You ever take a liking to any? In a lot of ways refs are just wrestlers who didn't make it. You can argue it's a sweet gig, so sometimes it might be better to be a well respected ref than a good hand. And Drake Younger flushed that down the toilet for politics LULZ. Do you think a ref should ever get over or be a character? Bryce Remsburg and Rick Knox were quasi characters on the indie scene. I see they're both AEW refs , did that carry over or are they just veteran refs that the boys like?

Little Naich is he good or just a meme? Hebner looking back his counts are so bad. Completely fucked up the magic they had at No Way Out 2001. Fuck him for Montreal too. They canned his ass for bootlegs, they ain't loyal son. Course he's managed to leech off marks on nostalgia for far too long. Hebner is the Kane of refs.

Do you have any attachments to refs? Or are they NPCs like the time keeper. Is that still a thing? Is this more history of general? I dunno am I wrong in liking a ref to be a little distinctive? Just surface level distinctions. I always thought the hint of a personality made certain matches more enjoyable. Ya know being 5'6 (might even be too short for the biz) I always thought maybe I could be a ref.

Red Shoes I always feel like it's an inside joke I don't get.

I like some refs is what I'm saying. Or did when I liked wrestling.

They say the best refs are the ones you don't notice. They're idiots. Give me Earl "The Pearl" Hebner, Danny Davis and Tommy Young all day, every day.

Are refs in kayfabe normal people? Like are they down for that long because it's basically a fan with an assignment? Like if we got hit by a big bad wrestler are we down longer than a ref or do they have a +1 in toughness

Tim White (RIP)

Something about him was just charming and relatable, like your goofy but lovable uncle decided to become a ref. From all accounts he was one of the few good ones in the business, too.

Jul 4, 2024 1:49:13 GMT @ness said:

You ever take a liking to any? In a lot of ways refs are just wrestlers who didn't make it. You can argue it's a sweet gig, so sometimes it might be better to be a well respected ref than a good hand. And Drake Younger flushed that down the toilet for politics LULZ. Do you think a ref should ever get over or be a character? Bryce Remsburg and Rick Knox were quasi characters on the indie scene. I see they're both AEW refs , did that carry over or are they just veteran refs that the boys like?

Little Naich is he good or just a meme? Hebner looking back his counts are so bad. Completely fucked up the magic they had at No Way Out 2001. Fuck him for Montreal too. They canned his ass for bootlegs, they ain't loyal son. Course he's managed to leech off marks on nostalgia for far too long. Hebner is the Kane of refs.

Do you have any attachments to refs? Or are they NPCs like the time keeper. Is that still a thing? Is this more history of general? I dunno am I wrong in liking a ref to be a little distinctive? Just surface level distinctions. I always thought the hint of a personality made certain matches more enjoyable. Ya know being 5'6 (might even be too short for the biz) I always thought maybe I could be a ref.

Red Shoes I always feel like it's an inside joke I don't get.

I like some refs is what I'm saying. Or did when I liked wrestling.

I tend to mark out for the older refs just because they would name them back in the day. The era where WWE wouldn’t mention their names (and later even blur their faces out in games) was strange.

My mate who is only a casual fan dislikes Aubrey Edward’s and it’s hard to disagree. Seems to have calmed down now but in earlier AEW days she seem to make herself the focal point. Female refs are built different though, you know there’s no ref bump coming in the WWE when Daphanie LaShaunn or Jessica Carr are in the ring.


When I started wrestling I quickly realised how important referees are the match. Pretty much if I don’t actively notice who the referee is, they are doing a good job.
Especially working as a heel I really need to them to be where I want to be like a magician’s assistant. Some guys will even demand certain refs from a company be their ref because they trust them etc.

Jul 28, 2024 15:09:09 GMT System said:

Jul 4, 2024 1:49:13 GMT @ness said:

You ever take a liking to any? In a lot of ways refs are just wrestlers who didn't make it. You can argue it's a sweet gig, so sometimes it might be better to be a well respected ref than a good hand. And Drake Younger flushed that down the toilet for politics LULZ. Do you think a ref should ever get over or be a character? Bryce Remsburg and Rick Knox were quasi characters on the indie scene. I see they're both AEW refs , did that carry over or are they just veteran refs that the boys like?

