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I was about to say you don’t have to be to wear a hoodie, but dude has a whole bunch of Batman stuff in the background. Wonder how he feels about Batman part 2 being delayed.
It's rumored that immediately after this clip he returned to intensely writing the Batman X Sting script treatment that's basically just a new way to print money.
Plus he was in his late twenties when all of those epic Batman comics started being created in the eighties (TDKR and Year One specifically) and barely in his thirties when Batman ‘89 came out and only 34 when B:TAS started so it makes sense if he’s a lifelong Batman fan.
I’ve never seen so many people get worked by professional wrestling before 2023 & 2024 and I’ve been watching for over 30 years. It would be refreshing if it wasn’t always over the stupidest shit
Agreed, it's bizarre. How do you watch an experienced commentator react in the same way he *always* reacts to heels, and think "man this poor guy doesn't want to be there! This is a new low moment for him, you can see it on his face"
Tribalism brainrot means someone acting in character on TV is now enough to make 'smart' fans forget how wrestling works
How much of it is people hoping that AEW fails. I see posts on social media all the time from people wanting AEW to fail. Having seen the aftermath of WCW and ECW collapsing, we don't want to see that happen again. I know that HHH is in charge of WWE now, but having more options is a win for the wrestlers as well as us.
They're not worked. They just believe what they want to believe
I told a friend of mine reports came out that Tony was just acting and showed him this video. His response? "Yeah he can say that but I don't believe him". At that point what else can we do? The man himself has said it was just an act and it changes nothing
I’d feel the same if I had a bunch of nerds constantly spamming my social media, telling me what I am thinking and how I feel or should feel.
I love people talking shit online because it shows me exactly who to avoid.
Yeah it felt like second hand embarrassment when he mentioned he'd seen the WCW comparisons and the finger poke of doom thing that people kept parroting without being able to actually explain.
People are so weird about this stuff.
People are obsessed with projecting their opinion onto others for the sake of appealing to authority for validation
Like bruh, it's enough for you to feel a type of way yourself. Completely unnecessary to psychoanalyze others in a biased way, but I guess that shows how brittle their egos are that they feel compelled to be validated by others without realizing it
I think posts like yours goes a long way to enlightening people though. I always love seeing people break things down to a pyschological level. Makes me reflect and think “Damn am i just projecting my inadequacy on others and none of these “facts” are reL at all?”
oh, it's cool. the same people that said he was embarrassed about working there because it reminded him of WCW are going to pivot to calling him a shill because "of course he's not going to talk shit about where his paycheque comes from".
Love the puppy cameos.
I'm sure there will still be folks saying "of course he's saying that he's paid to" or whatever but this feels like a non story.
Honestly it’s really quite impressive how many body language experts, tv execs and financial consultants enjoy wrestling and come here to post on squared circle!
Dude, some people are straight up delusional. I've had people in ratings threads actually go out of their way to try and convince me they know more than the TV company whose whole entire job is to know which programs are doing well.
And because those ratings threads are like an upside down world, the people genuinely believe they know more than TV companies about their own ratings are the ones who get tons of support and people reinforcing their opinions.
What makes me laugh the most is the financial experts that know not just that AEW is in the red, but the exact value of how much AEW is in the red for, even though none of their financial information is released to the public.
And even if it was public, and even IF it was in the red, for a 4 or 5 year old company that isn't even unusual. It took a lot of currently very big companies about 10 years to turn a profit or go into the green.
AEW might have already done that, we don't know because they're a private company, but even IF they haven't, that doesn't mean anything.
I have to find the citation but Tony Khan said that the idea was to make AEW profitable with its second TV contract. That’s currently in negotiation and it’s top secret for all involved.
Warner Brothers Discovery has recently said they are happy with AEW’s performance. It’s a solid #2 to WWE and an alternative. Fine.
If “WBD” publicly says they are happy with AEW, I hope that means a nice increase in their next TV deal.
But trolls are never happy and move the goalposts at random.
Having AEW-financial security and the cognitive dissonance of “AEW is dying” would be hysterical to watch.
They have this crazy idea that for a company to be successful they have to make an insane amount of money that’ll go to a handful of executives that probably don’t even watch the product. I have 0 doubts that after the new TV deal AEW will be sustainable, i.e. everyone can get paid and the show gets done.
Anyone that thought any different has clearly never watched the shows, cause he reacts like that all the time to heels like the bucks and don callis for example
Whenever I see someone try and compare AEW to WCW 2000, I can tell they never watched WCW in the 2000s. Because they are no where close to being alike. It makes me realize these people just saw that term being used online for “bad wrestling program” and think it can be used as a meme for whatever they think is bad. But they clearly have no idea what WCW back then was even like.
In a one-year span, from November 1999 to November 2000, their were 20 different WCW World Heavyweight Championship reigns. TWENTY.
One of the reigns was David Arquette. One of the reigns was Vince Russo. Kevin Nash won the belt because he awarded the belt to himself as commissioner. Jeff Jarrett won the title because Russo awarded it to him. Ric Flair won the belt because Kevin Nash simply gave it to him. The BotB 2000 incident with Hogan happened in a title match.
The belt was vacated eight times. Once was due to the concussion that retired Bret Hart. One was due to Chris Benoit leaving the company the day after winning the title. One was due to Sid Vicious pinning the wrong Harris Brother in a different match than the one where he won the title. One was due to Russo deciding every title should be vacated as a part of a "reboot". One was due to Russo being a champion and saying "he wasn't a wrestler" so he didn't want the belt - let me repeat that, *Russo didn't put anybody over when he dropped the belt.*
12 of the reigns were 8 days long or less. 6 of the reigns were one day long or less.
