Referees in professional wrestling are known for finding themselves on the wrong end of the action.
The ref bump is as iconic a part of the spectacle as the entrance music and crowd chants.
However, one former match official has revealed that he received a big payout after taking a chair shot from WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Austin is one of the biggest names in the history of professional wrestling, and he went toe-to-toe with another great in the main event of Wrestlemania 15 back in 1999.
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The clash was the first of three Wrestlemania meetings between Stone Cold and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, with Austin going over to win what was then called the WWF Championship.
During the match, referee Mike Chioda was involved in a spot where Austin appeared to accidentally hit him in the head with a steel chair.
However, the risk of injury was worth it for Chioda, who was apparently paid a bonus of $2500 after the match.
“As a referee, you always looked at it like all the boys do all this crazy stuff, chairshots and everything,” he said during an interview on Insight with Chris Van Vilet.
“So I was like man you know if it gashes me, splits me open, it does.
“That’s what the guys do.
“That chair shot rang my bell for 3 days JR came back and he goes ‘You are getting a bonus for $2500.
“I was like Holy Sh*t, I can take another chair shot if need me.”
A ref bump is often used when the wrestlers want to justify breaking the rules of the match.
Rock and Austin went on to face each other two more times in WWE's biggest event, at Wrestlemania 17 and at Wrestlemania 19.
Rock last competed at Wrestlemania 40 in 2024 while Austin’s most recent match was against Kevin Owens at Wrestlemania 38.
Chioda was contracted to WWE for 31 years before being released by the company in April 2020.
He went on to referee matches for their main rival, AEW or All Elite Wrestling, before retiring in July 2022.
Topics: WWE, WrestleMania, Steve Austin, The Rock
Jonathan Bray