Mike Chioda Reveals How AEW Double Or Nothing Appearance Materialised

Amidst all the carnage, debuts, and title changes at AEW’s recent mammoth Double or Nothing PPV, veteran referee Mike Chioda made his return to the company, calling the action for the Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Memorial Tournament Final between Adam Cole and Samoa Joe.

This was Chioda’s first appearance for AEW since 2020, and the legendary ref revealed how his appearance came to be, saying the following on the Monday Mailbag with Mike Chioda podcast on AdFreeShows.com:

“I was on a cruise with my wife. Second day on the cruise, I get a call from [AEW producer] Dean Malenko. And Dean’s like ‘Hey, where you at? What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m on a f****** cruise!’” Said Chioda

Chioda agreed when he heard he’d be refereeing the Owen Cup having worked extensively with Hart during their time in WWE. However, AEW wanted the veteran ref to work several matches throughout the tournament, but he could only commit to the final due to his vacation:

“First time I’m on a cruise in four or five years with my wife, and I’ve got to start f****** dieting,” Chioda joked. “I’m sitting down there at the bar too at this time… I come up there, I meet my wife, and I didn’t even tell her yet… she sees me coming in with this egg white omelet, some fruit, real healthy cottage cheese, and she’s like ‘What are you doing? You’re not trying the waffles? You’re not getting the pancakes over there?’ I’m like, ‘AEW called and they want me to do a show in two weeks.’

“It was cool, they popped real huge [on the phone] they were happy I was able to do it, I wanted to do it. It’s an honour getting called back to do something like that for Owen Hart. Worked with him many, many years. Owen and Bret were always great guys to me man, good people. God bless Owen.”

H/T: Wrestling Inc.