Former Ref Mike Chioda Remembers Makeshift Face Paint Umaga Used On The Road

During a recent episode of "Monday Mailbag," former WWE referee Mike Chioda was asked if he had any good stories about Umaga. Chioda went on to share a humorous story involving Umaga's signature face paint.

"I remember me, Johnny Stamboli, Rey Mysterio, and Ekie in the car and we're driving down. Ekie's got a — he's started this Umaga thing with the paint and all that stuff," Chioda recalled. "So he'd go to TVs and have one of the guys paint his face all the time. We're in the car on the way to a live event, I remember Johnny [Ace] calling him. He says, 'Ek, you didn't wear your face paint last night at the live event.' Ek's like, 'Yeah, Johnny, I put it on the TVs.' 'You gotta start putting it on now or else you're gonna get fined.' He was like, 'What?'"

Chioda continued, "So we tried to stop at a couple places to get some markers real quick because we had about an hour before we get to the show, then we had to do this. So we got black markers and I had to f****** paint his face in the car. That s*** didn't come off for like three days until he got to TV. He was so pissed at Johnny too because Johnny was serious he was gonna fine him. And every time Johnny wanted something done, 'Vince wants the face paint on.' Vince's name comes out all the time."

Chioda went on to share that he moved five minutes down the road from Umaga in Houston in 2007 and thought he was a great guy. Umaga was a two-time Intercontinental Champion before he died in 2009 at the age of 36.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Monday Mailbag" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.