What Happened When with Tony Schiavone

[Petey]

On 4/14/2020 at 4:54 PM, The Thread Killer said:

 

I got bored and decided to watch some old ECW on the WWE Network.  I remembered these posts from @SomethingSavage (who I miss seeing around here, by the way) so just for shits and giggles, I decided to watch the ECW PPV's in "watch along" form with What Happened When.  I have been pleasantly surprised so far.  I think you guys kind of hit the nail on the head earlier in this thread.  It's pretty obvious that Tony has no interest in watching old shit that he has already seen or was directly involved in.  It clearly bores him, which leads to nothing but stupid jokes.  But it has been really fun listening to Conrad introduce him to ECW, give him some of the background information, and hearing Tony mark out for it like a new fan.  His enjoyment of Heat Wave 98 seemed totally sincere, and it was fun re-watching that show (which I had previously seen several times) in this context.  I think the whole format of Conrad and Tony watching stuff Tony has never seen before is actually a good fit for this show.  I know I am very late to the party on this (I'm almost two years behind) but I am going to continue to do the ECW watch-along episodes.  As long as there are no Casio Kid appearances. 

I completely agree that the episodes where Tony's watching stuff he's never seen tends to be the best. The WWE/WWF ones are pretty good because sometimes he'll point out certain things they might do from a production standpoint that differs from WCW at the time. I just wish that Conrad wouldn't shit all over the NWA stuff because it's obvious that is stuff that Tony likes to rewatch and is nostalgic for but Conrad's clearly super bored by it and his "I'm bored by this" schtick is irritating.

[BigBadMick]

I listened to Cornette's commentary on Vader v Michaels at SummerSlam '96.

Are Schiavone's commentary tracks up to that standard? If so, any recommendations?

Thanks!

[cactus]

17 hours ago, BigBadMick said:

I listened to Cornette's commentary on Vader v Michaels at SummerSlam '96.

Are Schiavone's commentary tracks up to that standard? If so, any recommendations?

Thanks!

I've only listened to his ones on Halloween Havoc 94 and Wrestlemania 3, but they are no way as in depth or serious as the watchalongs that Corny does. Tony gets bored quite easy and starts bullshitting and going off topic. They can be entertaining though, as Tony can be a funny guy when he's not being too irritating. 

[BigBadMick]

Thanks Cactus. I'll try out Arn's commentary track on the first War Games as well. 

[Petey]

On 8/16/2020 at 5:32 PM, BigBadMick said:

I listened to Cornette's commentary on Vader v Michaels at SummerSlam '96.

Are Schiavone's commentary tracks up to that standard? If so, any recommendations?

Thanks!

I haven't listened to any of Cornette's watchalongs yet but I have listened to a bunch of Tony's and I would imagine they're nothing alike. Tony and Conrad basically just shoot the shit for the show and often don't talk about anything going on in the actual show. WHW is more just a couple of guys hanging out and having wrestling on in the background. I enjoy the shows because I find Tony to be very entertaining and every once in a while, he will have a good anecdote related to production or something along those lines which is insightful.

But yeah, if you're hoping for an in-depth breakdown of certain shows/matches, WHW ain't that.

[Robert S]

I have watched a watchalong or two with Tony, but I was not the biggest fan of them. Tony is okay, but Conrad is a put-off for me.

Yesterday, I also tried to listen to a Something to Wrestle With watchalong. I chose Survivor Series 87 because I thought this event should not give Bruce much chance to go on a Meltzer-rant (for one, Prichard at this point was just a production assistant, i.e. not deeply involved within backstage politics, plus I thought there should not be big disputes for that event). The first 20 minutes or so were fine (besides a suspicious timeline or two), then Thompson gave a quick history behind the Survivor Series (i.e. Vince attacking JCP by running a PPV head-to-head and telling cable operators either carry Survivor Series instead of Starrcade or they won't get Wrestlemania IV). Then Bruce went on a rant attacking Dave (who was not named at all by Conrad) how this stuff is bullshit only by giving an almost identical story, though one where Vince looks even more aggressive (Vince telling cable operators to not carry Starrcade if they want to get Wrestlemania, on which some cable operators requested an alternative which ended up being Survivor Series - I would have to look up, what was actually reported back then). That was it for me and Bruce Pritchard podcasts.

[Petey]

Bruce trying to deny that Survivor Series wasn't trying to kill Crockett/Starrcade was so egregious that I don't know how he said it with a straight face, even by his own standards.

[justinsdrown]

On 8/20/2020 at 9:12 PM, Petey said:

Bruce trying to deny that Survivor Series wasn't trying to kill Crockett/Starrcade was so egregious that I don't know how he said it with a straight face, even by his own standards.

I could choke Bruce.