Greetings, buckaroos.
Today's question comes from a Mr. Jeff Bailey
Today's question comes from a Mr. Jeff Bailey
Favourite referees.I'm always partial to the ones you don't notice: Joey Marella, Tim White, Jack Doan, etc. Much better than Earl Hebner, Charles Robinson and the like who may as well have a sign above their head saying 'Look at me!'In fact Hebner and his shitty exaggerated counting really gets up my piss hole.
Actually, Robinson is my favorite. I often find he just disappears once the match get's going. Plus, he doesn't do obnoxious things like when it's a No-DQ match, and someone is in a submission, then reaches the ropes, he'll just stand there like "what do you want me to do about it?". Other refs will forget and call for a break. Or they'll do things like try and prevent certain weapons being used, or like Hebner and his favorite "That's enough!" he'd always yell at Triple H. Plus, who hauls ass better than him?
As an addendum to his question, I'll add; what's your all time favorite ref bump?
Mine is Tim White's from the Triple H vs Jericho HIAC. He took that bump full force, and then a stomping afterwards. Not to mention it ended his career, which then caused him to commit suicide numerous times.
How say you?
Anyone who wants to send in a QOTD, caliberw@hotmail.com is the place.
Tommy Young. No one has ever done it any better. From his facial expressions, to his confrontations with Flair, to his sliding out of the ring to count a pinfall near the ropes, he did all of the little things that make a referee great.
ReplyDeleteI love the exaggerated refs. Of course, two great officials stand out in my mind:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FR5YZlznLQ
Tim White or Mike Chioda. You know who was a surprisingly competent ref? Haitch, at Summerfest. Good to see he found his calling after all these years.
ReplyDeleteHe was damn smooth.
ReplyDeleteBrian Hildebrand!
ReplyDeleteI've always heard nothing but good things about him. Gotta watch more of his work.
ReplyDeleteSouthern rasslin' refs had to be badasses:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX3hnt3rFdY
Yeah, I didn't start watching wrestling until 1995, and didn't really start digging into the classic NWA stuff until a few years ago. While Robinson is my favorite, Young is easily the greatest ref of all time. He was everything you wanted in a ref. Although I don't think he could match Robinson in a race-to-the-ring-and-then-slide-in-3-quarters-of-the-length.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree on Tommy Young. Let's not forget that Young was the ref for all three of the classic Flair/Steamboat matches in 89.
ReplyDeleteI feel so fucking sad about Tim White. Nobody should deal with that shit, let alone a referee. As we all know, that shirt make them endure 10x the physical and mental trauma.
ReplyDeleteEarl Hebner was tremendous. He brought such a humanity to being a ref, especially during the HHH matches, that increased the drama that much more. The return match of HBK would've looked silly if he didn't interject himself at some point.
But I'd go with Charles Robinson. Not only was he Little Naitch, but he's the best all-rounder ever. Not too over-the-top, but not detached by any means.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZcCmEKJ2ng
ReplyDelete@ the 7:47 mark Young sell Flair chop almost as well as Steamboat did. He was like, GOTDAYUMN!!!
Since Tommy Young has already been mentioned, as has Lil' Naitch, I'll just go old school with AWA ref Gary DeRusha and World Class ref Bronco Lubich for no particular reason. Those guys reffed about 80% of the matches I saw before age 12.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I'm partial to evil referee Danny Davis. Such a vindictive scumbag. Sure, it made for some screwy finishes. In fact, evil biased referee needs to make a comeback in a short term storyline. Nowadays, the referees are nameless and faceless, and it lacks potential storyline development.
ReplyDeleteHocks....That is all.
ReplyDeleteSeconded on Charles Robinson, if only for his match with Macho Man's stripper girlfriend in WCW (I have a hard time calling her "Gorgeous George" knowing he originally intended that name to be used on his brother). Plus, he's still rocking the 90's Nick Carter part-in-the-middle hairstyle after all these years.
ReplyDeleteHebner's slow counts take away from some finishes for me.
ReplyDeleteCW, Affleck as the next Batman...I thought you'd be all over this.
ReplyDeleteLubich was AWFUL. He was to reffing what Art Donovan was to announcing.
ReplyDeleteHebner has suffered a serious case of Lawler-itis where as he has gotten older he has just gotten worse and worse and worse. He is almost a parody of a referee now. He is distracting and actually makes the matches he is working worse, which is not only inexcusable, but also incredibly difficult to do.
ReplyDeleteThreadjack: Steve Austin's podcast with Flair is awesome.
ReplyDeleteEarl is still a ref? Where?
ReplyDeleteI loved when Young would go sliding out of the ring to make the count, since that was the place that put him in the best position to see the shoulders and and keep his eye out for a rope break.
ReplyDeleteSome crappy company called Tits N Ass Wrestling
ReplyDeleteTommy Young, Joey Marella, The Hebners.
ReplyDeleteI always loved how Earl Hebner gave zero fucks and didn't fear any of the heels.
ReplyDeleteCharles Robinson running down that big ass ramp at WrestleMania 24 has immortalized him forever.
ReplyDeleteTommy Young. And there is no other
ReplyDeleteMike Chioda.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite was Scott Hebner. I thought he was really energetic and added to matches.