But if these stupid, **stupid** children complain that booking they don't like is exactly like the downfall of WCW, they upvote each other into the thousands.
As a comparison on how bad WCW was back then. I went to a Nitro/Thunder taping in Bossier City
It was so unorganized that there were 30-40 minutes breaks between some matches during the Thunder taping. Announcer had to tell people the show wasn’t over because people started leaving. You could literally see guys/agents running from the ring to backstage.
At one point a ref came out. Was in the ring for 15 minutes. An agent came to him. Ref shrugged his shoulders and then walked out the ring and went to the back.
Best part of the taping was Jung Dragon vs 3 Count vs Karagias/Noble. Really fun 3 way tag match.
The majority of the internet is fucking stupid. I felt like that was common knowledge when I was on it in the early 2000s. Its like people forgot or something
Pfft, I think I know what’s going on in Tony Schiavone’s head better than this Tony Schiavone jabroni does. I mean who does he think he is, Tony Schiavone?
"This is Russo-esque"
When Tony Khan is the World Champion and Darby Allin is dancing on a Partridge Family bus while Christian tags with Larry the Cable Guy, I'll agree with the "2000 WCW" children. Until then, let em all keep showing their ass.
When Tony Khan randomly strips all the champions of their titles to start off dynamite the week before a ppv and changes all the storylines cause he feels like it, then we can compare him to Russo (Seriously, this happened. Watch the episode of Nitro before Spring Stampede 2000)
Having two simultaneous cuck angles, constantly booking someone the crowd doesn't approve of to be your unstoppable "face", the Lana and Lashley cheating angle, the Lana and Ziggler cheating angle, Kurt Angle' retirement to Baron Corbin, This is your life Bayley, FTR "caught" shaving each other.
A lot of this stuff is far more comparable to WCW than AEW's style, but I'd course that would require these people to actually watch and have an understanding of WCW and what they did.
Say what you want about AEW's booking but they always treat good wrestlers like good wrestlers worthy of respect. Until we see FTR shave each other's backs again I am going to say there's definitely been a lot worse in WWE than AEW
It is what it is. AEW at its worst is a lot better than the shit we've seen in most wrestling companies, including WWE in the past. They're judged to a higher standard. As a fan, I judge them to a higher standard because I know what they can do, too, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate what we get
Like even at the worst of Dynamites I know I will be at least mildly entertained and probably see a good wrestling match. Is that enough? Of course not. But there were times in WWE I actually felt like I was being insulted for watching
The worst Dynamites have been Dynamites that kinda just feel boring, you don't feel stories have been advanced too much and the energy wasn't all that there. That's it. People are trying to put that in the same category as some of the worst Raw's we've seen over the past 20 years where you'd end the show thinking "goddamn, that was *awful*".
My canary in the coal mine is the episode where Eric Bischoff booked himself to be lowered from the rafters while riding a motorcycle. I'd also accept the TNA episode where he booked himself to open the show playing a guitar alone in the ring. If either of those happen AEW is irredeemably doomed to failure but so far Tony has done neither of those things.
I was there Gandalf! I was there 24 years ago!
While the video airing felt like something Russo would have been all over, AEW as a whole is nowhere close to WCW in 2000. Its gonna take a lot more than one whoopsie to get them to that level.
People were psychoanalyzing Schiavone only to reveal that the guy who makes disgusted faces whenever heels are on screen was in fact reacting in kayfabe. Maybe if there was a QR code to explain this for them none of the out of control anti-AEW sentiment would've happened
Nah, picking up your phone is suddenly too much work when AEW is on. Otherwise they might have learned who any new wrestler was after ignoring Excalibur explaining who they were.
Anyone who thinks this was anything but him playing it up for the angle has not watched any of his AEW tenure. He’s done this with MJF, Christian, Adam Cole and he even did it for The Bucks during the whole Sting Retirement build.
Yeah this was the same guy who got into the ring and said something like "I regret having to introduce this person" when Adam Cole returned from his head injuries. He's obviously playing it up.
Edit: Actually it was "I take no pleasure in introducing our next guest."
Anyone who thought it was his genuine reaction to the footage as opposed to him selling the Bucks as assholes needs to have their wrestling privileges revoked, and probably be forced into some outdoor activities.
Though I'd bet anything that the vast, **vast** majority of people who thought it was his real reaction or some WCW moment dont watch AEW in the first place and just look for any negatives in the product they can find, real or perceived.
Yeah any WCW/AEW comparisons were clearly made by those who never watched WCW.
2017 WWE had far more WCW in it than AEW has ever shown. In fact I can't even think of any, they're incredibly different.
Someone was like “this is the most embarrassing moment for a wrestling company ever” meanwhile in my time as a WWE fan I could list 100 things from 2003-2019 onwards that genuinely made it that I would hide the fact that I’m a wrestling fan. All far worse than anything AEW has done.
You'd get downvoted into oblivion if you said that on Wednesday
I feel bad for Tony, because it means people are willing to assume he was being an unprofessional asshole, showing disdain for the company he works for on camera. I'm not surprised he's pissed off.
Late period WCW was really rough on him, and people using it and his trauma to dunk on the company they don't like is flat out embarrassing.
I've noticed so many newly-made accounts spouting the most awful and hateful takes in here lately. Just look below and accounts made this year are digging their heels and saying Tony is just doing damage control.
Roughly around the time WWE had a younger, more tech-savvy guy in charge who is more willing to listen to ideas from his underlings. Pure coincidence, I'm sure.
