Mike Chioda speaks about his AEW return

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Mike Chioda recently made his unexpected AEW return at AEW Double or Nothing. He officiated the Final of the Own Hard Cup that took place during that event. Mike is a legendary professional wrestling referee and has officiated some of the most legendary matches of all time.

The last appearance that Mike made was during the Cody Rhodes vs Scorpio Sky match in 2020. The match was for the TNT Title.

Mike Chioda Share His Story About AEW Contacting Him Again

Adam Cole fought Samoa Joe in the final.

Adam became the first-ever male competitor to win the Owen Hart Cup. Before he appeared at the event, Mike was contacted by AEW. Mike spoke about it Monday Mailbag with Mike Chioda. “I was on a cruise with my wife,” the former WWE referee said.

“Second day on the cruise, I get a call from [AEW producer] Dean Malenko. And Dean’s like ‘Hey, where you at? What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m on a f*cking cruise!'” Dean told Mike that they wanted him as a guest referee for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Final.

Mike revealed that he loved the idea, as Mike knew Owen personally back when Owen was working for WWE, which was WWF at that time. AEW wanted Mike to come to the event as soon as possible. That would have allowed Mike to be part of many matches.

However, Mike was on a cruise for five days with his wife. That is the reason why he only appeared to officiate the final. Mike could not enjoy the rest of his trip as most of the food and drinks on the cruise would make him gain weight which would make him look extremely bad for appearing on television.

“First time I’m on a cruise in four or five years with my wife, and I’ve got to start f*cking dieting,” Mike Chioda joked. “I’m sitting down there at the bar too at this time … I come up there, I meet my wife, and I didn’t even tell her yet … she sees me coming in with this egg white omelet, some fruit, real healthy cottage cheese, and she’s like ‘What are you doing? You’re not trying the waffles? You’re not getting the pancakes over there?’ I’m like, ‘AEW called and they want me to do a show in two weeks.’ It was cool, they popped real huge [on the phone] they were happy I was able to do it, I wanted to do it.

It’s an honor getting called back to do something like that for Owen Hart. Worked with him for many, many years. Owen and Bret were always great guys to me man, good people. God bless Owen”.