Mike Chioda Michael Joseph Chioda , ( August 1 , 1964 ) is a senior referee who is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment . While not refereeing , Chioda , as well as the other referees in WWE , help set up the arena before shows , constructing the ring and stage areas . Early career . WWF . As a young man , Chioda lived close to the Marellas ( Gorilla Monsoon and his adopted son Joey ) , who helped him break into the wrestling business . Being trained as a referee , Chioda first began to appear in WWE in 1989 , when it was known as the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) , most notably at Survivor Series 1989 . After taking a hiatus from refereeing following WrestleMania VII , he began to reappear on camera around 1993 . Chioda has also competed in an actual wrestling match , teaming with Chris Jericho and The Rock to take on the team of The Dudley Boyz and referee Nick Patrick on an episode of " SmackDown ! " in 2001 . Chioda actually scored the pinfall victory after delivering his version of " The People ' s Elbow " to Nick Patrick . During the WWF tenure , he officiated matches such as Shawn Michaels vs . Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV , Triple H vs . Vince McMahon at Armageddon 1999 , The Rock vs . Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8 . Following the September 11 attacks , Chioda began to wear an American flag patch on his referee shirt . World Wrestling Entertainment . During the WWE Brand Extension , Chioda was sent to " SmackDown ! " to become senior referee of that show . On an " All Referee " edition of the WWE . com show " Byte This ! " in 2004 , he told an inquiring Josh Mathews that he did not like the old - style " button - up and bow - tie " referee attire , preferring , at the time , the " SmackDown ! " variant of referee shirt . During his tenure on " SmackDown " , he officiated a match between The Big Show and Brock Lesnar in which Lesnar performed a superplex on Big Show and the ring ( was triggered to ) collapsed . Chioda would rule the match a no contest . In 2003 , he was traded to " Raw " . Following the firing of Raw ' s senior referee Earl Hebner in 2005 , Chioda was appointed as " Raw " ` s head referee . At WrestleMania 23 , he refereed the match against John Cena and Shawn Michaels but got taken out after being hit with Sweet Chin Music by Michaels . During his time as " Raw " brand head referee he would officiate Raw matches such as Triple H vs . Batista at WrestleMania 21 , John Cena vs . Triple H at WrestleMania 22 , Cena vs . Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 23 and Cena vs Batista at SummerSlam 2008 . He also appeared in an episode " WWE Tough Enough " s second season . However , in November 2008 , referees were made no longer exclusive to certain brands . Chioda refereed his first match on SmackDown in three years on November 28 , 2008 , when he refereed the Beat The Clock Match between Shelton Benjamin and Triple H ; during the match , Chioda was knocked down and the match ended in controversy when it was decided that Jeff Hardy and Triple H finished their matches in the same amount of time . To settle this , the WWE Championship Match at Armageddon was made a Triple Threat Match . On August 15 , 2011 , Chioda was suspended for 30 days due to his first violation of the WWE ' s Talent Wellness Program . On April 1 , 2012 , Chioda would referee the match between John Cena and The Rock at Wrestlemania XXVIII in front of 78 , 363 people attending at Sun Life Stadium , Miami , Florida . Chioda was featured as the referee in the 2012 iOS game , WWE Wrestlefest .