History YMMV / TonySchiavone

** Almost any time Schiavone is mentioned, expect the "butts in the seats" comment to pop up. He's been getting heat for 20-plus years because of that.
** A later incident of his that got a lot of talk was him reportedly applying for a job as ''a barista on Starbucks'', which was taken as many as a sign of HowTheMightyHaveFallen after having once been the lead announcer of what was for a while the biggest pro wrestling promotion in North America. After being hired by Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, wrestlers such as Wrestling/TheYoungBucks and Dr. Britt Baker would make fun of this by presenting him with coffee cups (the Bucks, being faces on the promotion, were more light-hearted and friendly about it and mostly relegated it to ''WebVideo/BeingTheElite'' whenever Tony has appeared on; Baker, who's a heel, not so much).
*** Ironically, Tony says on the "AEW: Unrestricted" podcast that he ''loved'' working at Starbucks, and looks fondly on his co-workers and the work he did.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Opinions about his role as commentator are all over the place. Detractors point out that when the luchadores were killing themselves with suicide dives and chair shots, he was either ignoring it, making fun of the masks/names, droning on about some nWo stuff, or laughing at some vaguely racist joke; and overreacting to something like David Flair winning the Hardcore title (to which he would give his "the greatest night in the history of our sport" act) and so on. However, supporters point out that, re-watching WCW in its sad, dying days, the man had to sell absolute car crash TV, but with a vigor and air of professionalism few could muster. Moves are being called, talent is being put over—and when he's in there with Mike Tenay, calling lucha or puroresu matches, he does brings his A-game. Most of the outright hatred comes from his near-[[SpotlightStealingSquad omnipresence on WCW television]], shilling it to death (similar to the backlash against Wrestling/MichaelCole today), Bobby Heenan's criticism of him, or due to the "put some butts in the seats" comment. He has been getting better reception in his stint in MLW and AEW.

** "It's STIIIIING!"[[labelnote: Explanation]] Tony's drawn out introduction whenever Sting shows up. Never really reached meme status until the two were reunited in AEW.[[/labelnote]]

* MisBlamed:
** Zig-zagged. While he was forced by Wrestling/EricBischoff to reveal the results of the ''Raw'' episode in which Wrestling/MickFoley won the WWE Championship on ''Nitro'', Schiavone himself came up with the "butts in seats" line regarding the idea of Foley winning the title on the fly. However, he'd show regret right away as he called Mick Foley to apologize days after that ''Nitro'' aired. He later admitted that he would've changed the channel to see Foley win too.
** Similarly, many wrestling fans blame Wrestling/VinceRusso for the call to put WCW's world title on Creator/DavidArquette. However, it was Schiavone who suggested the idea to Russo during a meeting. Granted, it was a joke, but the fact still remains he put the thought in Russo's head.

** Ironically, Tony says on the "AEW: Unrestricted" podcast that he ''loved'' working at Starbucks, and looks fondly on his co-workers and the work he did.

* MisBlamed: Zig-zagged. While he was forced by Wrestling/EricBischoff to reveal the results of the ''Raw'' episode in which Wrestling/MickFoley won the WWE Championship on ''Nitro'', Schiavone himself came up with the "butts in seats" line regarding the idea of Foley winning the title on the fly. However, he'd show regret right away as he called Mick Foley to apologize days after that ''Nitro'' aired. He later admitted that he would've changed the channel to see Foley win too.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Schiavone was no Wrestling/JimRoss, but he did get his fair share of awesome calls. One of his best came when Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage got one up over Wrestling/RandySavage by wrestling him in disguise as Wrestling/LaParka and catching the Macho Man with a surprise Diamond Cutter, knocking him senseless for the pin.
-->'''Schiavone:''' ''When he wakes up let him know that was a Diamond Cutter!''

** A later incident of his that got a lot of talk was him reportedly applying for a job as ''a barista on Starbucks'', which was taken as many as a sign of HowTheMightyHaveFallen after having once been the lead announcer of what was for a while the biggest pro wrestling promotion in North America. After being hired by Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, wrestlers such as Wrestling/TheYoungBucks and Dr. Britt Baker would make fun of this by presenting him with coffee cups (the Bucks, being faces on the promotion, were more light-hearted and friendly about it and mostly relegated it to ''WebVideo/BeingTheElite'', where Tony has appeared; Baker, who's a heel, wasn't so much).

