Tony Schiavone confirms reason for missing AEW Dynamite last week

On his What Happened When podcast, Tony Schiavone explained why he was absent from AEW Dynamite last week.

Schiavone wasn’t on AEW commentary last Wednesday but returned over the weekend for Collision. Dave Meltzer reported that a family situation caused Schiavone to miss the Dynamite episode — and Schiavone confirmed on his podcast that his absence was planned and was due to his wife Lois undergoing hip replacement surgery. She got out of the hospital last Wednesday after having surgery done on Tuesday.

“She’s actually moving quite well now. But it’s slow, it really is,” Schiavone said. “They do not do rehab, physical therapy, for a hip. They just tell you to walk. So the recovery time, I guess, is based on how much you get out and you move. And she’s been, you know, hasn’t really been getting out, but she’s been moving. She’s been going up the steps, she’s been going down the steps, to the bedroom, she’s been putting herself into the bed. And you got to swing the hips to get in.

“So I don’t know what the recovery time is. But as far as pain management is concerned, I’m thinking that the pain has been subsiding and she’s been able to cut down on the meds. So I would think maybe in the next couple of weeks she would be much, much better pain-wise. As far as getting around-wise, I’m not sure.”

Ian Riccaboni filled in for Schiavone on Dynamite commentary last week. Schiavone’s absence led to fan speculation that he was being punished for a tweet he had sent out about NJPW commentator Chris Charlton, but that was not the case.

Charlton is on indefinite hiatus from NJPW commentary after anti-AEW comments he made during Wrestle Dynasty, which took place at the Tokyo Dome on January 5 and featured wrestlers from NJPW, AEW, Stardom, CMLL, and ROH.

“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,” Schiavone tweeted before deleting the post.