Favourite Referee Spots

[Sidebottom]

Whether it be a guest ref, standard ref, or whatever, let'/s give the role of the ref some love here on PWO.

 

An underrated angle in my mind is when the WWE ref's went on strike in 1999 due to dangerous working conditions and all of the nice little things that came out of that.

 

Shawn Michaels basically co main evented Summerslam 97 as a ref and he really did add to the drama, obviously directly involved in the climax. This to me is the single best guest ref spot ever.

[sek69]

I used to love how Tommy Young would dive in to make a count if he was out of position.

 

Charles Robinson sometimes sells people's moves better than the guy taking them, but not in a way that takes attention away from the match.

[Steenalized]

I used to love how Tommy Young would dive in to make a count if he was out of position.

 

Charles Robinson sometimes sells people's moves better than the guy taking them, but not in a way that takes attention away from the match.

Robinson sold JBL's punch at Judgment Day '06 like a million bucks. It looks like a perfect KO and he didn't oversell it by flopping around or anything.

[PeteF3]

Kyohei Wada would sometimes appear to bounce straight up in the air when the mat was impacted with a huge move, then come down horizontally in perfect position to make a count.

 

I admire Tommy Young or any other referee (Mid-South was good at this) who really throw themselves into their bumps in order to make it as reckless and catastrophic as possible. One complaint I have about Memphis is how lazy and uncreative they are with their ref bumps--doubly noticeable because of how frequent they are. Every time, it's the same "headlock-push-off-collide-with-ref" bit and most of the time, especially once Jerry Calhoun left, it didn't even look that good.

[efrim]

I don't think I'd qualify it as "good", but an undeniable favorite of mine is during the second hhh/undertaker 'Mania match when Shawn goes in to insane histrionics over 'Taker's invincibility. I just died laughing, it was like the guy was having a Vietnam flashback or something.

[Fantastic]

I don't think I'd qualify it as "good", but an undeniable favorite of mine is during the third hhh/undertaker 'Mania match when Shawn goes in to insane histrionics over 'Taker's invincibility. I just died laughing, it was like the guy was having a Vietnam flashback or something.

 

Fixed that for you.

 

Honestly, it's easy to forget the first match they had at X-7, due to all the spectacle around the latter two.

 

Back to Ref's, I'm kinda partial to Earl Hebner's woozy long slow nearfall count following recovery from an earlier attack.

[Badlittlekitten]

I always laugh when the ref does that over the top wacky arm gesture to send the manager/cronies to the back following an interference spot. Always guarantees a good pop too.

 

It's silly but I love it when a wholesome chap like Steamboat or Jumbo is beating a heel in the corner, gets carried away and tosses the ref across the ring when he tries to intervene. Similarly, I love it whenever the AJW girls would get frustrated with a conniving heel ref and spend chunks of the match kicking the shit out of him. That dumpy little bastard that was in Dump's pocket is one of my favourite refs.

 

I'm probably alone on this but I always enjoy interaction with the referee. Any ref bump cracks me up to be honest. The Nick Patrick/Jim Cornette stand off at WrestleWar is one of my favourite things ever. I love the ridiculousness of it all. The burial of Ryback makes me sad but Brad Maddox blasting him in the balls was fucking hilarious.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Back when my pal Wolfman and I were in High School watching Crockett all the time, we used to joke that if Tommy Young had actually been knocked out as often as he was he'd be brain damaged and eating through a tube.

[Sidebottom]

I always laugh when the ref does that over the top wacky arm gesture to send the manager/cronies to the back following an interference spot. Always guarantees a good pop too.

 

 

Absolutely! Back in the SNME days whenever somebody like a Sherri, Heenan or Slick was sent back, the crowd would pop big time. These days I imagine if Summer Rae was sent back, or whoever, the crowd would just be average.

[Stiva]

I always laugh when the ref does that over the top wacky arm gesture to send the manager/cronies to the back following an interference spot. Always guarantees a good pop too.

 

With a hearty "YOU'RE OUTTA HERE!" for good measure.

[dexstar]

My favorite individual referee spot of all time is Charles Robinson making the quarter mile sprint down the aisle at WrestleMania 24 capped by his fluid dive and count of Undertaker's near fall.

 

My favorite general referee spot is when they kick a guy's hand off the ropes to break a hold because they usually wind up so far for it, like it's a 60 yard field goal attempt. I also enjoy when they repeatedly ask guys not to use closed fists because it's so futile.

[Fantastic]

My favorite individual referee spot of all time is Charles Robinson making the quarter mile sprint down the aisle at WrestleMania 24 capped by his fluid dive and count of Undertaker's near fall.

