Legendary referee Mike Chioda spoke about this year’s WWE Royal Rumble on the latest edition of Monday Mailbag on AdFreeShows. During his chat Chioda discussed how shocked he was that there weren’t too many Rumble surprises, later adding that he understands why some stars might be upset over the show’s booking. Highlights are below.
Says he was shocked at the lack of surprises for the Royal Rumble:
“I was a little surprised at the [Royal] Rumble, I thought we’d have maybe more surprises than just Brock Lesnar. Don’t get me wrong, he sells tickets, he’s the man, but I thought maybe The Rock would be coming in or something. Unless they’re setting something up for [WrestleMania 39 in] LA next year. A lot of chaos too, I heard some chaos was going on and no surprise Ronda Rousey takes the Royal Rumble. Hopefully, she sticks around for a while for the women. No big surprises though, that’s where I was shocked.”
Talks the backstage turmoil in WWE following the Rumble:
“I know there’s probably a lot of turmoil going on about who’s coming in, who’s taking over and getting to that WrestleMania. When you win that Royal Rumble, boy, the main thing for them to do is to say ‘Point to the WrestleMania sign.’ And if you’re a talent working hard 365 days a year to get to that WrestleMania point and of course, you have to get through the Rumble and certain points in the Rumble to get to ‘Mania. I’m sure there was the talent that was upset, there was talent upset over the years that thought they should have won the Rumble.”
Praises Randy Orton and would have loved to see him win the Rumble and face Riddle:
“I heard some rumors they were going to push Randy Orton and put him over on the Rumble and somehow that changed, of course, it did change. At what point, I don’t know, but I’d like to see Randy get a push. He deserves it to get back to that WWE title. The guy’s phenomenal, a hell of a worker, and has done tons of his matches. I don’t know why, I’d like to see Randy get that extra push. He’s been with Riddle, trying to build up Riddle but I don’t know, they probably thought Riddle wasn’t ready yet. To put Randy in that spotlight, I would’ve loved that match because you just saw Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)