* {{Misblamed}}: Zig-zagged. While he was forced by Wrestling/EricBischoff to bury Wrestling/MickFoley on Nitro, Schiavone himself came up with the "butts in seats" line on the fly. However, he'd show regret right away as he called Mick Foley to apologize days after that Nitro aired. He later admitted that he would've changed the channel to see Foley win too.

* NeverLiveItDown: Almost any time Schiavone is mentioned, expect the "butts in the seats" comment to pop up. He's been getting heat for 20-plus years because of that.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Opinions about his role as commentator are all over the place. Detractors point out that when the luchadores were killing themselves with suicide dives and chair shots, he was either ignoring it, making fun of the masks/names, droning on about some nWo stuff, or laughing at some vaguely racist joke; and overreacting to something like David Flair winning the Hardcore title (to which he would give his "the greatest night in the history of our sport" act) and so on. However, supporters point out that, re-watching WCW in its sad, dying days, the man had to sell absolute car crash TV, but with a vigor and air of professionalism few could muster. Moves are being called, talent is being put over—and when he's in there with Mike Tenay, calling lucha or puroresu matches, he does brings his A-game. Most of the outright hatred comes from his near-[[SpotlightStealingSquad omnipresence on WCW television]], shilling it to death (similar to the backlash against Wrestling/MichaelCole today), Bobby Heenan's criticism of him, or due to the "put some butts in the seats" comment.

* NeverLiveItDown: Almost any time Schiavone is mentioned, expect the "butts in the seats" comment to pop up. He's been getting shit on for 20-plus years because of that.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: This seems to be the ultimate problem with him, as he was forced to sell a lot of dumb ass shit that WCW did in its final years. Gotta give him points for trying. And in the end, even he eventually gave up.

* CriticalBacklash: People love to exaggerate how bad his commentary was, especially if they don't like WCW (He was voted "Worst Television Announcer" in 1999 and 2000 by ''Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter''). He did tend to shut down his partners when they'd say something stupid, occasionally make mistakes (he had a habit of mixing up the names of moves sometimes, such as calling certain moves a "sidewalk slam" or calling the "inverted atomic drop" the "atomic drop") and would repeat the "greatest in history" line more than a few times, but put a lot of effort and energy into getting wrestlers over and treating wrestling as serious as any other sport (Keep in mind that Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon, though considered a SacredCow today, was voted "Worst Television Announcer" ''six'' times, and five of those were consecutive). Many are even asking for WWE to rehire him today, believing that he'd do far better than the current crop of commentators would in getting talent over (aside from perhaps Wrestling/MauroRanallo). Tony claims to have been blackballed, but has been asked back to provide {{confession cam}} commentary for the ''Monday Night War'' series and other WCW related documentaries, so "never say never".

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Opinions about his role as commentator are all over the place. Detractors point out that when the luchadores were killing themselves with suicide dives and chair shots, he was either ignoring it, making fun of the masks/names, droning on about some nWo stuff, or laughing at some vaguely racist joke; and overreacting to something like David Flair winning the Hardcore title (to which he would give his "the greatest night in the history of our sport" act and so on. And that stern face he always gives.) However, supporters point out that, re-watching WCW in its sad, dying days, the man had to sell absolute car crash TV, but with a vigor and air of professionalism few could muster. Moves are being called, talent is being put over—and when he's in there with Mike Tenay, calling lucha or puroresu matches, he does brings his A-game. Most of the outright hatred comes from his near-[[SpotlightStealingSquad omnipresence on WCW television]], shilling it to death (similar to the backlash against Wrestling/MichaelCole today), Bobby Heenan's criticism of him, or due to the "put some butts in the seats" comment.

** On a more positive note "Wrestling/HulkHogan, you can go to Hell. Straight to hell." [[[[labelnote:Explanation]]Schiavone's off-the-cuff closing remark of ''Bash at the Beach'' 1996, following Hulk Hogan's famous FaceHeelTurn.[[/labelnote]]