 

This was one of the last times that the Tombstone Piledriver was perceived as a One Hit KO. That delay was Edge's saving throw. Now pretty much every Wrestlemania you can expect Taker's opponent to survive at least one Tombstone without any delays (or two if your Michaels and or Triple H).

[efrim]

I miss the days of the one hit KO tombstone. Really, I wish at least one finish in the wwe was protected as a pure sure kill.

[Stiva]

I miss the days of the one hit KO tombstone. Really, I wish at least one finish in the wwe was protected as a pure sure kill.

 

Has anyone kicked out of Bryan's running knee yet?

[Badlittlekitten]

No. Nobody's kicked out of Reign's spear yet either.

[efrim]

I'd be happy with either of those being very protected going forward

[Sidebottom]

Hulk Hogan throwing baby Earl at the conclusion of perhaps my favourite ever wrestling angle just popped into my head. My avatar isn't just ironic - I think that was one of the greatest things in pro wrestling, ever!

[EricR]

 

I miss the days of the one hit KO tombstone. Really, I wish at least one finish in the wwe was protected as a pure sure kill.

 

Has anyone kicked out of Bryan's running knee yet?

 

 

Orton kicked out of the knee in the Chamber match

[Badlittlekitten]

No he didn't. Kane pulled the ref out of the ring before he could hit the three count.

[bradhindsight]

I miss the days of the one hit KO tombstone. Really, I wish at least one finish in the wwe was protected as a pure sure kill.

 

Although it's hard to establish when you're just wrestling once a year, wasn't it a one-hit KO on Punk in their Mania match?

[xlynwoodx]

When the heel is holding the ropes during an abdominal stretch and the ref kicks his arm away, always cracks me up.

[Jimmy Redman]

 

My favorite individual referee spot of all time is Charles Robinson making the quarter mile sprint down the aisle at WrestleMania 24 capped by his fluid dive and count of Undertaker's near fall.

 

This was one of the last times that the Tombstone Piledriver was perceived as a One Hit KO. That delay was Edge's saving throw. Now pretty much every Wrestlemania you can expect Taker's opponent to survive at least one Tombstone without any delays (or two if your Michaels and or Triple H).

 

 

I'm on the side of protecting finishers generally speaking, but the Tombstone at Mania is something that makes perfect sense to me.

 

The story of the Streak matches since the first Shawn match has been built around the mortality of the ageing WWE Legends involved. They're all getting older and getting closer and closer to the end, to retirement, and in the case of Taker, to the Streak being broken. His entire mission as a wrestler now is the preservation of the Streak, the one remaining part of his in-ring legacy, but as he gets older it is slipping out of his grasp and that task gets more and more difficult.

 

Flair was the first to fall, he hung on well into old age and was "put down" by Shawn at WM24. Shawn, Mr. Wrestlemania and now the "1A Greatest of All Time", tried to cement his own legacy by doing one last big thing: ending the Streak, and he pushed Taker further than he ever had been before by kicking out of the Tombstone, but in the end he succumbed. Then Shawn faces his own mortality ("without the Streak, I have no career") and was in turn "put down" by Taker at WM26. But still those matches took a gigantic toll on Taker himself in the process.

 

The first match with Hunter is one that Taker wins but barely survives, and The Undertaker actually does a stretcher job to sell it, while Hunter, the loser, walks out under his own power. Taker is getting weaker, one more match could do him in, and Hunter with his typical delusions of grandeur thinks that HE is the next man in the cycle, the one who is going to "put down" the Undertaker at the end of his road, just like Shawn and Flair before. BUT, he can't account for the power of Undertaker, the power of the Streak. Taker isn't just another old timer Legend who needs to be put down, he's the God damn undead zombie UNDERTAKER. He don't get put down. So he still, somehow, pulls it off. But God damn does it take a toll, and he keeps getting older.

 

Then it's Punk, not a Legend but a younger guy in his prime, coming off a year-long title reign. Again, it takes a gargantuan effort from Taker to protect the Streak. One Tombstone just doesn't do the job anymore. Not because LETS KICK OUT OF FINISHERS, but because Taker is older and weaker, and holding onto his powers with his last gasp. And he's in there facing guys who have basically made it their life's mission to End the Streak. They go above and beyond during the match to get it done, wrestling the matches of their lives. They're not kicking out of the Tombstone at Backlash, but here, at Mania, with the most fantastic and impossible-to-achieve prize dangling in front of them, they go the extra mile. They force Taker to do the same, to dig deeper, to find some other way to win. And so far, he has done just that. But really, for how much longer will he be able to?