Little Naich is he good or just a meme? Hebner looking back his counts are so bad. Completely fucked up the magic they had at No Way Out 2001. Fuck him for Montreal too. They canned his ass for bootlegs, they ain't loyal son. Course he's managed to leech off marks on nostalgia for far too long. Hebner is the Kane of refs.

Do you have any attachments to refs? Or are they NPCs like the time keeper. Is that still a thing? Is this more history of general? I dunno am I wrong in liking a ref to be a little distinctive? Just surface level distinctions. I always thought the hint of a personality made certain matches more enjoyable. Ya know being 5'6 (might even be too short for the biz) I always thought maybe I could be a ref.

Red Shoes I always feel like it's an inside joke I don't get.

I like some refs is what I'm saying. Or did when I liked wrestling.

I tend to mark out for the older refs just because they would name them back in the day. The era where WWE wouldn’t mention their names (and later even blur their faces out in games) was strange.

My mate who is only a casual fan dislikes Aubrey Edward’s and it’s hard to disagree. Seems to have calmed down now but in earlier AEW days she seem to make herself the focal point. Female refs are built different though, you know there’s no ref bump coming in the WWE when Daphanie LaShaunn or Jessica Carr are in the ring.


When I started wrestling I quickly realised how important referees are the match. Pretty much if I don’t actively notice who the referee is, they are doing a good job.
Especially working as a heel I really need to them to be where I want to be like a magician’s assistant. Some guys will even demand certain refs from a company be their ref because they trust them etc.

You ever have one "fuck on you" or just totally botch a finish where it's 100% on them?

@ness


Not me personally. Just little things like being in the way or seeing me/my manager do something when I’ve told them not to look. Or same ref as below he just stopped counting as I was getting pinned (I was going over). This is just after hitting the 2 it wasn’t a Damian Priest situation.


The main of our last show (standard match) it was a ref bump spot and the ref was meant to be down for ages for a run in. He got up instantly and just watched the run-in happened and didn’t call for a DQ. The wrestlers were understandably pissed as it killed the finish.

Bryce from AEW is my all-time favorite ref. Aubrey Edwards rocks too. I'm not gonna front. I think she has a nice-looking butt.

Jul 28, 2024 16:51:31 GMT Ed said:

Jul 13, 2024 17:34:49 GMT Baker said:

They say the best refs are the ones you don't notice. They're idiots. Give me Earl "The Pearl" Hebner, Danny Davis and Tommy Young all day, every day.

Don't forget Red Shoes. Probably my favourite referee to be honest. He's iconic.

I agree with the mantra that you shouldn't notice the ref. I don't know his name, but there's a referee in Rev Pro wrestling who I find super offputting just because of his mannerisms, I find I'm watching him more than the wrestlers. Huge detractment.

Not sure if I do have a favorite ref, but I do think the fact that today's refs are more invisible than in the past is limiting from a story-telling perspective. I can still recall names like Jimmy Korderas and Tim White, despite neither having worked for WWE in over a decade (two decades in the case of Tim); obviously, throw in Earl Hebner and Teddy Long, Teddy being notable for his work in other capacities anyway.

When the ref is mentioned by name on commentary, it suggests that there is an additional human element to the match besides the wrestlers; the refs are not necessarily totally anodyne components there to just count the "three". I like a ref who might get shoved on his ass for getting between two opponents when the heel does not obey the five-count in the corner, and then that ref issuing a quick three count pinfall to, more or less, 'get back' at the heel . . . Let's say the face just rolled-up the heel into a schoolboy after the ref and heel had their heated argument.

I remember JR using the term "judgment call" a lot on commentary. When the ref's judgment makes its way into matches, that opens up the playbook for how to get the match over, and it does so with little to no need for bumping.

With that being said, basically all of the '90s'-'00s refs are more over with me than today's current crop. They've been cut out of the picture quite a lot since then.

Bryce is the best. Until he is not. Then he is scary.  Skip to like 11 minutes in.  Then 15 minutes in.  Pretty sure that is Quack taking the tombstone from him.

D'oh! Kicking myself over forgetting WOW ref Josh Milton. Dude took psycho bumps. WOW enthusiasts dubbed him Ref Hardy.