WWE pulled out all the stops for Edge’s match with Randy Orton at Backlash last year. In addition to dubbing it the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever, they also had a recording of Howard Finkel do the ring announcing.
Now, former WWE referee Mike Chioda has revealed that WWE asked him to come in to referee the match. This was a month after he had been released by the company on Black Wednesday. Here is the quote from his interview with Chris Van Vliet, courtesy of POST Wrestling:
“They called me a month later [after my release] to do Edge and Randy Orton’s match, and Randy had texted me and he really wanted me to do this special match they were having. But at that point, the pandemic was going on a little while, my wife couldn’t get in to get tested. She had some complications, with maybe her cancer coming back. It was the same problems that she had when she got diagnosed with cancer. So the doctors weren’t opening up the Moffitt here in Tampa so we had to — I said, ‘You know what? Let’s see if we can get in to your original Doctor [Eric] Haas in Houston.
So she did, she got an appointment, so we drove up there and as I’m driving, I get a text from Mark Carrano. So I get a text, it said, ‘Hey, there’s an extra payday here for you’ and I’m like, ‘Payday? For what? You’re paying me until July 17th — August. So what’s going on?’ Randy’s texting me, ‘Hey, can you do –’ I’m in Texas right now. I’m in Louisiana at this time, traveling, driving.”
Charles Robinson would end up refereeing the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever. Mike Chioda, however, would go on to do work for All Elite Wrestling later in 2020.
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