Mike Chioda Was On A Cruise When AEW Called Him To Referee At Double Or Nothing

WWE released over a hundred members of staff on April 15th 2020, making it the biggest mass exodus in the company’s history. Veteran referee Mike Chioda was one of them and he was really affected by the release. Chioda also explained how he made his way to AEW Double Or Nothing.

Mike Chioda worked for AEW as he made a couple of appearances in the past, but never signed a permanent deal with the company. Chioda did work AEW Double Or Nothing, which surprised fans.

While speaking on “Monday Mailbag” on AdFreeShows.com,” Mike Chioda was asked how he became a part of AEW to referee the Adam Cole vs Samoa Joe match at Double or Nothing. Chioda revealed he was on a cruise when AEW called him to referee at the event.

“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.

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“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.’ 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.”

Adam Cole would end up defeating Samoa Joe in the finals of the Men’s division of the Owen Hart Tournament. We will have to wait and see whether Mike Chioda will return to AEW somewhere down the line.

h/t to WrestlingNews.co

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