The third man in the ring during a wrestling match, the referee is supposed to be a paragon of virtue. They are usually respected within the context of the match and the wrestlers know full well the fines they would incur, should they intentionally do anything to physically harm a referee and undermine their rule of law and order in the ring.
The best referees are actually the ones who don’t get noticed that much in the ring. But occasionally, they get mixed up in the storylines as well. We've seen this happen across WWE, WCW, and ECW. Just like the boys, these storylines run the gamut from decent to great to forgettable.
9 Nick Patrick
As the nWo was asserting their dominance over the wrestling world, there was serious concern over who would jump to the dark side next. Anyone and everyone was a suspect, no matter how much they claimed loyalty to WCW. That included the referees as well. For several months, Nick Patrick’s refereeing had some questionable decisions.
But he was always able to explain it away that babyfaces were breaking rules and the nWo were not. He even had a match against Chris Jericho with one hand tied behind his back. Eventually, he realized the errors of his ways, and Kevin Nash kicked him out of the nWo.
8 Brad Maddox
When Brad Maddox was called up to the main roster, all he wanted to do was be a wrestler. But instead, he was a referee. He was in that position for several months until the big Hell In A Cell showdown between CM Punk and Ryback, which he was the referee for.
He had delivered a low blow to Ryback. While he admitted he wasn’t working for Punk, his reason was that he had always wanted to be a WWE superstar and was rejected. Becoming a referee was the best way in for Maddox. Of course, Ryback practically tore Maddox in half.
7 Charles Robinson
As a lifelong devoted fan of Ric Flair, it was only a matter of time before Charles Robinson tried to make it in the business. By the time he made it to WCW, he certainly looked enough like Flair to become “Little Naitch.”
Flair’s personal referee did all sorts of dirty work for him, including wrestling Randy Savage’s valet, Gorgeous George at Slamboree 1999, with The Macho Man’s reinstatement on the line.
6 Earl Hebner Vs. Triple H
During the McMahon-Helmsley Era, Triple H continued to abuse his power by abusing WWE head referee, Earl Hebner. Hebner would occasionally have enough and shove Helmsley back, but always made sure to not go too far and stay gainfully employed.
On one particular Raw In State College, Hebner thought he was just doing his job when The Game defended the WWE title against Chris Jericho. Thanks to a fast count from Hebner, Jericho was able to win the gold. But due to pressure from Triple H, Earl reversed the decision later that same night.
5 Fonzie Calls It Down The Middle
When your entire roster pays zero attention to traditional wrestling rules, and your fan base is bloodthirsty and loves you all the more for it - how do you get any heat? By hiring your very own troubleshooting referee.
That’s what Shane Douglas did when he brought Bill Alfonso in. Fonzie would get a ton of heat with the ECW crowd strictly enforcing the rules of a wrestling match. It led to several singles matches and tag matches involving Fonzie and ECW owner, Tod Gordon.
4 Scott Armstrong
Bullet Bob Armstrong was a strong and honorable man. His sons Brian and Scott, not so much. Brian of course spent most of his career as The Road Dogg Jesse James, one-half of (well, you know). Scott had spent about fifteen years on and off as a referee for WWE.
Every so often, he is involved in part of a storyline. The biggest one was as the official for the Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan at Night Of Champions, where he fast-counted Orton so that Daniel Bryan could win the world title. He was kayfabe fired for his transgressions against The Authority. Eventually, he worked in the faction's favor but was usually struck down by guys like Bryan and Sting.
3 Randy Anderson
There aren’t many angles that make fans question whether what we saw was real or not, but when done right, more often than not, Eric Bischoff and WCW were at the forefront. Randy Anderson had been a WCW referee for several years and when it came to the nWo, he clearly wanted no part of them.
When he helped The Steiners defeat The Outsiders, he was fired on national TV by Bischoff. A week later, Anderson came out with his family and found out he was still fired. According to Bischoff, his superiors at Turner really thought he fired someone on the air.
2 Dangerous Danny Davis
Dangerous Danny Davis’ referee angle was probably the slowest burn of a referee storyline ever. For about a year, Danny Davis had some questionable referee tactics. Even Gorilla Monsoon accused him of taking bribes.
After allowing the Harts to cheat cost The British Bulldog’s the Tag Team Titles against The Hart Foundation, President Jack Tunney stripped Davis of the referee stripes. He would immediately turn around and ask Jimmy Hart to manage his wrestling career and Dangerous Danny Davis was born.
1 Twin Referees
Back in 1988, the biggest rematch of all time was set after the huge WrestleMania 3 showdown between Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan. Andre delivered a nasty toss on Hogan and scored a pinfall - despite Hulkster shooting a shoulder up.
It was revealed that the referee for the match had taken a lot of money from Ted DiBiase to get work done to look just like Dave Hebner and Hulk turned around “they were identical!” Hogan couldn’t believe his eyes and once he figured it out heaved the imposter onto DiBiase and Andre.
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