Former WWE referee Mike Chioda recently spoke on his AdFreeShows podcast and discussed the process of WWE taping episodes of RAW and SmackDown during the ThunderDome era, his experiences working with Adam Cole, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On working the taped Thunderdome shows: “Oh my god that was the s**ts. During COVID, while I actually worked a little bit, they said the tapings at WWE were taking like one match would take three hours. Cut, do this, cut. Charles Robinson and some of the guys I met from a dinner at WrestleMania, we met up one night and Chad Patton and them guys were telling me it was taking two, three, four hours to do one match because they had to cut so many times. It was a mess. Going back out there, especially in front of the crowd, we used to re-tape it and re-do the spot or match. That was the s**t.”
On praising Adam Cole for his match at AEW Revolution: “I told him what a great f**king match he had. I said ‘excellent f**king match brother, good to see ya.’ He looked at me and winked, kind of said something, and said ‘thanks brother, good to see you,’ or something. Then the referee [Bryce Remsburg] came over, shook my hand, and said ‘I hope I made you proud,’ and he did.
“He did a great job that night, the referees did, they all worked hard that night. I know one ref had back-to-back matches, they all had a couple matches, Aubrey started the show off with Jericho’s match, and did a great job. It was a good night man and really cool.”
On Cole impressing him in WWE: “Adam Cole really impressed me [when] I got a call one day, I was off in Houston a few years ago and I got a call from Matt Bloom and he goes ‘Hey, I need you, we’re in Houston tonight, Drake Wuertz got bit by a bomb dog.’ He was sleeping in the locker room and then a police officer came with a dog, sniffing all the rooms, making sure all the backstage area was clean and he went up to Drake and he fricken bit him.
“So we’re getting ready to go to dinner, me and my wife, and next thing you know I get a call from Matt Bloom and he says ‘hey can you make this show? It starts in an hour and 15 minutes.’ I said ‘s–t bro, I’m about 35, 45 minutes from downtown. Yeah, I can go home, get my bag and I’ll make the show.’
“I get down there, make the show on time and I do about three or four matches. The main event was Adam Cole and Keith Lee and they tore that f**king house down. I enjoyed that match so much with the big guy, small guy. The way they sold and had it all laid out with big guy, small guy, they tore the house down that night. I told him, I said ‘f**k, I wish I was reffing for NXT. You guys got some energy,’ there was so much more energy in NXT at that time. I just won’t forget that match, at least I got to do a match with Adam Cole and Keith Lee.”
(h/t – Wrestling Inc)
