Chris Jericho Regarding Recent WWE Release: “Shame On You”

As part of the cost-cutting measure brought on by the Coronavirus, WWE released several in-ring talent, backstage staff and office workers in April. The decision to fire people in the middle of a pandemic has been largely commended by fans and critics.

One of the people let go by the company was long-time referee Mike Chioda. What made Chioda’s release even more heart-wrenching was the fact that he’d been employed by WWE since the 1980s.

After being off our screens for four months, Mike Chioda debuted for All Elite Wrestling on their latest episode of AEW Dynamite last week. His first match was the TNT Championship match between Cody and Scorpio Sky.

Chioda was also involved in a backstage segment during the show with Chris Jericho. He would later go on to referee the main event match between the aforementioned Jericho and his rival Orange Cassidy.

During his Saturday Night special live stream, Chris Jericho spoke about him and Cody approaching Tony Khan about bringing in Mike Chioda. Chris noted that while Chioda isn’t signed right now, he hopes to see him in AEW again:

“Cody and I had talked about having Mikey come in… We were thinking, like, maybe we should try to bring him in. I mean, we asked Tony Khan [and he said], ‘But it’s the middle of a pandemic, and bringing in a new referee when we’ve got referees-‘” Jericho explained. “But I always said that when the time is right, let’s bring him in for a big match.

“And Cody is very smart, he brought him in and it made that TNT title match special. And then he asked me if I wanted to use him. I go, ‘Well, we can really use him in this match and make a story around it’. You know, ‘If you want a job, you better do the right thing’. Then, of course when the time comes, he turns his back, he takes it away.

“He’s not signed with us but hopefully we can have him come back with us more.”

During the same live stream, Jericho also spoke about how WWE should be ashamed for releasing someone who had worked for them for over 30 years in the middle of a pandemic:

I mean, come on, seriously? 35 years the dude has been at your company and you’re going to fire him? Besides the fact that the dude is a great guy and such a talented performer, and can run the whole backstage, but after 35 years, what’s he supposed to do? Go get a job at freaking 7 Eleven? Like, shame on you WWE. They did it to Mark Eaton, a famous ringside guy that they still haven’t been able to replace him yet. When I was looking for time cues, Mark was always the guy.

You can check out the whole Saturday Night Special live stream by clicking the video below.

Thanks to WrestlingInc for the transcriptions.

• chris jericho
• Mike CHioda
• AEW
• wwe

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