Former WWE referee Mike Chioda returned to AdFreeShows.com recently during which discussed the finish of the main event of WrestleMania 35 which was a women’s triple threat winner-take-all match featuring Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair.

During the match, Lynch pinned Ronda Rousey, but it appeared Ronda had her shoulder up. 

WWE referees are told to call matches like a shoot so the ref for the match Rod Zapata should have stopped the count.

Here is what Chioda said:

"Rod Zapata was the referee for that match and got a lot of heat for it, a lot of heat for that match for counting. He shouldn’t have counted. I think he panicked. He could have said, ‘Hey, get that shoulder down more. Get that shoulder down.’  Sometimes if you start a count and it’s almost not touching, and if you’re telling them as you’re counting, they can make the adjustment and get it tighter. He should have never counted.  He got a lot of heat for that.  I remember there was so much heat that you almost thought he was going to lose his job at that point. That was something that you just have to work as a referee. If you don’t see something down, you can’t count it the way the camera angles are. Vince was f**king hot. Laurinaitis was hot.  Rightfully so. You have to man up to your mistakes.

That’s why it’s hard to be a referee. You know that’s the finish, and he was saying something about how he didn’t think Ronda or someone couldn’t make the adjustment. I remember we said to him, ‘Why didn’t you just tell them to get the shoulder down as you’re counting?’ He tried to protect himself and said ‘I don’t think she could have made the adjustment.’ Those were his return words, and I think he got himself a little more heat after that. That goes back to where you have to protect yourself as a referee because it’s going to make you look bad for counting the shoulders that are not down. It makes you look like sh*t, and that’s where you bury yourself if you don’t make the adjustment."

FULL MATCH - Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch – Triple Threat Match: WrestleMania 35.