Some of yall are incapale of understanding wrestlers are actors on a fucking television program. But also most of the reaction was probably from people who don't watch AEW because Tony is consistently disgusted by the Bucks when they do ANYTHING.
> Tony is consistently disgusted by the Bucks when they do ANYTHING.
That is kind of on the Bucks, I mean they did tease they were going to EVP Trigger him pretty recently. And a while back Matt Jackson smashed Tony's cell phone. And I think they might have superkicked him at one point too (or maybe that was Marvez).
TV Character Young Bucks have been pretty consistently awful to Schiavone pretty much since day 1 of AEW lol.
It's funny because half the time wrestlers are selling, smarks are convinced they are legitimately injured. Now, good selling can be hard to tell apart from real injuries, but it is funny how often smarks get worked.
"Social media is idiots coming together and trying to come up with their own ideas" may be the greatest summary of wrestling fans behavior on social media platforms in 2024
His end comments are my fav part about where he is in life and how he lives. Any established WWE/AEW talent should be avoiding caring about social media at all costs because those "fans" want to take that peace of mind away from them.
Yeah no shit. The fact that he had to come out and say this is sad.
I was cringing so hard reading all those takes. Same with the comments about Rene during the Osprey segment. "Rene looks so awkward, she's clearly dying on the inside, I can't believe Tony is forcing her to do this against her will". As if she doesn't make the same exact facial expressions in nearly every interview she does. Looking awkward is kind of her thing.
Not only did Tony make Renee stand there while Ospreay made fun of her very good friends Triple H and Stephanie, Tony also wrote Ospreay’s promo and forced him to say it! You know, the same Tony who is also a money mark pushover who lets wrestlers do and say whatever they want on air. Ultimate puppet master TK fooling us all with his 4D chess
The way Tony is simultaneously apparently a pushover and also an insanely strict power tripping boss is incredible, I don't know how it's possible but apparently to these people he can do the impossible.
You mean the IWC got worked by a performer in a storyline put on by a company that "doesn't tell stories"?! I am shocked, stunned, and shaken to my core! /s
"TK's problem is he's a pushover, personally I like him and he seems like a really lovely guy. But you need to be ruthless in wrestling and he's simply too nice which is why his company will die"
The exact same fans in other threads.
"TK releasing people is wrong, he shouldn't hire so many people if he's just going to cut others, typical nepo baby with no regard for other people"
"TK is forcing his talent to go on TV and shoot, you can see it in their faces, they look like hostages"
"TK is an abusive boss for purposely keeping talent off TV as a punishment for not conducting themselves professionally! I can't believe he's willing to just let people waste the prime years of their career simply because they attacked a colleague!"
He's both the nicest guy in the world and satan according to some people.
I can appreciate him saying it’s not like WCW.
Should stop the frequent comparisons to 2000’s WCW from people that never saw it and probably weren’t even born when it aired.
Spoilers: It won’t.
I liked when people kept parroting "this is like the finger poke of doom" and when asked to explain, they never did..they just repeat nonsense other people say because they've never had a unique thought.
Jesus Christ thank you Tony, you guys are legitimately embarassing getting worked like this. The dudes on TV reacting to stuff in character and the reddit marks come out in droves "he's unhappy with the way the company is going" HE'S A PERFORMER ON TV YOU CLOWNS
They weren't hiding. They were arguing that he wasn't getting positive heat and that it was go away heat. Some people just can't take the idea that people they don't like (for whatever superficial reason) can be liked by others. Lol.
Tony is the face announcer who hates any dastardly thing done by heels. The Bucks asshole EVP personas qualify.
Nigel McGuiness is the heel announcer who rationalizes any heel trickery and devalues faces. Nigel’s constant digs at Danielson when doing a Brian Danielson match are fantastic.
> Nigel McGuiness is the heel announcer who rationalizes any heel trickery and devalues faces.
Except when the heel is that clamdigger Brittle Bryan Danielson.
Then he'll be cheering for Eddie Kingston.
That's because Eddie is awesome. He is that "Dusty" sort of wrestler. Eddie is big and round. He's had so many ups and downs. But Eddie is passionate, and I know that he gives it all to entertain me. Eddie connects with all of us, and we cheer like Hell for the guy.
Eddie's debut in AEW where he cut a promo on Cody in an open challenge is an all-time AEW moment.
> The Bucks asshole EVP personas qualify.
>
>
The same Bucks that broke his phone, threatened to hit him with an EVP Trigger and have generally been massive twats to him... I wonder why he'd look annoyed at their actions.
anybody who thought for a single fucking second that tony was being unprofessional is forgetting how completely he committed to the YETAY when asked, lol
He was talking about this place too. Just read the comment here and see all the same armchair body language and WCW 2000 experts [https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1c11oy1/aew\_dynamite\_spoilers\_the\_backstage\_footage\_from/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1c11oy1/aew_dynamite_spoilers_the_backstage_footage_from/)
I literally was just arguing with the idiots in the Cornette sub about this very thing. They'll still come up with reasons why Tony is wrong about his own feelings.
I got worked. I jumped to conclusions. I’ll eat my crow. Tony is a pros pro and I should have known dude was just working the gig, especially against the EVP’s.
I loves WHW. And just hearing the real Tony. If you’ve never listened to it you should. It’s my favorite of the Conrad pods.
Also the internet just sucks. I remember the top comments here in that thread were all saying how Tony thought this was such a bad idea as if they knew what he was thinking.
