Tony Schiavone Details Backstage Responsibilities In AEW

With nearly 40 years in the professional wrestling business, Tony Schiavone has emerged as a valuable asset in many non-wrestling roles. He joined AEW in 2019, working as an announcer, commentator, and interviewer, and also the senior producer for live events.

In August 2022, Schiavone earned a promotion and became the Senior Producer and Special Advisor to Talent. On a recent episode of "On Demand: Ask Tony Anything," the new Talent Relations member explained some of his new responsibilities. "There's a lot of things that Tony Khan does not want to handle, and so I have to handle a lot of those, be it talent relations or organizational things."

Schiavone described show days as sometimes being stressful and often long, with meetings the night before and working late nights on television dates. After talking with the company's lawyer, Megha Parekh, Schiavone realized that he was entrusted to fill any gaps he noticed in the company without asking Khan's opinion.

"That's kind of what I've been doing, a lot of organizational things," he continued. "We went back and forth with the production truck today and one of the talents about how we are going to do this interview that's going to happen on Wednesday, and I had to kind of organize that. I'm also one that will get with wrestlers, and when two wrestlers have a problem with each other, I'm kind of the person that talks to him." 

Schiavone said it can be challenging when trying to defuse potential conflict amongst the talent or coaches, but he has a consistent approach to handling it. "So here I come in, say, 'Okay, you f***ers, get the f*** together. We got a f***ing TV show [to do]."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "On Demand: Ask Tony Anything" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.