Following the Face of the Revolution ladder match on a recent episode of AEW Dynamite, there was a lot of fan criticism about referees holding the ladders for wrestlers in matches because it takes away from the match.
Former WWE referee Mike Chioda gave his thoughts on the matter during the latest episode of his “Monday Mailbag” podcast and noted that it’s a safety thing. He said,
“It’s the spot off the ladder off the top, and you want it to be stable and that’s what’s going to happen on these ladder matches. To me, man, it’s all about the safety, so you want a stable ladder when somebody comes off that top of the ladder.”
“A lot of referees will put their foot down and their weight on it. It helps and I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s a certain way to shoot that where you try and get the referee out of the show and just not shoot the referee holding the ladder as much.”
