On the latest episode of What Happened When with Tony Schiavone, the AEW broadcaster discussed JJ Dillon, the year 1997 in wrestling, and more. You can check out some highlights below:
On JJ Dillon: “JJ was a very instrumental guy in wrestling on many levels. And obviously when, you know, the book that you do with David Crockett had a lot of JJ’s handwriting in there.”
On 1997 being a fun year in wrestling: “I think it was fun, yeah. I think so. I enjoyed going to sell-out crowds, and I enjoyed working with Heenan and Tenay. And where was — let’s see, working with Dusty Rhodes, this was what, after that or before that? [After that] I enjoyed the teams I worked with, and that’s how I enjoyed my broadcast. So yeah, I really did enjoy it.
“Of course. Kevin Sullivan was instrumental backstage at this time, and Kevin was a great guy to work with. Eric put a lot of responsibility on me as far as driving the product, right? He depended on me a lot, and I took that to heart. And I put a lot of pressure on myself because of it, thinking that, ‘You know, this is a big-time cable show, and here I am doing play-by-play for it, so I’ve gotta help it continue to be a big time show.’ That’s why I think, when we talk about WCW failing, you can blame a lot of people why WCW failed. I still say it’s the old TBS regime’s fault. That is the reason that it failed more than anything else. But I have to take some of the blame as well, because I think we’re all a team in there. But I did enjoy it, I really did.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit What Happened When with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.
