31-Year WWE Veteran Confirms Retirement From Wrestling Business

A 31-year WWE veteran has closed the curtains on his in-ring career.

Mike Chioda was a match official popular for his decades-long stint in World Wrestling Entertainment.

Throughout his career, Chioda officiated in some of the career-defining matches, including the one where fans witnessed Brock Lesnar perform a Shooting Star Press on Kurt Angle that left Lesnar concussed.

The 59-year-old recently appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, and when asked whether he had retired from wrestling, confirmed that he had.

Pretty much, yeah. I mean, if there’s a match or two, or something like that, I’ll do here and there. Ric Flair’s Last Match I did, I had done a match in the Jersey Shore for Fight Factory and for New Jersey. So it was nice to get down there, and those guys are great at Fight Factory.

So it’s really pick and choose, but I’m doing seminars, training refs in Orlando, doing a bunch of and signings and stuff. And the podcast, yeah, Monday Mailbag with Mike Chioda, with Conrad Thompson, on ad-free shows. They’ve been great to me for four and a half years, five years almost. [HT: Insight with Chris Van Vliet]

Mike Chioda Appeared In AEW After WWE

Mike Chioda’s career as a WWE official is acknowledged not only by wrestlers but also by fans.

He was one of the top officials in the promotion during the Attitude Era and beyond.

In 2020, WWE announced that it had released Chioda after 31 years of service, officiating some of the biggest matches.

After that, he officiated a handful of matches in WWE’s rival promotion AEW.

He oversaw the AEW TNT Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Scorpio Sky before taking charge of the rematch between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy.

He would also referee Ric Flair’s final match, where The Nature Boy teamed up with Andrade El Idolo against Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett.