“The Professor” Mike Tenay, the longtime voice of TNA as a commentator for the first 12 years of the company’s existence, has been retired from the professional wrestling business since 2016. That hasn’t stopped companies from trying to book the TNA Hall of Famer, however.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW President Tony Khan asked Tenay if he would be interested in working “AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam Mexico.” Meltzer reported Khan asked Tenay about appearing on the August show around mid-July. Obviously, as Meltzer wrote, and by Tenay’s lack of commentary on the show, a deal was not completed in time.
The veteran wrestling journalist said that Tenay has received multiple offers from all major companies in recent years. He was also asked to narrate the “Dark Side of the Ring: Jeff Jarrett & the Battle for TNA” episodes that aired on VICE TV to open the show’s seventh season. Meltzer noted that Tenay wasn’t offered a role, that he was aware of, in WWE in the post-Vince McMahon era of the company. however. The report also said Tenay was “basically offered” work doing “anything he wanted” when Scott D’Amore was the president of TNA.
Tenay could be heard in the first three episodes of the latest season of “Dark Side of the Ring” thanks to TNA archive footage, but he was not interviewed for the program. In July, Meltzer reported that “The Professor” had turned down the opportunity to appear on the show.
Khan perhaps thought of Tenay for “Grand Slam: Mexico,” due to his work with WCW and AAA back in the early 1990s. Tenay was the only WCW commentator who worked When Worlds Collide in 1994. After the successful event, WCW signed more luchadors, and Tenay would appear as a guest announcer on their pay-per-view matches.
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