Tony Schiavone Explains How Two WWE Hall Of Famers Did Not Get Along

On a recent edition of his “What Happened When” podcast, former WCW commentator Tony Schiavone was viewing back an episode of WCW Saturday Night from January 1994 which he broadcasted with WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura.

Schiavone has taken over from Jim Ross as host of the show and as the lead WCW play-by-play guy when Ross was demoted almost a year earlier, before quickly leaving to make a start with WWE at WrestleMania IX.

I remember when JR showed up at his first WWF show, WrestleMania wearing a toga. Jesse (Ventura) said on TV, on WCW Saturday Night ‘there’s nothing worse on television than seeing a fat man in a toga’. And he was talking about JR.

These comments from Ventura did not sit wisely with his fellow Hall of Famer Jim Ross, with JR showing back up to Atlanta shortly afterwards and confronting Schiavone about it when he saw him there.

JR came back to the office, I guess to clear his desk. And he heard about the comment and he jumped on me about it. He said ‘You think that was funny, did you?’ He was really upset. I said ‘Jim, I didn’t think it was funny but listen, that’s him saying it, not me, so don’t jump on me.’

Schiavone did however reveal that JR later apologised for his sudden outburst at him.

Jim calmed down later and said ‘I apologise, I know it wasn’t you, I’m just pissed off about what Jesse had to say’.

Current AEW announcer Tony Schiavone further went on to explain why Ventura and Ross were at odds with each other before this, while they were both working together in WCW.

I do remember he and Jesse just did not get along because when Jesse came to work for WCW and was working with JR on WCW Saturday Night, Jesse was making more money than JR and that pissed JR off.

Tony Schiavone Breaks Silence On AEW Absence

Tony Schiavone has explained why he missed an episode AEW Dynamite amid suggestions that he’d been suspended for defending Tony Khan, but he was simply dealing with a family situation.

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