Mike Chioda sat down with Chris Van Vliet for a longform interview on his popular "INSiGHT" podcast this week.
The following are some of the highlights and a complete video archive.
On refereeing Mick Foley vs. Randy Orton at Backlash: “So that match, hardcore match all the way. Randy’s kind of been in the business for a while, so he’s got this big match with Mick Foley. I don’t think Randy, at that time, has never done those type of matches, like those straight out hardcore matches. So we’re just full-blown. I remember all the thumbtacks and Randy’s back. It was like, 50 or 75 maybe 100 thumbtacks in his back.”
On Chioda getting tacks in his hand: “I had one or two thumbtacks and it stung like a son of a, because I count really hard, right? I remember, boom. I was like, oh sh*t. I’m thinking Orton has got like 75 of these things in his back, I can’t be complaining here.”
On receiving a bonus for taking a ref bump: “[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.”
