Unfortunately for Mike Chioda, Beth Phoenix didn’t exactly play things the way he had hoped she would, and instead pulled the dehydrated Candice Michelle by her hair out of the corner. “I was like ‘oh, s**t!’ I counted 1-2-3. I was so proned, as a referee, to finish the matches with the boys, the girls, everybody, always, the boys, that’s one thing the wrestlers always did: whether they were hurt or not, man, they would get into a finish right away,” the veteran referee added.

“The referee, really, just never stops the match unless he talked to the boys,” Chioda explained. “So, I counted three, man, Vince was hot, she dislocated her shoulder, she was badly concussed, thank God she was okay later on and stuff, but Vince, man? That’s the one time, and only time, he ever f**king reamed me out, man.” Chioda then admitted that he was supposed to stop the match immediately, and took responsibility for not making a better call, while claiming that Vince McMahon was angered by how he didn’t use all the control he had as a referee to make sure the wrestlers weren’t injured.

In the past, Michelle has looked back on her feud with Phoenix and never mentioned the incident, but instead called the feud the biggest highlight of her career.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.