"Everybody liked it" - Former WWE referee Mike Chioda shares details on recent AEW appearance
Mike Chioda, a former 31-year tenured WWE official, recently disclosed some details about his latest AEW appearance as a referee.
At Double or Nothing 2022 on May 29, Chioda was revealed as the referee for the finals of the Owen Hart Foundation Men's tournament. The bout was between Adam Cole and Samoa Joe, with Cole becoming the inaugural winner after hitting his Boom finisher on Joe.
During an episode of AdFreeshows.com's Monday Mailbag, Chioda said AEW senior producer Dean Malenko called him, telling him that the company wanted him as a special guest referee for the men's tournament finals.
"Let me tell you how that all came together. I was on a cruise with my wife. We were sitting there on the second day on the cruise and I got a call from Dean Malenko. He said, ‘We came up with a good plan. Everybody liked it. We want to bring you as a special guest referee for the Owen Hart tournament match," Chioda said.
When asked by Malenko if he knew Owen Hart, the former WWE referee responded by sharing pictures of Owen and other wrestlers such as 1-2-3 Kid (X-Pac).
"He said, ‘Did you know Owen?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I knew him very well. I sent some pictures to him with the one in Israel with 1-2-3 Kid and Tonka in Israel and a couple other pictures. So he wanted me to be the ref and I said, ‘Oh man, that would be great.’ He said, ‘We’d like you to come in and do the match and maybe do the other tournament match’, but there’s a size difference on that. They didn’t want anybody like me being six foot tall," Chioda added. [H/T BodySlam]
Always good to see Mike Chioda back
Fitting he’s here for The Owen final #AEWDoN https://t.co/54HbzrSxhs
Chioda's latest outing at Double or Nothing wasn't the first time he had done officiated in AEW. He previously refereed for the Jacksonville-based company in 2020.
Highlights of Mike Chioda's AEW refereeing run
After being released by WWE on April 15, 2020, Mike Chioda made his All Elite Wrestling debut on the August 12, 2020 edition of Dynamite. He officiated the TNT Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Scorpio Sky and Orange Cassidy versus Chris Jericho rematch.
A few months later, Chioda once again resurfaced to referee another TNT title match, this time between Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes at Full Gear on November 7, 2020.
Wow. Mike Chioda in #AEW. It shouldn’t have come to this. Good for him! 👏 https://t.co/TMqyOwgP3U
After his most recent appearance, it will be interesting to see if the former WWE official will referee permanently in Tony Khan's company. Fans will have to wait and see if he will remain All Elite moving forward.