Tony Schiavone discussed his new backstage responsibilities in the company on the AEW Unrestricted podcast.
“My job is now Senior Producer and Special Advisor and Talent Relations. I love that special advisor role, it’s like, ‘Would you go advise him on something?’ I do a lot of running during the day, trying to talk to talent. Basically, what I do [is] walk around during the day and ask people how they are doing and ask them if they’re happy, if there’s anything we can do to make it better and that’s very, very important. I think we’re really making good strides, I really do but I can tell you this, it’s a slow process. I really think that of all the things that I do for this company, talent relations is the most important.”
Schiavone discussed himself and others such as Sonjay Dutt, QT Marshall, and Pat Buck receiving promotions. Schiavone brought up a meeting with AEW President Tony Khan:
“He brought us all in at Universal during a taping at Universal Studios and he says, ‘Guys, I really need your help. This company is going gangbusters but I feel that I can use you in these ways.’ And we said, ‘sure’ and then the announcement was made. A lot of times things can get crazy in a negative way, that’s the way it happens in wrestling, but now we have the tools in place, the staff in place, to try to remedy that before it breaks bad. We’re not going to be perfect at it but I think we’re going to make it a better place to work, which has already been a great place to work.”
“Throughout the years in pro-wrestling, there have been a lot of people treated like s**t and we want to change that dynamic, we really, really do. You can’t please everybody and everybody wants to know what their creative is and what their vision is and there is so much to gather up that sometimes you just cannot give each individual person the attention he or she needs. Now, I’m put in the position to help Tony out with that and let them know, ‘Hey, we care about you, here’s where you are, you’re a big part of this or you know what? You’re not a big part of this right now and here’s your role and just communicate, that’s all, communicate.’”
(quotes courtesy of F4WOnline.com)
