Mike Tenay
| Mike Tenay | |
|---|---|
Tenay in 2007
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| Birth name | Michael William Tenay |
| Born |
March 1, 1955 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Residence | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Mike Tenay |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Billed weight | 170 lb (77 kg) |
| Debut | 1994 |
| Retired | 2015 |
Michael William "Mike" Tenay is a sports betting podcast presenter and retired professional wrestling play-by-play announcer known for his time as an announcer for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Tenay, according to TNA, "is known as 'The Professor' for his extensive knowledge of the sport". Former TNA Executive Producer and WCW president Eric Bischoff has described Tenay as "a walking encyclopedia of knowledge".
Tenay is a five-time recipient of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter award for Best Television Announcer.
In 1966, at age 11, Mike Tenay began one of the country's first wrestling newsletters, Mat News. He also made audio recordings of LA wrestling programs and traded them with fans, a precursor to the tape traders who would follow. In the 1970s, Tenay wrote for the Olympic Auditorium's programs and several national wrestling magazines. After high school, he worked as a repairman and then a betting supervisor for a casino. From 1991-1995, Tenay talked about wrestling with the nationally-aired late night sports talk radio show "Wrestling Insiders". He interviewed wrestling superstars, including Jesse Ventura, Jim Cornette, and Sting. His work on radio led WCW to hire Tenay to work on the WCW Hotline and do his on-location radio broadcasts at WCW events. This led to Tenay’s first major announcing job.
Mike Tenay made his WCW announcing debut during the WCW-co-promoted AAA When Worlds Collide pay-per-view in November 1994. Every announcer in WCW, including lead announcer Tony Schiavone, declined to work the broadcast. During this first broadcast, he and Chris Cruise called the match of Los Gringos Locos (Eddy Guerrero and Art Barr) vs. Hijo del Santo and Octagon, judged by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter as a "legendary" five-star match. Following the success of that event, WCW added more luchadores to the roster, and Tenay would appear as a guest announcer during their pay-per-view matches due to his extensive knowledge of holds and maneuvers as well as lucha libre ring psychology. Tenay would later serve as a full-time play-by-play announcer for secondary television shows such as WCW Worldwide and WCW Saturday Night, where he was known as "Iron" Mike Tenay. He was also backstage interviewer for Uncensored 1995.
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