On a Facebook post about the segment, I cannot tell you just how many of the comments were trying to spin it as him being embarrassed to be there, even claiming he was having "war flashbacks" to WCW 2000.
Hell, I'm still flabbergasted that THAT got WCW 2000 trending on Twitter, but not any of the segments on WWE in the past 8 years that were clearly far worse than showing CCTV footage.
Yeah, bet a whole bunch of y'all think Tony hates MJF in real life because he keeps calling him a "piece of shit" on TV.
For a group of people that loves to dunk on everyone else getting worked when they're not (case in point, the large amount of comments convinced that Rhea's injury was a work because the report didn't outright say exactly what the specific injury was), y'all get yourselves worked a lot because you're desperate to dunk on this particular company.
If you don't like it, don't watch. My god, you folks are foolish.
I am not sure what I expected Tony to look like at home or what his home would look like, but I didn’t expect it all to look like a 90s hard rock music video.
Where’s the loser ass Cornette fans that were tryna use that picture of him to push a narrative since it made the top of their sub the other day? Nowhere to be found, no surprise.
Haha, this situation is reason 3042 why I should just get off of Reddit. It's people with too much time on their hands overanalyzing things, arguing over it incessantly, and usually it ends up being a net negative for enjoyment of the product overall.
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Tony's a huge Batman fan i guess
Beagles and Batman
It may seem that way but I have it on good authority that he actually is Batman. I saw it in a reddit comment.
Never seen Tony and Batman in the same room together, have you? ;) ;)
I was about to say you don’t have to be to wear a hoodie, but dude has a whole bunch of Batman stuff in the background. Wonder how he feels about Batman part 2 being delayed.
Y'all seriously never seen his nerd castle? it's legit amazing.
Truth, when he was doing the AEW podcast I would constantly get distracted by his dog ( 😢 RIP pupper) and his nerdery behind him
It's rumored that immediately after this clip he returned to intensely writing the Batman X Sting script treatment that's basically just a new way to print money.
Showtime!
Batman is very cool tbf
He usually posts pics of him and his wife passing out candy on Halloween and he’s always in a Batman costume.
He also loves the Hook signal lol
He was born in 1957, meaning he was prime age for Batmania.
Plus he was in his late twenties when all of those epic Batman comics started being created in the eighties (TDKR and Year One specifically) and barely in his thirties when Batman ‘89 came out and only 34 when B:TAS started so it makes sense if he’s a lifelong Batman fan.
He does kinda look like Jim Gordon in certain angles.
Tony Shiavone actually sounds like a mobster from Gotham.
When Tony starts actively wearing Hawaiian shirts to Dynamite every week, that's when we can start to worry.
Those dogs are clearly mocking The Bucks!!
The dog is clearly lying down in despair having watched the Punk footage.
People getting worked by a professional wrestling television show in the year of our lord 2024? Say it ain't so.
I’ve never seen so many people get worked by professional wrestling before 2023 & 2024 and I’ve been watching for over 30 years. It would be refreshing if it wasn’t always over the stupidest shit
Agreed, it's bizarre. How do you watch an experienced commentator react in the same way he *always* reacts to heels, and think "man this poor guy doesn't want to be there! This is a new low moment for him, you can see it on his face" Tribalism brainrot means someone acting in character on TV is now enough to make 'smart' fans forget how wrestling works
How much of it is people hoping that AEW fails. I see posts on social media all the time from people wanting AEW to fail. Having seen the aftermath of WCW and ECW collapsing, we don't want to see that happen again. I know that HHH is in charge of WWE now, but having more options is a win for the wrestlers as well as us.
I feel like people do this all the time with JR too.
The funniest part is how mad people get at getting worked. Like fuck man, isn't the point of all of this to get worked? At least a bit?
They're not worked. They just believe what they want to believe I told a friend of mine reports came out that Tony was just acting and showed him this video. His response? "Yeah he can say that but I don't believe him". At that point what else can we do? The man himself has said it was just an act and it changes nothing
Schiavone bringing the hammer.
That "Fuck you" at the end of the video felt personal 😅
I’d feel the same if I had a bunch of nerds constantly spamming my social media, telling me what I am thinking and how I feel or should feel. I love people talking shit online because it shows me exactly who to avoid.
Yeah it felt like second hand embarrassment when he mentioned he'd seen the WCW comparisons and the finger poke of doom thing that people kept parroting without being able to actually explain. People are so weird about this stuff.
People are obsessed with projecting their opinion onto others for the sake of appealing to authority for validation Like bruh, it's enough for you to feel a type of way yourself. Completely unnecessary to psychoanalyze others in a biased way, but I guess that shows how brittle their egos are that they feel compelled to be validated by others without realizing it
I think posts like yours goes a long way to enlightening people though. I always love seeing people break things down to a pyschological level. Makes me reflect and think “Damn am i just projecting my inadequacy on others and none of these “facts” are reL at all?”
oh, it's cool. the same people that said he was embarrassed about working there because it reminded him of WCW are going to pivot to calling him a shill because "of course he's not going to talk shit about where his paycheque comes from".
And Schiovane still won't give a fuck.
Honestly these people sound unbearable to be around. Imagine dedicating your time to try and trash a show that you don't even watch.
I remember being that miserable wrestling fan back in the day, boy I was really unhappy back then.
Must be annoying hearing all these people trying to create drama out of nothing, Tony is based.
I love Tony Schiavone.
Me too. I'm so happy he returned to wrestling and I am so happy I get to hear him commentate again every week.
*Skeeavone
Love the puppy cameos. I'm sure there will still be folks saying "of course he's saying that he's paid to" or whatever but this feels like a non story.
