Veteran WWE referee Mike Chioda has stated that if Vince McMahon called him to come back to work for WWE, he would return.
During this week's Monday Mailbag with Mike Chioda on AdFreeShows.com, Chioda answered some fan questions. One of the questions was if WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan both called him on the same day to come back to work as a referee in their company, where would he go?
Chioda answered that having spent over three decades with WWE, he would probably choose to go back there and close his career with the company. However, he added that he would also love to end his career in AEW.
“Let’s put it this way. 35 years with WWF/WWE. 31 years debuting for WWE in 1989 on TV. I probably would have to say going back to WWE. Would I like to close my career with WWE? Of course. Would I love to close it out with AEW? Yes, I would love that too as well. There’s many different guys in sports entertainment, professional baseball, NFL, and so on down the line that you would think that they would just retire a Steeler, retire an Astro, or this, but they don’t. They go on to something else and retire being somebody else,” said Mike Chioda. (h/t WrestlingNews.co)
Mike Chioda briefly worked for AEW following his WWE release
Mike Chioda started working for Vince McMahon's company in 1989. Throughout his decades-long career with the company, he has been a referee in several memorable matches. Some of these include Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV, The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8, Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31, and many others.
Chioda was released from his WWE contract last year on April 15.
Following his WWE release, he made his debut as a referee for All Elite Wrestling on the August 12, 2020, episode of AEW Dynamite during the TNT Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Scorpio Sky.
He refereed two other matches for AEW after this but hasn't appeared for the company since.