Mike Chioda reflects on refereeing one of the most brutal matches in WWE history.
The legendary referee spoke about the 2001 King of the Ring showdown between Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon, a bout that ended with the Olympic Hero standing tall after hitting a top rope Angle Slam. Prior to the finish, Angle famously threw Shane through two glass panels. Chidoa spoke about this bloody war during his recent interview on Insight With Chris Van Vilet.
You know, that night, whoo. I’ll never forget, you know, I thought I may not have a job coming back. You know, during there was several times during that match. You know, Shane had a lot to prove. You know, he rocks this match out. He gets through it. You know, it puts him on the chart of being a wrestler, you know what I’m saying? And he can hang with the toughest. And you know, Kurt’s not in the business that long at that point really, too. But boy he picked up the wrestling business professional wrestling business quick. And, one of the best, you know, and he’s a tough son of a gun in that ring. Man, I’ve done many matches where Kurt and Kurt don’t let up and he just keeps going. He’s like a machine. So, you know, Shane had a lot to prove. And getting to the spot where he goes through the glass. And it just, you know, he didn’t go through the glass. I’m thinking are we at the wrong f*cking panel? You know, because there were certain panels and certain panels were breaking certain panels weren’t. So at one point, I’m thinking now is this the right panel, you know, the glass panel. And Vince is all in the background going. Tell him not f*cking throw him through the glass. No, no more like this. After the first time. Gorilla position was screaming. Everybody was screaming. And then all of a sudden you hear Vince just taken over. Like, tell him, tell Mike Chioda, and I’m going, Kurt. Don’t put him through the f*cking glass. No more. Don’t try it. No more. Don’t try it. I’m on his right side. He tries it doesn’t work again. I’m like, holy shit. And it finally occurred to me. Like, oh, no, I couldn’t stop anything. I couldn’t stop anything because that would have been disrespectful to Shane. And Shane had a lot to prove. And I know Shane is you know, Shane, he’ll go through anything. It’ll do anything. I mean, tough, tough guy, man. I was just like in shock. You know, I’d seen all this glass and Shane’s head and those slices and stuff. And I’m thinking, was that the fake glass that we were supposed to use? Or is this real?
On an older edition of Monday Mailbag Chioda spoke about the infamous SummerSlam matchup between Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels and why he actually liked the Heartbreak Kid’s overselling of moves. You can read about that here.
