Thursday, March 28, 2024
NewsMike Chioda Details How Referee Contracts Work In Wrestling

Mike Chioda Details How Referee Contracts Work In Wrestling

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Mike Chioda spoke about how a contract for a referee works compared to talent during an interview with Wrestling Inc

Here is what he had to say: 

On how referees are treated today vs. when he started: “Well, when we started out in the company, it was great that I got Chief Jay Strongbow [to make] me a referee, and I always looked to Joey Marella, which was one of my great friends when he was living back in the day. We grew up together, Gorilla Monsoon’s son,” Chioda noted. “So in getting into the referee business, Gorilla Monsoon said to me, ‘Look, I’m going to tell you what I tell my son, the longevity in this business is refereeing.’ I wanted to be a wrestler. I want to snap bumps and snap suplexes, and I was working out with the boys in the ring in the afternoons when I’m setting up the ring. You’d be at the arena all day, and Gorilla kept pulling me aside. He goes, ‘What are you doing taking bumps like that?’ I go, ‘I like to learn.’ He goesm ‘Well, you’re going to be a referee. You can bump certain ways, but you want to be one of the boys, or you want to be a referee.’ I said, ‘I want to be a referee.’ He goes, ‘Referees have longevity in this business,’ which I’ve had a great career for 30 plus years refereeing. They’ve gone through a lot where they don’t take care of the referees a lot anymore in the business over the years. They need to protect the referees as much as possible, I think, as far as the rules and stop changing the rules because they change the rules on and off when it’s convenient for them.”

On referee contracts: “They’re not employees. They’re independent sub-contractors,” Chioda revealed. “They’ll get their stuff. The ring crew referees, like I was for 20 years plus, I was a ring crew and referee, I got everything paid for, whether it was per diem, hotels, transportation, gas [and] everything. There are a lot of referees still with WWE that have to pay for their own hotels, cars, food, expenses on the road, health insurance and everything. AEW takes care of health insurance as well too, takes care of a lot.”
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