"It's hard for me to watch"- Legendary WWE referee Mike Chioda slams refereeing in AEW
Mike Chioda had some damning words for the refereeing standards in AEW. The legendary referee who spent 31 years in WWE stated that the referees are so poor that "it's hard for him to watch."
AEW referees are known to be lenient with their officiating. Often they allow tag team partners to stay in the ring beyond the stipulated five count, or let wrestlers fight at ringside without beginning the count.
This has irked a lot of people, including Mike Chioda, who expressed his feelings on the Such Good Shoot podcast. He accused AEW referees of "not doing s**t" making the product hard to watch. (h/t: Cultaholic)
“AEW’s rules with the refs - I can’t, it's hard for me to watch it” started Chioda “AEW I think is starting to boom, and they're starting to build a roster where with AEW you got the referees are just not doing s***. I want to go back to referees because, you know, I watch it. I watch the show. And it's just hard to watch as a referee when they're just acknowledging the tag in, but not acknowledging the five count out of the corner, or the five count off the ropes, and not even acknowledging the ten counts pretty much. It's basically count a false finish or count the finish,” Mike Chioda concluded.
Mike Chioda refereed some high-profile matches in AEW
Mike Chioda refereed just three matches in AEW, but all three were high-profile matches, including two TNT Championship matches.
His first match in AEW saw him officiate the Cody Rhodes vs Scorpio Sky match for the TNT Championship. On the same night, he officiated the Orange Cassidy vs Chris Jericho rematch.
In November at AEW Full Gear 2020, Mike Chioda made his final appearance in AEW, when he officiated the TNT Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Darby Allin.
In the same interview as above, Chioda mentioned that Tony Khan wasn't keen on him despite some notable AEW stars wanting him in the company.
“Cody wanted me [in AEW] and there was a lot of guys that pushing for me like Taz, Jim Ross… a ton of guys,” Chioda continued “Tony Khan’s not high on referees, bro. I mean, he didn't want me there to train them, and like Cody wanted me to do a lot of their PPVS, but they axed me after like three shows. That was it.”
Would you have liked to have seen Mike Chioda stay in AEW? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below