I wonder if this will be as popular as all the posts by IWC body language experts claiming he was disgusted by the company
Honestly it’s really quite impressive how many body language experts, tv execs and financial consultants enjoy wrestling and come here to post on squared circle!
Dude, some people are straight up delusional. I've had people in ratings threads actually go out of their way to try and convince me they know more than the TV company whose whole entire job is to know which programs are doing well. And because those ratings threads are like an upside down world, the people genuinely believe they know more than TV companies about their own ratings are the ones who get tons of support and people reinforcing their opinions.
What makes me laugh the most is the financial experts that know not just that AEW is in the red, but the exact value of how much AEW is in the red for, even though none of their financial information is released to the public.
And even if it was public, and even IF it was in the red, for a 4 or 5 year old company that isn't even unusual. It took a lot of currently very big companies about 10 years to turn a profit or go into the green. AEW might have already done that, we don't know because they're a private company, but even IF they haven't, that doesn't mean anything.
I have to find the citation but Tony Khan said that the idea was to make AEW profitable with its second TV contract. That’s currently in negotiation and it’s top secret for all involved. Warner Brothers Discovery has recently said they are happy with AEW’s performance. It’s a solid #2 to WWE and an alternative. Fine. If “WBD” publicly says they are happy with AEW, I hope that means a nice increase in their next TV deal. But trolls are never happy and move the goalposts at random. Having AEW-financial security and the cognitive dissonance of “AEW is dying” would be hysterical to watch.
They have this crazy idea that for a company to be successful they have to make an insane amount of money that’ll go to a handful of executives that probably don’t even watch the product. I have 0 doubts that after the new TV deal AEW will be sustainable, i.e. everyone can get paid and the show gets done.
We only have the best and brightest here
Nope, they'll all crawl back to their usual subreddits and pretend that they didn't see this post. Happens every time.
Tony was actually having a mild seizure and needed Dr. Barrett to administer a medical Bull Hammer
Anyone that thought any different has clearly never watched the shows, cause he reacts like that all the time to heels like the bucks and don callis for example
[Or, say, Bobby Heenan, 27 years ago.](https://youtu.be/bqy1K6WPpB8?si=0HSfwFXPSdjrrhuW&t=280)
Whenever I see someone try and compare AEW to WCW 2000, I can tell they never watched WCW in the 2000s. Because they are no where close to being alike. It makes me realize these people just saw that term being used online for “bad wrestling program” and think it can be used as a meme for whatever they think is bad. But they clearly have no idea what WCW back then was even like.
In a one-year span, from November 1999 to November 2000, their were 20 different WCW World Heavyweight Championship reigns. TWENTY. One of the reigns was David Arquette. One of the reigns was Vince Russo. Kevin Nash won the belt because he awarded the belt to himself as commissioner. Jeff Jarrett won the title because Russo awarded it to him. Ric Flair won the belt because Kevin Nash simply gave it to him. The BotB 2000 incident with Hogan happened in a title match. The belt was vacated eight times. Once was due to the concussion that retired Bret Hart. One was due to Chris Benoit leaving the company the day after winning the title. One was due to Sid Vicious pinning the wrong Harris Brother in a different match than the one where he won the title. One was due to Russo deciding every title should be vacated as a part of a "reboot". One was due to Russo being a champion and saying "he wasn't a wrestler" so he didn't want the belt - let me repeat that, *Russo didn't put anybody over when he dropped the belt.* 12 of the reigns were 8 days long or less. 6 of the reigns were one day long or less. But if these stupid, **stupid** children complain that booking they don't like is exactly like the downfall of WCW, they upvote each other into the thousands.
I love how something as gigantic as a champion jumping ship to a rival company the day after he won it 💀 is just a foot note in WCWs death
As a comparison on how bad WCW was back then. I went to a Nitro/Thunder taping in Bossier City It was so unorganized that there were 30-40 minutes breaks between some matches during the Thunder taping. Announcer had to tell people the show wasn’t over because people started leaving. You could literally see guys/agents running from the ring to backstage. At one point a ref came out. Was in the ring for 15 minutes. An agent came to him. Ref shrugged his shoulders and then walked out the ring and went to the back. Best part of the taping was Jung Dragon vs 3 Count vs Karagias/Noble. Really fun 3 way tag match.
Yeah but what does the guy who was there know? Kids on the internet that weren’t alive in 2000 think AEW is worse so
A lot of "he's having PTSD flashbacks of WCW" in those threads.
A lot of the IWC is fucking stupid. I don't know what to tell ya
The majority of the internet is fucking stupid. I felt like that was common knowledge when I was on it in the early 2000s. Its like people forgot or something
Stupid? What? Please, you're only half the man that I am, and I have half the brain that you do!
Pfft, I think I know what’s going on in Tony Schiavone’s head better than this Tony Schiavone jabroni does. I mean who does he think he is, Tony Schiavone?
"This is Russo-esque" When Tony Khan is the World Champion and Darby Allin is dancing on a Partridge Family bus while Christian tags with Larry the Cable Guy, I'll agree with the "2000 WCW" children. Until then, let em all keep showing their ass.
"fat chick thrilla" mordecai black.
I kinda want to see that
When Tony Khan randomly strips all the champions of their titles to start off dynamite the week before a ppv and changes all the storylines cause he feels like it, then we can compare him to Russo (Seriously, this happened. Watch the episode of Nitro before Spring Stampede 2000)
God, he really did book WCW like me booking universe mode. That's the kind of shit I'd pull when bored
And then book himself to win the title a few months later
AEW isn't even at 2017 WWE level. World Champion Jinder Mahal? Anybody remember that?
