Tony Schiavone update following AEW Dynamite absence
A family situation caused Tony Schiavone to miss Wednesday night’s edition of AEW Dynamite.
Schiavone was not on commentary for last night’s show from Clarksville, Tennessee. Ian Riccaboni and Matt Menard called Dynamite alongside Excalibur, who said that Schiavone was “on assignment.” The absence led to fan speculation that Schiavone had been punished for a now-deleted tweet he sent out earlier this week aimed at NJPW commentator Chris Charlton, but Dave Meltzer says that is not the case. Schiavone missed the show because of a family situation but should be back soon.
“He wasn’t on the show tonight, and it’s nothing big or anything like that,” Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio. “When he wasn’t there, I started getting all these people going like, ‘Oh my God, did he get suspended for that [tweet]?’ But it was just a family situation. He’s fine, he’ll be back, you know, I presume on Saturday. It’s not anything to be alarmed over. It was just a family situation, he missed one show. So that’s the situation there.”
Meltzer reported on Monday that Charlton is on “indefinite hiatus” from NJPW due to negative comments he made about AEW on commentary during Wrestle Dynasty at the Tokyo Dome, which featured wrestlers from NJPW, AEW, Stardom, CMLL, and ROH.
In response to Charlton’s comments, Schiavone tweeted the following before deleting it: “Hey [Chris Charlton] speaking for all of us in AEW, GFY. And speaking for all of us who have been around you, take a shower once in a while.”
AEW Collision is taking place live from Athens, Georgia this Saturday (January 11).
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.