Mike Chioda says WWE management wanted referees to report wrestlers for arriving late, but he refused to put his relationship with the locker room at risk.

Speaking with David Otunga, the former WWE referee recalled pushing back against requests involving Mark Carrano and John Laurinaitis. For Chioda, reporting the same wrestlers he spent most of the year travelling with was a step too far.

“When the office comes to a referee and says, ‘I want you to stooge the boys out, what time they get in,’ when Mark Carrano and all that s*** used to enjoy, when Johnny Laurinaitis used to do all that s***, I used to go to Mark Carrano.

They didn’t come to me and tell me that because I was like, ‘You want the referees, the boys that put the money on the company’s table, the boys that put the money and the food on my table, you want me to stooge them out because they come in 30 minutes late?’

And you expect the boys to want to work with me overseas instead of cutting my hair or ribbing me and maybe doing something to me? You want me to get heat with the boys that I got to travel with 300 days a year, 280 days a year? That ain’t happening.”

Chioda also challenged the idea of handing those duties to younger referees, arguing they would be left dealing with the backlash.

“And I used to tell Carrano that back in the day. You’re putting these young guns like Bones and all these other guys, you want them to stooge, and then these boys are going to get heat? You want them to be the stooge? Come on, let’s go a different route on that.”

Drug testing brought another uncomfortable responsibility. According to Chioda, referees could be asked to find wrestlers selected for testing and make sure they attended.

“You want the referees to go get them for a drug test? The boys would be pissed to get away from me because if they’re doing something they shouldn’t be doing, the last thing you want is referees going, ‘Hey, you got to take a drug test,’ and then follow them around, ‘Hey, where you going?’”

Chioda’s position was clear: these requests risked damaging the trust referees needed with the wrestlers they worked alongside.

Was Chioda right to push back, or were these reasonable responsibilities for referees? Share your thoughts in the comments.