Mike Chioda Names Best And Worst Things About Being A WWE Referee

Mike Chioda's career as a wrestling referee spanned three decades, and in an episode of his "Monday Mailbag with Mike Chioda" podcast, he fielded a listener question on the best and worst thing about the job. "The best thing about being a referee is you're third man in the ring," he said. "You get to experience it firsthand and enjoy somebody's incredible matches, like I have done myself in my career and other referees have done."

Chioda added that another joy of his career was being able to handle his duties without incident and not to "screw up on a big match of WrestleMania or a big pay-per-view — and that's what makes you feel good, that you did your job and entertained the crowd." On the flipside, however, Chioda acknowledged the job becomes unforgiving when conspicuous mistakes occur. "The worst thing to be a referee is screwing up during a live pay-per-view or live 'Raw' [or] 'Smackdown,'" he continued, stating that bungling a match's ending will result in fans yelling "you f'ed up, you f'ed up" along with unpleasant feedback from the promotion's executives and the wrestlers.

"So, the worst thing to do is screw up and get a bad paycheck, that's for sure," he said. Chioda was let go from WWE in August 2020 after 31 years with the company — his dismissal was attributed to budget cuts in the midst of the pandemic. To date, he has made a few appearances with AEW — he has quipped that Tony Khan "is not a big fan of the referees" — but to date he has yet to sign a contract with another wrestling promotion.