I recently caught up with former WWE referee Marty Elias, who is widely recognized for working the historic Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker match at WrestleMania 25 in Houston, Texas.
Marty wanted to get something off his chest that had been bothering him for years and felt that enough time had passed where he wasn’t worried about any “heat” or “backlash” resulting from talking to me. He brought up the Talk is Jericho episode where he revealed the reason why he was fired from his “dream” job in WWE.
He violated company dress code by wearing a KISS T-Shirt. Marty explained how Johnny (Ace) Laurinaitis confronted him at catering and gave him a tongue lashing. Marty apologized, but the damage had already been done. Marty was let go by the company shortly thereafter with no further explanation given.
After finding out about Carrano’s firing from WWE and the way they handled the firing of Mickie James. Marty reached out to me and said that “enough was enough.” He wanted to speak out about his personal dealings with many people in the company especially, Mark Carrano.
Marty shared with me that he emailed Triple H twice to discuss his persona non-grata status with the WWE in 2017, eight years after being let go from the company. Hunter seemed very interested in re-connecting with Marty and had one of his representatives reach back out and try to set up a call but, due to Hunter’s hectic schedule no meeting or call ever materialized.
Chad Patton, a former WWE referee, reached out Marty in regards to rumors surrounding why he was released from the company. John Cone, now Senior Manger of Talent Relations, knew that Hunter had asked Mark Carrano why WWE hadn’t done business with Marty Elias? Mark Carrano made several damaging accusations about Marty, from pushing pills to the wrestlers, harassing female talent, etc. All accusations that Marty has vehemently denied.
Marty was told that Carrano was bad news and Triple H did nothing about it.
In 2019 Marty reached out to Triple H & Mark Carrano once again in hopes of clearing his name. Marty received a response back from Carrano, and told Marty to speak directly to him going forward and that Hunter be removed from further emails. Carrano promised to call Marty back but never did. Marty made one more attempt to reach out to Triple H & Mark Carrano in 2020 but there was no response.
Mark Carrano’s actions while working for WWE are inexcusable he abused his power and now people are speaking up. He’s the primary reason according to Marty Elias why he will probably never be given an opportunity to return to WWE, his “dream” job. He has come to terms with that fact and hopes that his story will cause others to speak up and have their voicers heard.
Marty went on to become Senior Official for Lucha Underground, worked on the set of GLOW on Netflix, held referee training seminars, and was a behind the scenes guy with several rock music bands. He is currently working on his own podcast, Life After 3, set to debut later this year. Marty Elias knows where the bodies are buried and the days of keeping quiet are long gone there’s definitely more to come. Stay tuned and get the latest news from your favorite sports journalists and media personalities.
Marty Elias is also available for Q&A’s, Seminars, Zoom match critiques, and one on one referee training. Serious inquiries only at bookmartyelias@gmail.com
