Mike Chioda On The Undertaker Match That Almost Went “Really Wrong”
Former WWE official Mike Chioda has reflected on a shambolic match involving The Undertaker that Chioda admits he was glad they got through.
The Undertaker brought the curtain down on an epic career in WWE at the Hall of Fame in early 2022. The last time he competed in a match was two years previously at WrestleMania 36 when he went out in a blaze of glory, defeating AJ Styles in a Boneyard Match.
The Undertaker had been winding down his career as the 2010s progressed but was a frequent participant on WWE’s shows in Saudi Arabia. One of those appearances saw The Deadman face Goldberg in a one-on-one match for the first time ever at Super Showdown in 2019.
The match went just over eight minutes and was as close to a car crash in the ring as is possible to have with both men still able to walk away relatively unscathed. Problems began when Goldberg – as was his tradition – headbutted a door to psyche himself up backstage. The blow caused an injury to the former WCW star and he was out of it during the bout.
Speaking on his Monday Mailbag courtesy of AdFreeShows, Mike Chioda – who was the referee that night – explained how he was just glad to get through the match as things could have gone very wrong:
“The last one, pretty much, I did was Undertaker and Goldberg in Saudi Arabia. Thank God we got through it. So, that match was, you know, because [Goldberg] had gassed himself. He did [the head injury] first. He did it first, but he struggled and it got worse as the match went on.”
“So, and I was just communicating with Taker right then at that point. So Taker was totally in control at that point and he was taking care of him. He was taking care of Goldberg good … That was something that could’ve really, really gone f*cking wrong.”