Tony Schiavone Noah Anthony " Tony " Schiavone ( born November 7 , 1957 ) is an American sports broadcaster . He is the play - by - play broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves of the International League . He has been a sports radio host and a professional wrestling announcer known for his work in the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA ) , the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) and World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) . WWE ( formerly the WWF ) remarked , " At the height of the Monday Night War , veteran broadcaster Tony Schiavone ' s voice was as vital to the onscreen product of World Championship Wrestling as Jim Ross ' Oklahoma growl was to [ the WWF ] . " Career . Early life and career . Schiavone attended Buffalo Gap High School in Swoope , Virginia and James Madison University in Harrisonburg , Virginia . There , he served in a play - by - play role for the school ' s women ' s college basketball team before starting his radio and television career calling high school football and basketball games in the Southeast . He also worked five years in minor league baseball with the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles ' minor league franchises in the mid - Atlantic , most notably the Charlotte O ' s , which was partly owned by Jim Crockett , Jr . Mid - Atlantic Championship Wrestling . While affiliated with the Charlotte O ' s , he began as a wrestling announcer with another Crockett venture , Jim Crockett Promotions , ( the precursor to World Championship Wrestling or WCW ) in the early 1980s . In 1984 , Schiavone was seen as a ring announcer on the syndicated " Pro Wrestling USA " television show . When Jim Crockett Promotions got national television exposure on TBS Superstation in 1985 , he was a regular host of the wrestling program . He worked alongside David Crockett in the announce booth , playing more of a straight color commentator , while Crockett did the play - by - play . Schiavone would also interview wrestlers about upcoming house show matches they would have . World Wrestling Federation . He was signed by Vince McMahon ' s WWF for a stint in 1989 and early 1990 , doing backstage interviews with various wrestlers at Wrestlemania V . In the WWF he was most notable as being the main play - by - play announcer for their SummerSlam 1989 and Royal Rumble 1990 pay - per - views alongside Jesse " The Body " Ventura . Schiavone returned soon afterwards to WCW , the former Crockett promotion by then owned by media mogul Ted Turner . World Championship Wrestling . Schiavone became the lead voice for WCW ' s flagship program , " Monday Nitro " . He also served as the lead announcer of " Thunder " , typically working alongside Mike Tenay , Bobby Heenan , Larry Zbyszko , and later with Mark Madden . Before the advent of " Nitro " and " Thunder " , Schiavone hosted " WCW Saturday Night " and " WCW WorldWide " . He made an appearance in the movie Ready to Rumble . When WCW ' s main assets were bought by the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF / now WWE ) in 2001 , Schiavone left . Total Nonstop Action Wrestling . In 2003 , Schiavone made an appearance on NWA TNA during one of their weekly pay - per - views . Schiavone , unrecognizable with bleach blonde hair and a beard , interrupted an interview with Goldylocks and Percy Pringle and proceeded to cut a worked shoot promo . He started by insulting Pringle ' s weight , telling him to stand near him because he " needed to look thin " . He then insulted Goldylocks by claiming she only got her job with sexual favors . Mike Tenay , TNA ' s lead broadcaster and Schiavone ' s former WCW colleague , then entered the ring and the two got into a storyline argument over their careers and what happened during the last days of WCW , where both men lost their jobs . The promo ended when Vince Russo entered the ring and promised Schiavone a job with him . However , nothing ever came of that as Schiavone only made one more appearance in TNA and he hasn ' t been seen on a televised wrestling program since . Back to the Diamond . Schiavone now is in the rare position of being the morning sports anchor for both WDUN in Gainesville and WSB - AM in Atlanta simultaneously , even though the two stations have different owners ( WDUN has a partnership with Cox Communications , which owns WSB - TV and WSB - AM ) . Schiavone also has done morning sports reports for Cox sister stations WHIO AM / FM in Dayton , Ohio . Additionally , Schiavone is a writer for the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network and produced the Best of the Bulldogs , which won the AP Award for Best Sports Program in 2004 . Schiavone owns his own radio production company , Blind Dog Sports . After a few years of work with the Braves system including pre - game and post - game radio coverage , and also spot duty as an official scorer for games , Schiavone returned to play - by - play duties on radio when the Gwinnett Braves began their first season in Lawrenceville , Georgia as Atlanta ' s AAA - level affiliate for the 2009 - 10 season . Georgia Bulldogs Football Radio Show . Along with being a writer for the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network , Schiavone also works one of the post game talk shows on the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network for home and away games alongside former University of Georgia quarterback David Greene . Criticism . Announcing style . During his tenure with WCW , Schiavone developed a reputation for his over - the - top announcing style , proclaiming many " Nitro " broadcasts to be " the greatest " , or " most explosive " , telecast " in the history of our sport . " However , when this hyperbole was repeated on a weekly basis throughout the Monday Night Wars , the phrase lost meaning . Schiavone has conceded that there was " too much " of him and he was " overexposed " . He claims to have been uncomfortable with his shilling of the WCW product . Mick Foley incident . One infamous incident happened on the January 4 , 1999 , " Nitro " . " Nitro " was airing live against the pre - taped " WWF Raw is War " on USA Network and was to feature a rematch between WCW World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash and Goldberg from " Starrcade " , where Nash had ended Goldberg ' s undefeated streak and taken his title under controversial circumstances , as well as the first appearance of Hollywood Hogan since he announced his " retirement " from professional wrestling on the Thanksgiving 1998 edition of " The Tonight Show with Jay Leno " . Meanwhile , " Raw " was to feature Mick Foley , who was wrestling as Mankind at the time and had previously for WCW as Cactus Jack , win his first WWF Championship in a rematch against The Rock . However , " Raw " was taped and " Nitro " was live , and it was a practice for WCW and executive producer Eric Bischoff to spoil pre - taped " Raw " episodes , by telling the WCW audience the results of the Raw show , and not give fans reasons to change the channel . According to Foley , who wrote about the incident in the first chapter of his book " Foley Is Good ( and the Real World is Faker than Wrestling ) " , this was to be a pivotal night for WCW as people believed that WCW , whose record streak of 84 consecutive wins in the ratings had been snapped by " Raw " in April 1998 and had only eight head - to - head wins after that , would turn the ratings tide back to them and potentially take over the lead in the Monday Night Wars . During the show Schiavone spoiled the result of " Raw ' s " main event by saying that Foley would win , sarcastically remarking " That ' ll put a lot of butts in seats " . Foley was genuinely upset by what he had heard and telephoned Schiavone to talk about it . When Schiavone called Foley back , he told Foley that Bischoff had ordered Schiavone to reveal his title win over the air . The strategy , however , backfired on Bischoff . Almost immediately after Schiavone spoiled Foley ' s title win , 600 , 000 households switched from " Nitro " to " Raw " , to watch Foley win the title . This was enough to give the WWF the ratings win for the night , with a 5 . 7 final rating to " Nitro ' s " 5 . 0 . WCW ' s ratings never saw more than a 5 . 0 going head - to - head with " Raw " again and " Nitro ' s " rating sank below 5 . 0 and by the end of the year was struggling to stay above 3 . 0 . Bobby Heenan rivalry . In an RF Video shoot interview , Schiavone was criticized by Bobby Heenan who claimed that Schiavone would allegedly hide finishes and angles from him and Mike Tenay during broadcasts , claiming Schiavone ' s key to life is " knowledge is power " . This was an opinion shared by long - time wrestling broadcaster " Mean Gene " Okerlund who claimed that , while he liked Schiavone and did not have many problems with him , " Tony was the consummate politician " and " Tony watched out for Tony and in doing so , had a tendency to bury people along the way " . One tense incident happened on the " Nitro " following the death of Heenan ' s longtime best friend Gorilla Monsoon . Heenan was allowed to say a word of honor for Monsoon albeit only a small statement . Later on in the show when Schiavone asked for Heenan ' s opinion on an upcoming tag team match Heenan responded , " I can ' t hear you from way down here " , in tears , before the camera cut away . Appearing on " The Ross Report " in 2014 , Schiavone accepted responsibility for the collapse of his relationship with Heenan , and said of Heenan ' s criticism of him : " I deserve it " . Personal life . Tony has been married to Lois since 1981 , and together they have 5 children : Matt , Laurie , Chris , Jon Michael and Tim . They also have 3 grandchildren .