Nick Patrick: Spotlight Hog

[DR Ackermann]

I have never hated a referee more. He is always involving himself way too much in the action. Not in a Tommy Young way either. I think Young can ad to a match with his physicality. Nick Patrick is just always in the way, blocking movement, crowding the screen, motioning with his hands way too much. I can't stand him. He gets too close when he counts pinfalls, getting right up to the wrestlers. Its very distracting. I realize that part of it could also be his size. He is bigger than most referees, but still. Does anyone else feel this way?

 

There are plenty of times I will get annoyed by a referee and lo and behold, it turns out to be Patrick, so I know I am not just picking on him. I think maybe the fact that he used to be a wrestler but got injured contributed a lot to his over-involvement.

[PeteF3]

You haven't seen a true spotlight hog until you've seen David Manning.

[KrisZ]

David Manning was atrocious.

 

I always thought Nick Patrick's lost calling was as a heel manager because he cut definitely cut a heel promo. Not as good as his dad but with more seasoning he would've been great.

[Loss]

He was not at all a good traditional wrestling referee, but when you needed something complex from a referee, be it involving himself in a sequence or getting over an angle, he was the guy.

[DR Ackermann]

He pops up ALL the time in big matches. Outside of the nWo stuff, could you point me towards some examples?

[Loss]

Midnight Express vs Rock & Roll Express, from both Wrestle War '90 and the 4/22/90 Main Event. Wrestle War '90 has him almost getting in a fistfight with Cornette when Cornette gets in his face, and the Main Event match ... that spot is too good to spoil.

[JazeUSA]

Patrick was a solid performer in the ring back in the day, I guess he could never let go of the past & kept having flash backs during his referee days & that is why he was always getting involved?

[Childs]

Sandy Barr is the king in this category.

[goodhelmet]

You haven't seen a true spotlight hog until you've seen David Manning.

 

This. Made several good matches on the Texas project nearly unwatchable.

[Kevin Ridge]

Patrick's lying down doing counting pinfalls bothered me but he was no where near Earl Hebner when it came to being an awful referee.

[victory]

Midnight Express vs Rock & Roll Express, from both Wrestle War '90 and the 4/22/90 Main Event. Wrestle War '90 has him almost getting in a fistfight with Cornette when Cornette gets in his face, and the Main Event match ... that spot is too good to spoil.

That spot in the Wrestle War 90 match still cracks me up everytime. Patrick is so animated you can't help but laugh despite the silliness of it.

[PeteF3]

Plus, he's not trying to get over at expense of the wrestlers--he's getting over at the expense of Cornette but also getting Cornette over at the same time. I don't think it's much of a stretch for anyone, familiar or not with Patrick's background, to buy that he could take Cornette out if he wanted.

[Strummer]

I haven't seen the match in years but his performance in the Sting/Luger v Hall/Nash match at Hog Wild 96 was particulary impressive. That was a pretty creative ending by american prowrestling standards in 1996. He was always good at stuff like that

[DR Ackermann]

Just watched Tommy Rich vs Cuban Assassin from Halloween Havoc 89 and Patrick is moving back and forth the entire time and won't stop pointing every time someone is put in a hold. Its all I can pay attention to. I really, really hate him.

[sek69]

 

You haven't seen a true spotlight hog until you've seen David Manning.

 

This. Made several good matches on the Texas project nearly unwatchable.

 

 

I remember watching a pull-apart brawl in an early WCCW match and thinking a fan ran in the ring as part of the schmoz to break it up. Nope it was David Manning running around like a loon in the middle of a heated brawl.

[DR Ackermann]

Who would make the all-time worst referees list? We've got Manning, Barr and Patrick as potential candidates. I haven't seen (or noticed) Manning before, but I've seen a little bit of Barr and he was pretty bad. I remember him no-selling a punch from Ed Wiskowski.

[Grimmas]

The more I watch Earl Hebner, the more I hate his "dramatic" final super slow pin count.

[khawk20]

Gary Derusha, the main referee in the AWA's dying days, is an interesting case. As a referee, he wasn't bad, but his voice..holy shit. Counting pins, counting for hold breaks on the ropes, counting ten when wrestlers were outside the ring...jesus. His voice took center stage ahead of the in-ring action a lot because it was just so overpowering, and monotonish at the same time.

 

I don't know if that made him a bad referee but it was as distracting as any referee getting involved physically to me.

[khawk20]

..and yes, mark me down as being in the "David manning blows goats" camp. Just atrocious.

[goc]

Gary Derusha, the main referee in the AWA's dying days, is an interesting case. As a referee, he wasn't bad, but his voice..holy shit. Counting pins, counting for hold breaks on the ropes, counting ten when wrestlers were outside the ring...jesus. His voice took center stage ahead of the in-ring action a lot because it was just so overpowering, and monotonish at the same time.

 

I don't know if that made him a bad referee but it was as distracting as any referee getting involved physically to me.

I don't know exactly what it was about Derusha that I didn't like but I remember being annoyed by him at points during the AWA set. I know for sure that there was some match on the set that saw him get his ass kicked, I think by Hansen, that I ended up ranking higher just for that.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I'm the only person who likes David Manning and gets his gimmick.

[khawk20]

I'm the only person who likes David Manning and gets his gimmick.

 

You just like his moustache. Admit it.

[El-P]

Saw hundreds of match with Nick Patrick, and he never bothered me. And he was great as a heel, and excellent promo too.

 

Hebner's delayed dramatic counts did annoy the hell out of me though.

[jdw]

David Manning was atrocious.

 

Manning was awful. He ref'd like he was one of the Von Erich brothers and sold for the heels even less.

 

The other one that comes to mind is Dick Woehrle in the Spectrum in the WWF. "Spotlight hog" might be too extreme for him, but he wouldn't sell for the heels and just generally had a stick up his ass.

 

By selling for the heels, I don't mean that a ref has to turn into the common stooge that they so often have over the past 20 years. But someone like Tommy Young could balance:

 

* Authority Figure

* selling for/reacting to what the heels are up to

* work it in a way that didn't make him look like a fool

* work it in a way where the heels didn't look weak relative to him

 

Granted, Flair liked to bump for Tommy, but that was a Flair spot. You'd get similar things from other heels if it was part of their routine.

 

Overall, Tommy was part of the "dance" with the heels and faces, adjusted his game to what they were up to, maintained being a Ref, and didn't feel like Being Credible meant he had to make Heels Look Like Shit. Which should be kind of obvious: heels are in the business of showing ass themselves, and letting the Faces get up on them. They don't need to Ref to be a dick as well.

 

Manning acted in the ring like he could kick the asses of all the heels if he really wanted to. Woehrle took Authority and No Nonsense to the level that he's step on stuff the heels were up to, not get out of there way when he should, basically be on his own script when he got into things rather than rolling with the wrestlers.

 

John

[jdw]

Jerome (and others) keep blowing up thread with the accidental italics.

 

Will & Loss: there must be a patch that deals with this.