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Former WWE referee Marty Elias recently stated that he was surprised to see Mike Chioda being released by the company last year.
Chioda, a senior referee, had been with Vince McMahon's promotion for over three decades. He even played a role in training the WWE Chairman's son, Shane McMahon, many years ago.
Marty Elias, who officiated Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker's WrestleMania 25 classic, had the following to say about this topic on Sportskeeda Wrestling's UnSKripted this week:
"I was very surprised by that [Mike Chioda's release]. I really was." Elias continued, "Because Mike had been there for over 25 years and Mike had seen it all there in WWF, WWE. I mean, he started with Gorilla Monsoon's son, Joey Marella. Mike and Joey are the guys who took Shane McMahon on the road and trained him, how to set up rings, showed him everything - showed him how to be a referee. All this stuff, you know. So I was very surprised and shocked by it."
While Chioda was let go by the company due to COVID-19 budget cuts last year, Elias got released in 2009 for a bizarre reason, which you can read HERE.
Marty Elias on WWE's missed opportunity with Mike Chioda
Elias criticized the company's decision to release Chioda, stating that if he were in a high-ranking backstage position, he would have sent the latter to the Performance Center to train new referees instead.
The latest guest on UnSKripted with Dr. Chris Featherstone also made an interesting comment about AEW:
"I really think that Mike should be somewhere. I would have never released him if I was WWE. I would have sent him down to the Performance Center and I would have had him train those referees down there." Elias added, "That's exactly what I would have done. And I know he did a couple of shots with AEW, and if AEW really wants to improve on their referees, they should have somebody like a Mike Chioda or a Marty Elias there."
Mike Chioda officiated three matches for AEW just a few months after his WWE release. Interestingly, he criticized the style of refereeing in Tony Khan's promotion not too long ago.
While using any quotes from this article, please give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the video.
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