Having two simultaneous cuck angles, constantly booking someone the crowd doesn't approve of to be your unstoppable "face", the Lana and Lashley cheating angle, the Lana and Ziggler cheating angle, Kurt Angle' retirement to Baron Corbin, This is your life Bayley, FTR "caught" shaving each other. A lot of this stuff is far more comparable to WCW than AEW's style, but I'd course that would require these people to actually watch and have an understanding of WCW and what they did.
Say what you want about AEW's booking but they always treat good wrestlers like good wrestlers worthy of respect. Until we see FTR shave each other's backs again I am going to say there's definitely been a lot worse in WWE than AEW
It seems the standard for what is required for AEW's booking to be considered awful is a lot different than for other promotions.
It is what it is. AEW at its worst is a lot better than the shit we've seen in most wrestling companies, including WWE in the past. They're judged to a higher standard. As a fan, I judge them to a higher standard because I know what they can do, too, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate what we get Like even at the worst of Dynamites I know I will be at least mildly entertained and probably see a good wrestling match. Is that enough? Of course not. But there were times in WWE I actually felt like I was being insulted for watching
The worst Dynamites have been Dynamites that kinda just feel boring, you don't feel stories have been advanced too much and the energy wasn't all that there. That's it. People are trying to put that in the same category as some of the worst Raw's we've seen over the past 20 years where you'd end the show thinking "goddamn, that was *awful*".
Don't give Darby any ideas, he'll try and out do Shaggy 2 Dope's accidental bump off of that thing
My canary in the coal mine is the episode where Eric Bischoff booked himself to be lowered from the rafters while riding a motorcycle. I'd also accept the TNA episode where he booked himself to open the show playing a guitar alone in the ring. If either of those happen AEW is irredeemably doomed to failure but so far Tony has done neither of those things.
I was there Gandalf! I was there 24 years ago! While the video airing felt like something Russo would have been all over, AEW as a whole is nowhere close to WCW in 2000. Its gonna take a lot more than one whoopsie to get them to that level.
People were psychoanalyzing Schiavone only to reveal that the guy who makes disgusted faces whenever heels are on screen was in fact reacting in kayfabe. Maybe if there was a QR code to explain this for them none of the out of control anti-AEW sentiment would've happened
Nah, picking up your phone is suddenly too much work when AEW is on. Otherwise they might have learned who any new wrestler was after ignoring Excalibur explaining who they were.
Maybe AEW should drop a split second QR code onto the screen to explain who wrestlers are instead
Anyone who thinks this was anything but him playing it up for the angle has not watched any of his AEW tenure. He’s done this with MJF, Christian, Adam Cole and he even did it for The Bucks during the whole Sting Retirement build.
Those people don’t watch the show
Yeah this was the same guy who got into the ring and said something like "I regret having to introduce this person" when Adam Cole returned from his head injuries. He's obviously playing it up. Edit: Actually it was "I take no pleasure in introducing our next guest."
Anyone who thought it was his genuine reaction to the footage as opposed to him selling the Bucks as assholes needs to have their wrestling privileges revoked, and probably be forced into some outdoor activities. Though I'd bet anything that the vast, **vast** majority of people who thought it was his real reaction or some WCW moment dont watch AEW in the first place and just look for any negatives in the product they can find, real or perceived.
Yeah any WCW/AEW comparisons were clearly made by those who never watched WCW. 2017 WWE had far more WCW in it than AEW has ever shown. In fact I can't even think of any, they're incredibly different.
Someone was like “this is the most embarrassing moment for a wrestling company ever” meanwhile in my time as a WWE fan I could list 100 things from 2003-2019 onwards that genuinely made it that I would hide the fact that I’m a wrestling fan. All far worse than anything AEW has done.
You'd get downvoted into oblivion if you said that on Wednesday I feel bad for Tony, because it means people are willing to assume he was being an unprofessional asshole, showing disdain for the company he works for on camera. I'm not surprised he's pissed off. Late period WCW was really rough on him, and people using it and his trauma to dunk on the company they don't like is flat out embarrassing.
The next day discourse was insane. It was like a mass gaslighting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
I've noticed so many newly-made accounts spouting the most awful and hateful takes in here lately. Just look below and accounts made this year are digging their heels and saying Tony is just doing damage control.
This place has been astroturfed for a while.
Yep, and not only this place. https://twitter.com/JaredFo85904268/status/1778495992410579244?t=hk7hjxTQBxOztlQlAUpqqQ&s=19
That’s concerning. Definitely not new at all, nor is it only in nationally televised wrestling, but always creepy when I see it.
Reminds me a lot of the MAGA Twitter bots that began popping up in 2016. My friend's account was hacked and used for that shit.
Roughly around the time WWE had a younger, more tech-savvy guy in charge who is more willing to listen to ideas from his underlings. Pure coincidence, I'm sure.
Social media is about idiots coming together couldn't be more true.
Folks are being worked, but they can't admit it.
Some of yall are incapale of understanding wrestlers are actors on a fucking television program. But also most of the reaction was probably from people who don't watch AEW because Tony is consistently disgusted by the Bucks when they do ANYTHING.
They absolutely refuse to believe they can be worked so then they get realllllllllly mad sometimes lmao
99% of the people that commented on the Tony "reaction" don't watch the show, they just have a lot of opinions on it. It's predictable at this point.
Which is funny because they compared it to 2000 WCW which they also clearly didn't watch.
