Referees, the good and the bad.

Cactus Col

If there is one on screen role in pro wrestling that gets neglected far too often it's the role of referee.

So lets give a little bit of love to these guys who can help make a match. Who are your favourites (if any)? and who do you hate (if any)? and why?

jaykhunter

I like Slick Johnson but he doesn't wear his shorts anymore. I thought that was hilarious. I do like the way he has some personality but it's probably for the best that no light shines on the weakest men in the entire world (where knocking into a wrestler can lay them out for minutes)

Rudy Charles looks like a real nice guy. We got a rudy chant for him in Liverpool.

I don't like Nick Patrick. First off, he's a big dude - referees should be somewhat dwarfed by wrestlers, to make them look more impressive. secondly with his mustache he looks like a child molester! That said i think he was hilariously bad in his sell job at Bret's punch at Starrcade 97. HILARIOUS. He's like 'hoowayyyyyy' when he gets punched, arms outstretched. An amazing sell job.

--dammit, WWE has blocked youtube's link to the finish of that match--

grames_bond

earl hebner knows how to be a heel ref! as seen in dublin with his "from the bottom of my heart i mean it....im glad i screwed bret hart" line (ironically bret has always advocated the use of heel refs and now he is being used to create one) and he even gets the intro as "the most controversial referee in pro wrestling history! i still find it weird seeing him now though.....dude looks old (because he is old)

geeky

Surely yer man from IWW deserves a shout.

D2D

My favourite ref is Charles Robinson A.K.A Lil' Naitch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWU5KgqZw4Y

Machismo Fan

jaykhunter wrote: »

Rudy Charles looks like a real nice guy. We got a rudy chant for him in Liverpool.

I was actually gutted when they sacked Rudy. I've always found it hilarious when Andrew Thomas used to put over high impact moves with facial expressions, looks of shock and complete over-reactions, he used to do it much more back in the day but he still does it from time to time.

I loved Nick Patrick's ref bump selling, it was fantastic. The epicness of Nick Patrick vs. Earl Hebner:

Diabhal Beag

That match proved that the crowd would cheer a jobber taking a dump. Earl had a brother who stole merch and got him fired IIRC

Vince135792003

Tommy Young was great. Keep an eye out for him in old NWA matches like Steamboat and Flair.

Jolt2007

Any old skool ref that counts by lifting their hand up little more than an inch or two then smacks it fast is great with me. None of this new fangled counting where the ref is swinging their arm so high it looks like they're trying to swim one armed for me!

gerrybbadd

Anyone remember the guy off World of Sport on ITV back in the day??? (A Wednesday I believe!!!) When he'd count a pinfall, it was real methodical - ONE - AH, TWO - AH, THREE - AH!!!!:)

Cactus Col

I don't know how, but Tim White was my favourite ref back in the day. Every once in a while he'd be do something which would strike me as being awesome, like dancing with the ho's or some such.

And, I found out later, apparently Andre's handler, whatever that means.