Referee Odie Brown talks about meeting Vince McMahon; being in a WWE Braun Strowman-Kevin Owens segment and the life of a wrestling referee (Exclusive)

Acting and WWE Referees who were his idols

Mike Chioda

Having a major in theater and acting, Odie Brown certainly felt that his acting credentials helped him when it came to wrestling.

"I think the acting was like the perfect foundation for me to build my referring career on and something that I still enjoy to this day and something I really want to get back to at some point. But wrestling is going particularly well right now and I am like ‘Alright, I’ll see you in a few years, acting.’"

He has set some huge goals for himself as well.

"I set very over-the-top goals for myself so that I achieve something big. When I first started referring, I was like, ‘Well, if you are not doing this to referee the main event at WrestleMania someday, then why bother doing this?’ So that’s my goal. As far as acting, I said the same thing, that if you are not trying to be the leading man on Broadway someday or win a Tony Award or win an Oscar at some point, then what’s the point? I try to be as successful as I possibly can. But I am not really someone taken by the ideas of fame. Being wealthy would be nice, but I just kind of want to be live comfortably. What I really want is my work to be good, satisfying and reach as many people as possible. That’s all."

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Talking about his idol in the refereeing business, Mike Chioda is a name that stands out to Referee Odie Brown.

"Charles Robinson is amazing, there’s no taking away from him. He is a lot of people’s icon and one of mine as well. But I have really been gravitating towards Mike Chioda lately. I feel like he is kind of the unsung hero of WWE. They did a video package on him not too long ago, highlighting his career. A little while before that has been released, I started backtracking mentally doing a little bit of the math and if you really think about it, he has never been fired, he has never been seriously injured, and he has been with the company since before the first episode of Raw. So theoretically, the argument can be made that he appeared on more episodes of Monday night RAW than anybody else."

"He is definitely somebody I look up to and he is a kind, generous person. The first time I met him, he gave me his email address and said, if you have any question please don’t hesitate to ask."

"I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Jason Ayers. He is a SmackDown referee at the moment who has kind of been very influential to my career and has been generous with his time and information. He is a very good referee and a very close friend."