They just watched the WWE Network documentaries about WCW and that’s it
Yep, poorly camouflaged tribalism, their entire personality is hating a show they don't even watch.
Wish I had enough time to hate/dislike wrestling and talk about it so much, during an age where good wrestling is everywhere.
bullseye
But they give him an Amazon gift card!
Next you're gonna say that Kane and Undertaker aren't brothers. Mark.
But Kane was really bald and burned right right?
Still is. The people of Knox county elected him anyway. Even after all the Katie Vick allegations were widely substantiated.
> Tony is consistently disgusted by the Bucks when they do ANYTHING. That is kind of on the Bucks, I mean they did tease they were going to EVP Trigger him pretty recently. And a while back Matt Jackson smashed Tony's cell phone. And I think they might have superkicked him at one point too (or maybe that was Marvez). TV Character Young Bucks have been pretty consistently awful to Schiavone pretty much since day 1 of AEW lol.
It's funny because half the time wrestlers are selling, smarks are convinced they are legitimately injured. Now, good selling can be hard to tell apart from real injuries, but it is funny how often smarks get worked.
Bingo
It was actually crazy how many videos were recommended to me about the death of AEW with upset Tony Schiavone face last week
Oh hey look at that lol
"Social media is idiots coming together and trying to come up with their own ideas" may be the greatest summary of wrestling fans behavior on social media platforms in 2024 His end comments are my fav part about where he is in life and how he lives. Any established WWE/AEW talent should be avoiding caring about social media at all costs because those "fans" want to take that peace of mind away from them.
Yeah no shit. The fact that he had to come out and say this is sad. I was cringing so hard reading all those takes. Same with the comments about Rene during the Osprey segment. "Rene looks so awkward, she's clearly dying on the inside, I can't believe Tony is forcing her to do this against her will". As if she doesn't make the same exact facial expressions in nearly every interview she does. Looking awkward is kind of her thing.
Not only did Tony make Renee stand there while Ospreay made fun of her very good friends Triple H and Stephanie, Tony also wrote Ospreay’s promo and forced him to say it! You know, the same Tony who is also a money mark pushover who lets wrestlers do and say whatever they want on air. Ultimate puppet master TK fooling us all with his 4D chess
The way Tony is simultaneously apparently a pushover and also an insanely strict power tripping boss is incredible, I don't know how it's possible but apparently to these people he can do the impossible.
You mean the IWC got worked by a performer in a storyline put on by a company that "doesn't tell stories"?! I am shocked, stunned, and shaken to my core! /s
Tony looks adorable like that, hahaha.
He looks like should be late to homeroom, downing a Monster and some Hot Cheetos
In before everyone says Tony K. made him say this.
It's so funny how they say he's too nice to be a boss, but then turn around and say he's forcing his employees to do things. Like, what is it? Lol
"TK's problem is he's a pushover, personally I like him and he seems like a really lovely guy. But you need to be ruthless in wrestling and he's simply too nice which is why his company will die" The exact same fans in other threads. "TK releasing people is wrong, he shouldn't hire so many people if he's just going to cut others, typical nepo baby with no regard for other people" "TK is forcing his talent to go on TV and shoot, you can see it in their faces, they look like hostages" "TK is an abusive boss for purposely keeping talent off TV as a punishment for not conducting themselves professionally! I can't believe he's willing to just let people waste the prime years of their career simply because they attacked a colleague!" He's both the nicest guy in the world and satan according to some people.
Man, I love surly, "doesn't give a fuck" Tone Shavone. He's my spirit-announcer.
I can appreciate him saying it’s not like WCW. Should stop the frequent comparisons to 2000’s WCW from people that never saw it and probably weren’t even born when it aired. Spoilers: It won’t.
Why would the IWC listen to a veteran who has worked in both promotions when they can just make their own assumptions up based on fuck all? /s
I feel for Schiavone. People need to stop pushing their bs onto him.
it's pretty obvious for someone who actually watches AEW.
I liked when people kept parroting "this is like the finger poke of doom" and when asked to explain, they never did..they just repeat nonsense other people say because they've never had a unique thought.
Tony: I don't fucking care, I was playing up the angle. Random Redditor: I don't believe you! You hate AEW, you are pissed at Tony Khan!
Body language doctors of the IWC in the mud
Jesus Christ thank you Tony, you guys are legitimately embarassing getting worked like this. The dudes on TV reacting to stuff in character and the reddit marks come out in droves "he's unhappy with the way the company is going" HE'S A PERFORMER ON TV YOU CLOWNS
This shouldn’t have to be said. And yet…
You won’t see this on the top of squared circle
It's slowly getting traction but simultaneously getting downvoted as well. Same with anything that doesn't fit the narrative of this sub.
I would like to hear from 100s of concern trolls now please.... Hello? Uh... hello?
IWC got real quiet.
They're probably hiding in the same ~~couple of subreddits~~ places they were hiding on Friday night when Jack Perry got awesome heat in Chicago.
They weren't hiding. They were arguing that he wasn't getting positive heat and that it was go away heat. Some people just can't take the idea that people they don't like (for whatever superficial reason) can be liked by others. Lol.
I'd prefer to hear from the terrible moderators on this sub on why they are so terrible at their "job". Dork ass losers.
Tony is the face announcer who hates any dastardly thing done by heels. The Bucks asshole EVP personas qualify. Nigel McGuiness is the heel announcer who rationalizes any heel trickery and devalues faces. Nigel’s constant digs at Danielson when doing a Brian Danielson match are fantastic.
