’m sincere about this, I really am, Kevin Kelly is a great announcer. He is so smooth and so good. I really, really enjoy working with him and Nigel and I know we’ve only worked together once but we’ve been backstage together for a number of months now.”

The next edition of AEW Collision will take place on the 21st of October live from Memphis, Tennessee. The only match confirmed so far for that show will see Miro take on Action Andretti after The Bulgarian Brute brutally assaulted Action Andretti the previous week.

If you use any quotes from this article please credit original source and then h/t with a link back to TJR Wrestling for the transcription.