Mike Chioda was a referee in WWE for 30 years before being released earlier this year on Wednesday, April 15, 2020, as part of cost-saving measures due to the emerging pandemic.
When you are a referee for that long, you are bound to be a part of iconic moments in WWE history. One of the first iconic moments in WWE Raw history when the debut of the 1-2-3 Kid and his defeat of a Razor Ramon on May 17, 1993. This was a game-changing moment that set the stage for many more unpredictable Monday Night Raw moments to come in the 27 years that have followed.
Speaking with WrestlingInc., Mike recalled this legendary moment from 1993 and what Scott Hall told him before they went out to the ring.
WrestlingInc. sent along the following quote.
"That was great. There was probably, I want to say, maybe 500 - 1,000 people in that arena but what a wrestling vibe that was. That was an amazing match from the perspective of some young kid coming in, which became X-Pac, and he was the 1-2-3 Kid. Razor came up to me all day long because he loved how I counted. A lot of false-count finishes. One, two, kick out. Not today, you'd be on the same page as almost counting three and kicking out. He says, 'Man, I want you to make this the fastest count ever.' He really didn't want to do the job because I don't think they were that great of friends at that point yet. They became good friends. He was like, 'I want you to count as fast as you can. It's your ass if you don't count fast. You'll make me look stupid sitting there for a long three. 'That's when it was old school man. They cared about their character and cared about who they were doing a job to. We'll be talking about that someday on AdFreeShows, a watch-along, hopefully coming up someday."
Elsewhere in the interview, Chioda opened up about refereeing the match between Hulk Hogan and the Rock at WrestleMania 18 in 2002. Read his remarks about that moment at this link.
