Longtime WWE referee Mike Chioda recently revealed the story behind the biggest bonus he ever received for taking a bump during a match, and fittingly, it happened on the grandest stage of them all. With a career that spanned over three decades, Chioda has been a part of countless iconic moments, but a chair shot from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at WrestleMania 15 stands out for a very specific reason. The match, which saw Austin challenge The Rock for the WWE Championship, was a chaotic affair that involved multiple referees being taken out, a common trope in major main events of the Attitude Era.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Chioda detailed his role in the match and the unexpected financial reward that came with it. He explained that he was the referee for the first part of the match before being knocked out by a chair shot from Austin, which was a planned spot to allow for Mick Foley’s run-in as the special guest referee for the finish. The bump was a memorable one, and so was the bonus he received for taking it.
“[The biggest was] $2500. Yeah, it was a chair shot that Stone Cold gave me [at WrestleMania 15]. Because I started the match for the first 5-10 minutes, and I take the chair shot and I get knocked out. Yeah, my head rang for like three days, ears were ringing, it was pretty cool. He [Jim Ross] goes, ‘You’re getting a bonus for that Mike.’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, thanks, JR.’ Got that bonus on top of the WrestleMania pay.”