ReplyDeleteMy least favorite was Earl Hebner toward the end. He had a big tell when he was giving a close 2-count (he exaggerated it) and I always hated it. He also f'ed up the end of the Rock/Angle match at No Way Out 2001 really badly by doing his exaggerated 2-count when it should've been the finished. That always bothered me because that show, and that match, kicked all sorts of ass and the last bit in the ring is the ref screwing it all up.
They pulled this with Brad Maddox.
ReplyDeleteAlso must note (and I forget which WrestleMania, maybe 18?) when Charles Robinson sprinted about a 100 yards and flew into the ring for an EPIC 2 count. Maybe Taker/Flair? I don't remember the match, just remember Robinson running like a madman to the ring.
ReplyDeleteMaddox was really only part of the Ryback storyline with CM Punk. I'm talking about a guy who maybe abuses his power as a referee or is on the take from a heel or is a puppet of the management. So that when he draws the straw for the task of the big main event, the audience is all like "ooohh shit, not him. Daniel Bryan is so screwed."
ReplyDeleteTaker/Edge from WrestleMania 24
ReplyDeleteHow do you make a successful Superman movie? Put Batman in it.
ReplyDeleteBest ref bump: Warrior - Rude Summerslam 89'. Possibly the best commentary ever too.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but he lent himself well to that whole down-home country atmosphere that made World Class in the early to mid-80s so much fun.
ReplyDeleteTodd "FUCK YOU TOOOODDDDDD!!!!!" Sinclair
ReplyDeleteAnd the greatest ref bump ever is Bill Alfonso taking a 911 chokeslam during the Raven/Richards-Pitbulls dog collar match.
Danny Davis, always fair and impartial.
ReplyDeleteHigh five!!
ReplyDeleteThe Maddox story had such potential but they just shunted him to apprentice authority figure right when it just started.
ReplyDeleteScott Armstrong would be perfect - he could take the ass-whipping from D-Bry like only an experienced wrestler could.
ReplyDeleteTommy Young's always #1 to me... Pee Wee Anderson and Brian Hildebrand/Mark Curtis are 2A and 2B.
ReplyDeleteNot a bump, but one of my favorite ref moments was in ECW, N2R 97. Joel's doing his usual Dudley's intro, and finishes the pre-match anouncements with "Your referee... is bald." John Finnegan gives a nasty look at Joel, and gets cowed by the Duds immediately.
Randy Anderson tries to kill a fan here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj6QoYTSPhQ
Tommy young is the greatest ref ever but the Tim white suicide angle is the best referee related angle of all time.
ReplyDeleteEasily Charles Robinson. I mean, you can't vote against Lil Naitch.
ReplyDeleteAmong current WWE refs, I also like Black Ref.
I'm going to go with Jimmy Korderas. He was invisible in the ring. Mike Chioda's energy was good, but his injured/hurt 3 count was just too exaggerated after a while. I'm going to stop thinking about refs now.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the most idiotic McMahon idiosyncrasies. Most of them I can understand. Even the obsession with no repeated first names makes some sense. But the ref thing...just...wtf? And it changes without rhyme or reason all the time.
ReplyDeleteHebner's two coutns are the WORST. They're as much of a tell as McMahon doing the "he got him we've got a new cham...NO HE KICKED OUT" thing.
ReplyDeleteThat bump Sinclair took at Final Battle 2011 was pretty Damn brutal
ReplyDeleteEd Hercules!
ReplyDelete50 comments in... and no love for Nick Patrick? The guy could do it all.
ReplyDeleteI seriously forgot he was even the ref until his raise of Daniel Bryan's hand... that's how good at not being seen or heard he is.
ReplyDeleteMust be a Milford Man.
I was literally JUST typing basically the same comment.
ReplyDeleteThe whole wearing the neckbrace, "oww my neck hurts to bad to count" shit was gold. GOLD!
Timothy Donaghy
ReplyDeleteThe one who died. You know, from cancer.
ReplyDeleteMark Curtis?
I don't know.
He was in WCW/nWo Revenge.
I have no rationale for this, I just liked him.
Ah, yes...Jimmy Korderas. No matter how bad my impending baldness looked for me, I would look to Jimmy and feel better.
ReplyDeleteSteve "Mongo" McMichael, Bound For Glory 2008.
ReplyDeleteHoly shit, that was the most frustrating thing I've ever been witness to in pro-wrestling.
ReplyDeleteMy beef with Nick stems from an interview I saw with him where he was asked about the bullshit with Starrcade 1997 and he acted like he didn't remember. The host was like "The biggest match of your career, in WCW's history, and you don't remember?" and Nick was simply "I've reffed a lot of matches".
ReplyDeleteI'm stoked, baby. Affleck is going to kick major ass, and prove to be the best Batman yet.
ReplyDeleteI HATED the way he did the 3-count in the ring. HATED it. He'd just flop down, lie there in the weirdest, goofiest pose ever, then awkwardly slap the ring way too slowly.
ReplyDeleteWeird- I never noticed that. But then, I tended to ignore most refs.
ReplyDeleteSlick Johnson, with his booty tight bicycle shorts. The greatest thing a referee has ever done is when both his would be down and Slick would do the super exaggerated comedic 10 count.
ReplyDeleteThis conversation begins and ends with Tommy Young. Not only would he slide out of the ring to count a pin, he would FLY over the wrestlers when needed to get into a better position.
ReplyDelete