Tony Schiavone Recalls Interesting Request Vince McMahon Made Of Him

Tony Schiavone likes a good soup strainer.

Schiavone recently did a Q & A for AdFreeShows where he discussed his tenure in WWE (then WWF) from 1989 – 1990. Schiavone said that then WWE head honcho Vince McMahon didn't want any aspect of Schiavone's Jim Crockett Promotions identity. "Vince wanted me to shave my mustache," Schiavone recalled. "He said 'I'm going to ask you something if you don't mind doing it,' and this is back in the day when Vince would ask you to do something instead of telling you to do something."

According to Schiavone, McMahon felt that legendary interviewer Mean Gene Okerlund should be the only mustache in WWE and that Schiavone needed a different look. "So he wanted to completely erase all my identity from the NWA. And I wouldn't. I would much rather Arn give me a Spinebuster because his belly is so big now that I'd just bounce off of him." Schiavone goes on to crudely describe his wife's belly when she was pregnant with twins, saying it "pales in comparison to Arn's belly," and also compared Arn's belly to that of legendarily rotund wrestler Abdullah The Butcher.

Schiavone has since returned to the wrestling business as a commentator and interviewer for AEW, where the longtime wrestling and baseball announcer has been allowed to go beyond a mustache and sport a full beard on each All Elite Wrestling broadcast.