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Former WWE Referee Speaks On Differences Between WWE and AEW
During a recent appearance on the WrestlingInc Daily Podcast, Mike Chioda opened up about the treatment of AEW and WWE referees.
Former WWE referee Chioda spoke about how he was shocked that AEW let their referees sell shirts and autographs, mentioning that WWE referees are ‘not really characters’
“I was amazed about that,” Chioda admitted. “I was like, ‘You can sell shirts, 8 x 10’s, do a podcast and do that?’ I felt like I was in this bubble for so many years. I’m not gonna knock Vince, Linda, Shane and Stephanie, they gave me a hell of a run, 35 years. Had a hell of a run with them and I appreciate all they’ve done for me. Talking about from the referee standpoint, they let the referees have their own character. They they let them do other shows, do other things, have their own shirts, video games [and] all that.
Chioda went on to reveal how WWE removed him from one of their video games after he asked for royalties.
“You’re tied down at WWE. You couldn’t get royalties off of video games because they wouldn’t let us in the video games. They let me in for a little while, and then once I was talking about, ‘Okay, where’s my royalties?’ They took me right out of the game. I was in the SmackDown video game, and I was talking to Johnny [Ace] about it. I said, ‘Johnny, I’ve been here for quite a while. It’s not like I’m just a referee that came in here for two years or three years,’ and he’s like, ‘Nah just not doing the referees.’ And I said, ‘Wow.’ It’s a little uncomfortable because when you hear all the boys are making a lot of money off the royalties, which so be — I mean, I own my own name.
Chioda finished by saying how he feels WWE referees get ‘really locked down’, urging the company to take care of their referees.
“You got to think about guys that don’t own their own name [and] what they go through if they leave the company. I think the referees get really locked down at the WWE. There’s enough to go around everywhere, especially with the WWE. Take care of the referees. If you have 60 talents, 17 refs, take care of the refs too.”
Check out the interview below.
Special thanks to WrestlingInc.com for the transcription.