In an exclusive for WrestlingNews.co, Steve Fall interviewed former WWE referee Mike Chioda. Chioda spoke about his 3 decades working for the company. Scroll down to watch the entire interview.
Mike Chioda on hookers walking by as he protected satellite trucks during WrestleMania 4 & 5:
“WrestleMania IV and V was so cool for me because I was in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, living outside Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Willingboro. Four and Five was in Atlantic City, so it was phenomenal. I remember so many nights I had to sit in a pay-per-view truck because they were scared about somebody damaging in the fu**ing pay-per-view trucks. Like the satellite trucks, they were scared about somebody damaging it. I don’t know if it was like the WCW thing, but we had to take turns sitting there. I remember sitting in a satellite truck from like midnight to like seven or eight in the morning just watching the strippers come out of the clubs and people going in and out of the strip club, hookers walking by. I’m like, everybody’s having fun but me sitting in a satellite truck. I’m like, how did I get this job?”
On being released by WWE in 2020:
“I don’t know. I don’t know to this day. I was making really good money. I’ll tell you straight out I was probably making 240 a year, but I’ve been there for 35 years at the time. I was out on surgery. I was out hurt. I made the transition. I moved to Houston in ’07. I came here in 2019, waited about a year for a house to be built, and got here in October 2019. I flew to Alabama, once it went to closing on my house here in Tampa, went and got the surgery, came home, rehabbed here for six months. I was ready for WrestleMania but then the COVID hit and I didn’t get a call. I’m like, you gotta be kidding me. But you know, when we look at it, like Tony Chimel and I, you know, Tony got released too. He was with the company for 38 years. You know, just no reason, no why, no nothing, You know, they said budget costs but come on. The company, I think six months later, they had their best quarter in so many years or something and did great. It wasn’t just me. People like Tony Chimel. You know, I remember talking to Corano. I said, ‘Carano, what the f**k. You gotta be fu**ing kidding me?’ I know he felt bad and he didn’t know what to say. He said, ‘Mike, look, it’s not just you. It’s Tony Chimel, Tom Carlucci, John D’Amico.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, so everybody over 30 fu**ing years plus with the company. So that’s where you’re going with this. It wasn’t really a fu**ing budget cut’, because he’s mentioned three other people in three other different departments.”
This interview is exclusive to WrestlingNews.co. If you use these quotes, please include a link back to this page.
