During an appearance on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Tony Schiavone talked about being in talks with WWE just prior to the launch of AEW:
“During this time, WWE kept talking to me, and I never told WWE that Tony Khan had an interest in me. I was just listening to what they had to say. So, they would call me, and they would say, ‘We don’t have our ducks in a row yet; we’ll be back in touch with you.'”
“Bruce [Prichard] called and said that Vince is very much interested; he wants you to come here and end your career. I said, okay, ‘then make me an offer.’ So, they had an HR person call me, and they say, ‘How much do you need?’ I hyped through the ball way up in the air on that one. And they said, ‘Okay, we’ll be back in touch with you.'”
“Meanwhile, I go down to talk to Tony Khan, and I met with Tony, it was an all-day meeting at the stadium, and I knew immediately I wanted to work there.”
“I didn’t play two sides against the middle; I didn’t. So, I was just waiting and waiting to hear, and Tony offered me something phenomenal. And I knew I wanted to work there, but I was going to listen to what the WWE had to say. I was not one to call the WWE and say, ‘Listen, Tony Khan has offered me this,’ or go to Tony and I did tell Tony that I heard from the WWE and Tony says, ‘Well, if they offer you a million dollars, take it.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry, I will.’ Lois told me, ‘It doesn’t matter what they offer, don’t take it.’ So, anyway, she has a bad feeling about them.”
“The week of SummerSlam, they contacted me, and this was now, I was talking to one of the HR ladies. We will be back in touch with you right after SummerSlam. So the Monday after SummerSlam, I get a call first thing in the morning, and the late from the WWE says, ‘Thank you for your interest, Mr. Schiavone, we have nothing for you.’ And I went, ‘Uh, you guys contacted me.'”
(quotes courtesy of Sportskeeda.com)