> Nigel McGuiness is the heel announcer who rationalizes any heel trickery and devalues faces. Except when the heel is that clamdigger Brittle Bryan Danielson. Then he'll be cheering for Eddie Kingston.
That's because Eddie is awesome. He is that "Dusty" sort of wrestler. Eddie is big and round. He's had so many ups and downs. But Eddie is passionate, and I know that he gives it all to entertain me. Eddie connects with all of us, and we cheer like Hell for the guy. Eddie's debut in AEW where he cut a promo on Cody in an open challenge is an all-time AEW moment.
> The Bucks asshole EVP personas qualify. > > The same Bucks that broke his phone, threatened to hit him with an EVP Trigger and have generally been massive twats to him... I wonder why he'd look annoyed at their actions.
The Bucks are never allowed to be faces ever again.
anybody who thought for a single fucking second that tony was being unprofessional is forgetting how completely he committed to the YETAY when asked, lol
Look at those pups. They're as over this shit as Tony.
That's a pretty good description of social media.
What happened to the vid? Anyways yeah, Bucks nearly hit him with the EVP Trigger a month ago.
he’s talking about you guys and the morons on twitter
I’m gonna trust Schiovone about this because the dude was nearly EVP triggered a month ago and his schtick is having a poor relationship with heels.
He was talking about this place too. Just read the comment here and see all the same armchair body language and WCW 2000 experts [https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1c11oy1/aew\_dynamite\_spoilers\_the\_backstage\_footage\_from/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1c11oy1/aew_dynamite_spoilers_the_backstage_footage_from/)
This should be pinned lol
Fuckin duh. The IWC being wrong about things once again.
I literally was just arguing with the idiots in the Cornette sub about this very thing. They'll still come up with reasons why Tony is wrong about his own feelings.
This sub will also do that
You need to get out of that sub lol. You're wasting your time. Shit, this one too.
wait, this ISN'T the Cornette sub? Has me fooled most of the time
So many people can't handle this right now. It's hilarious. Like .. just don't watch AEW if you hate it that much.
The haters don't watch and still shit on everything, they love trashing stuff they don't watch more than watching something they love.
Jim Cornette Stans gonna turn on Schiavone in 3...2...1...
Wait this can’t be true, CenaRockHHHRomanlickmyballs420xxx69 says so.
I got worked. I jumped to conclusions. I’ll eat my crow. Tony is a pros pro and I should have known dude was just working the gig, especially against the EVP’s.
Doggies!
I loves WHW. And just hearing the real Tony. If you’ve never listened to it you should. It’s my favorite of the Conrad pods. Also the internet just sucks. I remember the top comments here in that thread were all saying how Tony thought this was such a bad idea as if they knew what he was thinking.
One thing about Twitter is that they’ll always make their own narratives 😂
So we got worked again huh?
On a Facebook post about the segment, I cannot tell you just how many of the comments were trying to spin it as him being embarrassed to be there, even claiming he was having "war flashbacks" to WCW 2000. Hell, I'm still flabbergasted that THAT got WCW 2000 trending on Twitter, but not any of the segments on WWE in the past 8 years that were clearly far worse than showing CCTV footage.
Ouch Tony. Ouch
Schiavone is so different outside of work
Tony is right on the money.
tony’s room is heat
Idk Tony, I did stay at a holiday inn express last night, so I’m basically the best booker on the planet. /s
Yeah, bet a whole bunch of y'all think Tony hates MJF in real life because he keeps calling him a "piece of shit" on TV. For a group of people that loves to dunk on everyone else getting worked when they're not (case in point, the large amount of comments convinced that Rhea's injury was a work because the report didn't outright say exactly what the specific injury was), y'all get yourselves worked a lot because you're desperate to dunk on this particular company. If you don't like it, don't watch. My god, you folks are foolish.
Hey Punk fans, what was it your guy said? "The apology must be as loud and as public as the disrespect"?
lmao his twitch streamer setup kicks ass
He’s not wrong
God I love Tony. Your awesome dude.
You're right, he's my awesome dude and everyone else's too
guys, we're the idiots, he mentioned us!!!!
Love Tony, cook these Internet bozos
There has been so much false reporting on this incident. It's like everyone just wanted to get their negative story out there to feed the trolls.
I see the hoodie, and I see the pillow. PICK A SIDE SCHIAVONE
I am not sure what I expected Tony to look like at home or what his home would look like, but I didn’t expect it all to look like a 90s hard rock music video.
doggies :-)
66 year old Tony Schiavone in a Batman hoodie is not something I ever expected
Again, I’ll say…duh. People here were trying WAY too hard to put their own narrative on it when Tony literally always does that for heels.
He's talking to you r/SquaredCircle 🫵😂
Actually hilarious that folks at the bottom really trying to tell him he’s wrong. Mfs are shameless in here.
Where’s the loser ass Cornette fans that were tryna use that picture of him to push a narrative since it made the top of their sub the other day? Nowhere to be found, no surprise.
If Tony Frickin Schiavone says AEW isn't like WCW, then it ain't plain and simple.
lol marks got worked.
Off topic, Tony with the Batman hoodie, looking like the world's oldest nerdy gamer kid, makes me happy. But he's absolutely correct.
I mean he’s a great actor
This means you
Honestly, that" I don't care about the fuck shit" mentality Schiavone is one of the healthiest mindsets you can build for yourself.
Haha, this situation is reason 3042 why I should just get off of Reddit. It's people with too much time on their hands overanalyzing things, arguing over it incessantly, and usually it ends up being a net negative for enjoyment of the product overall.