Tony Schiavone has been around professional wrestling long enough to see just about everything, but there was one idea he wanted absolutely no part of.
During an appearance on Virginia This Morning to promote AEW Dynamite in Richmond, Schiavone was asked whether he had ever been beaten up in a wrestling angle. The longtime announcer said he had been knocked around a little before, but he made it clear he was never interested in taking a real beating.
“I’ve been pushed down a couple times, but I’ve never been beaten up yet.”
That led Schiavone to tell a story from years ago when one writer pitched the idea of having Tank Abbott punch him in the midsection. Abbott was not just another wrestler at the time. He had a UFC background and had a reputation for being very stiff.Schiavone said the idea was brought to him directly, and he shut it down right away.
“There was one time that one of our writers, this was years ago, and he said, I’d like this wrestler to punch you in the midsection.”
Once Schiavone found out the wrestler was Tank Abbott, he wanted no part of it. He joked that he might have considered almost anyone else, but not Abbott.
“The wrestler at that time was a wrestler named Tank Abbott, who also had been a UFC fighter. He was known to be pretty stiff. And I said absolutely not.”
Schiavone then made it even clearer that Abbott was the wrong person for that kind of spot.
“Anybody else, but I don’t want him.”
It was a funny reminder that even in professional wrestling, not every physical idea is worth saying yes to. Schiavone has called some of the biggest moments in wrestling history, but taking a shot from Tank Abbott was never going to be one of them.
Do you think Tony Schiavone made the right call refusing the Tank Abbott spot? Share your thoughts in the comments and let us know what you think.
