Veteran wrestling referee Mike Chioda recently discussed getting a call from AEW to officiate the Owen Hart Cup finals. Many fans were thrilled to see the 33-year veteran officiate the match between Adam Cole and Samoa Joe at AEW Double or Nothing 2022. Interestingly, Chioda got the call while on a cruise with his wife.
You can check out some of what he had to say during his Monday Mailbag podcast for AdFreeShows below:
On getting a call from AEW while he was on a cruise with his wife: “I was on a cruise with my wife. Second day on the cruise, I get a call from [AEW producer] Dean Malenko. And Dean’s like ‘Hey, where you at? What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m on a f*cking cruise!’”
On agreeing to referee the match at Double or Nothing two weeks later: “First time I’m on a cruise in four or five years with my wife, and I’ve got to start f*cking dieting. I’m sitting down there at the bar too at this time … I come up there, I meet my wife, and I didn’t even tell her yet … she sees me coming in with this egg white omelet, some fruit, real healthy cottage cheese, and she’s like ‘What are you doing? You’re not trying the waffles? You’re not getting the pancakes over there?’ I’m like, ‘AEW called and they want me to do a show in two weeks.’”
On AEW’s reaction when he accepted the offer: “It was cool, they popped real huge [on the phone] they were happy I was able to do it, I wanted to do it. It’s an honor getting called back to do something like that for Owen Hart. Worked with him many, many years. Owen and Bret were always great guys to me man, good people. God bless Owen.”
It definitely was fun seeing him officiate the Owen Hart cup finals. Hopefully, we’ll see more of Chioda in AEW.
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(h/t – Wrestling Inc)
