Sean Edmund Mooney (born May 21, 1959) is an
American news anchor
A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...
and former
World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE)
play-by-play
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present
In linguis ...
announcer. He now works as an anchor for
KVOA
KVOA (channel 4) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Allen Media Broadcasting. The station's studios are located on West Elm Street north of downtown Tucson, and its primary transmitter is ...
, the
NBC affiliate in Tucson, Arizona and the
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc.
Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a ...
. He was born in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located i ...
.
WWF career
Mooney debuted on the May 15, 1988 edition of ''
WWF Wrestling Challenge'', replacing announcer Craig DeGeorge.
During his time in the WWF, Mooney's primary duties included play-by-play announcing for matches aired on ''
Prime Time Wrestling'', ''
WWF Mania'', ''
WWF All-American Wrestling
''WWF All American Wrestling'' is a cable television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The show was a predecessor to ''Tuesday Night Titans'' and ''Saturday Night's Main Event'', originally filling the 11:00 a.m. East ...
'', as host of
Coliseum Video releases (where he also provided commentary for "exclusive" matches), and hosting the "Events Center" segment during the WWF's
syndicated
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
TV shows, such as ''
WWF Superstars'' and ''WWF Wrestling Challenge''. The "Event Center" was a segment used to promote feuds and house shows. During a moment where Earthquake squashed
Jake Roberts’ pet snake Damian, cuts were made to Mooney in the "Event Center" to censor out the moments of impact. Mooney made his pay-per-view debut at
the first SummerSlam in August 1988 as an interviewer.
On occasion, Mooney portrayed his fictional siblings, an
identical twin
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...
sister named Betty on ''Prime Time Wrestling'' (alongside heel wrestlers including
Sensational Sherri
Sherry Schrull (née Russell; born February 8, 1958 – June 15, 2007) was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri.
Martel began her professional wrestling career in the ...
) and identical twin brother Ian Mooney while co-hosting ''
Wrestling Spotlight''. Mooney's last major appearances were at
the 1992 Survivor Series and early episodes of ''
WWF Monday Night Raw
''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...
'', with his actual last appearance on WWF TV as the host of the countdown show to
WrestleMania IX. In April 1993, his contract expired and he opted not to renew it.
He was replaced by
Todd Pettengill as an interviewer and Event Center personality and by
Gorilla Monsoon on ''WWF Mania'' and ''WWF All-American Wrestling'' for play-by-play.
Later appearances
He reappeared on WWE TV in October 2005, during the pre-show to ''WWE Raw''s "
Homecoming" to the
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Mad ...
. The pre-show simply ran through some past moments of ''RAW'' on the USA Network, with several people involved with the WWE during the first years of ''Monday Night Raw'', including Mooney, sharing their memories of the WWE during that period.
Mooney once again returned to WWE on July 23, 2012, for the 1,000th episode of ''Raw'' by interviewing
Daniel Bryan Daniel Bryan may refer to:
* Bryan Danielson (born 1981), American professional wrestler who formerly used the ring name "Daniel Bryan"
* Dan Bryan (1900–1985), Irish soldier
* Daniel Bryan (Big Brother), contestant on the British reality televi ...
backstage.
Mooney returned again on the “Old School” edition of ''
The Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness
Edge & Christian (E&C) were a Canadian professional wrestling tag team. They are best known for their time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where they won the WWF Tag Team Championshi ...
'' and later in a 2017 DVD release called ''WWE Unreleased 1986–1995'' co-hosting with Charly Caruso. Mooney also appeared on the Top 25 Raw moments celebration which was shown on the WWE Network on January 15, 2018.
Pre and post-WWF career
Mooney worked as an on-camera host and producer for
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
Productions in the early 1980s before working for the WWF. In 1994, he became an anchorman for
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by Fox Te ...
, based in
Secaucus, New Jersey. He worked there until 1997, when he was replaced by
Ernie Anastos. He moved that year to
WBZ in Boston where he served as anchorman for just under a year.
Mooney has been a reporter with
Fox Sports Arizona since July 2000 focusing on
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. ...
football and basketball. In 2010, he presented Fox Sports coverage of Rugby around the world and the Rugbyville USA camp in
Glendale, Colorado.
He was hired by
KVOA
KVOA (channel 4) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Allen Media Broadcasting. The station's studios are located on West Elm Street north of downtown Tucson, and its primary transmitter is ...
TV in 2012 to become a weekend news anchor for News 4 Tucson.
He also hosts a podcast on the MLW Radio Network called Prime Time with Sean Mooney, which was co-hosted by former WWE wrestler
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
James Edward Duggan Jr. (born January 14, 1954), better known by his ring name "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE on a Legends contract. His best-known character is that of an American patriot, which ...
for its first 18 episodes.
On July 13, 2018, it was announced Mooney will commentate the
ALL IN broadcast with
Don Callis,
Ian Riccaboni,
Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in t ...
, Alicia Atout,
Justin Roberts, and Bobby Cruise.
On January 27, 2020, it was announced that Mooney would be joining the
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc.
Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a ...
broadcast team. He debuted on the January 28 episode of
NWA Powerrr
''NWA Powerrr'' is a professional wrestling streaming television program produced by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that premiered on October 8, 2019. The series currently streams on FITE TV, where episodes are also made available on-dem ...
interviewing
Nick Aldis.
References
External links
Prime Time with Sean Mooney on MLW Radio Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mooney, Sean
1959 births
American color commentators
American podcasters
Living people
Television personalities from Phoenix, Arizona
Professional wrestling announcers
Professional wrestling podcasters
Television anchors from Boston