WWE

Former WWE referee Mike Chioda has discussed the WrestleMania 35 United States Championship match between Rey Mysterio and Samoa Joe.

The match itself only went 58 seconds after initially being planned to go several minutes longer, and Chioda was only informed of the change while he was in the ring right before the match.

Speaking on Monday Mailbag, Chioda explained how he had to tell Rey Mysterio in the ring, and revealed Mysterio’s reaction. He said:

“We had 15 to 18 or 22 minutes, originally, got knocked down to like 12 minutes. I remember Rey had this badass cosplay, his gear was made and he spends a lot of money on his gear. Samoa Joe had a different style. I remember it got knocked down to 12-15 minutes and then when I got in the ring, Billy Kidman said, ‘Go home,’ like, right away. Rey’s in the ring already, did his entrance, Samoa Joe is coming down and I’m like, ‘Rey, they’re saying go home right away.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ I’m like, ‘I swear to god.’ He’s like, ‘Are you f**king with me?’ I’m like, ‘No, I swear to god he’s telling me you’ve got to.’

“I couldn’t believe they did that to Rey because I don’t think they cut anybody else’s match that night. They didn’t cut anybody else’s matches or anything, it was just Joe and Rey’s match. I felt bad. He just goes in there and kind of demolishes Rey and beats him. I felt bad for Rey, I really did. He was coming back, they had made some promises to him but they’re taking care of him now, him and Dom, which is cool. I think he was going through a little bit of stuff with the company but he’s totally rebounded. Rey is such a professional and such a great person, man, a great guy, and he’s one of my best friends. That was just a bad weekend that weekend, and that was my last WrestleMania.”

This year’s WrestleMania 38 experienced well-documented timing issues, which most notably affected Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs Ridge Holland & Sheamus, which was cut from the first night and then only got a couple of minutes on the second night.

Quote via Wrestling Inc

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• wrestlemania 35
• rey mysterio
• Samoa Joe
• Mike CHioda

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