Mike Chioda has revealed that former WWE executives wanted to use referees to report wrestlers who got to the building late. He said he refused to take part in that practice backstage.
On David Otunga’s The Wednesday Hang podcast, Chioda named Mark Carrano and John Laurinaitis as the people behind it. He said referees were supposed to keep an eye on what time talent got to the show and tell the office if anyone was even 30 minutes late.
When he pushed back on the demand, Chioda said:
“You want me to stooge them out because they come in 30 minutes late?”
He noted that he worked directly with the same wrestlers for about 280 to 300 days a year. If he reported one of them, it could get him heat in the locker room and hurt the trust they needed to work together on the road overseas.
Chioda was afraid of payback from his own colleagues, including ribs, a longtime backstage tradition in WWE. He even brought up the possibility of having his hair cut for reporting someone.
This was an issue for younger referees as well. Chioda said he would confront Carrano when those less experienced referees were handed that job because he thought they would end up getting heat from the wrestlers. In one of those talks, he asked Carrano to “go a different route” to keep an eye on the roster.
Chioda also talked about the role of referees when it came to drug tests. They could be sent to find the wrestlers who were picked for a test and stay with them until they were done. Chioda said some of the wrestlers weren’t happy when they were told, especially the ones who may have been taking banned substances.