 

That's why I don't mind the Tombstone kickouts.

[dawho5]

I always like when that bald, English speaking ref is working a Stan Hansen match in All Japan. They have this great chemistry that developed over the years. Hansen ignores the ref every time he is admonished, the ref gets more and more pissed and starts yelling at Hansen. Hansen finds a way to throw it right back at the ref in a way he can't do much about. For example:

 

"NO OUTSIDE!" Hansen goes outside anyway, for probably the third or fourth time at least that match, lays whoever it is out with something, rolls back in the ring and then looks at the ref and yells, "GET HIM UP REF!"

 

That is gold, and I think it adds something to a lot of Hansen matches.

[Fantastic]

 

 

My favorite individual referee spot of all time is Charles Robinson making the quarter mile sprint down the aisle at WrestleMania 24 capped by his fluid dive and count of Undertaker's near fall.

 

This was one of the last times that the Tombstone Piledriver was perceived as a One Hit KO. That delay was Edge's saving throw. Now pretty much every Wrestlemania you can expect Taker's opponent to survive at least one Tombstone without any delays (or two if your Michaels and or Triple H).

 

 

I'm on the side of protecting finishers generally speaking, but the Tombstone at Mania is something that makes perfect sense to me.

 

The story of the Streak matches since the first Shawn match has been built around the mortality of the ageing WWE Legends involved. They're all getting older and getting closer and closer to the end, to retirement, and in the case of Taker, to the Streak being broken. His entire mission as a wrestler now is the preservation of the Streak, the one remaining part of his in-ring legacy, but as he gets older it is slipping out of his grasp and that task gets more and more difficult.

 

Flair was the first to fall, he hung on well into old age and was "put down" by Shawn at WM24. Shawn, Mr. Wrestlemania and now the "1A Greatest of All Time", tried to cement his own legacy by doing one last big thing: ending the Streak, and he pushed Taker further than he ever had been before by kicking out of the Tombstone, but in the end he succumbed. Then Shawn faces his own mortality ("without the Streak, I have no career") and was in turn "put down" by Taker at WM26. But still those matches took a gigantic toll on Taker himself in the process.

 

The first match with Hunter is one that Taker wins but barely survives, and The Undertaker actually does a stretcher job to sell it, while Hunter, the loser, walks out under his own power. Taker is getting weaker, one more match could do him in, and Hunter with his typical delusions of grandeur thinks that HE is the next man in the cycle, the one who is going to "put down" the Undertaker at the end of his road, just like Shawn and Flair before. BUT, he can't account for the power of Undertaker, the power of the Streak. Taker isn't just another old timer Legend who needs to be put down, he's the God damn undead zombie UNDERTAKER. He don't get put down. So he still, somehow, pulls it off. But God damn does it take a toll, and he keeps getting older.

 

Then it's Punk, not a Legend but a younger guy in his prime, coming off a year-long title reign. Again, it takes a gargantuan effort from Taker to protect the Streak. One Tombstone just doesn't do the job anymore. Not because LETS KICK OUT OF FINISHERS, but because Taker is older and weaker, and holding onto his powers with his last gasp. And he's in there facing guys who have basically made it their life's mission to End the Streak. They go above and beyond during the match to get it done, wrestling the matches of their lives. They're not kicking out of the Tombstone at Backlash, but here, at Mania, with the most fantastic and impossible-to-achieve prize dangling in front of them, they go the extra mile. They force Taker to do the same, to dig deeper, to find some other way to win. And so far, he has done just that. But really, for how much longer will he be able to?

 

That's why I don't mind the Tombstone kickouts.

 

 

I love this post.

 

In terms of The Undertaker gradually weakening yet still finding a way to win at Wrestlemania though, how long before it becomes ridiculous? What is Brock Lesnar (and any following opponents) going to have to do in order to continue the method of storytelling you described in your post? The only way kicking out of the Tombstone can be topped now is for somebody to no sell it Puroresu style. Would that really be a good thing? It would work if Taker was the guy doing it, after all, he no sold the GTS last year, and then immediately Tombstone'd Punk for an ultra near fall (which was awesome by the way!) Would it not be extremely hammy if Brock Lesnar were to get Tombstone'd and immediately stand up and do his Pterodactyl scream?

 

There isn't much left in Taker's arsenal that is a definitive match ender. Shawn Michaels was the first person to escape from the Hells Gate, by reaching the ropes whilst in a hold that typically immobilised and always resulted in a submission victory for Taker up until that point. Triple H then ebcame the first person to reverse it when he powered Taker up into a Spinebuster. After this, it was all pretty routine, Punk simply rolled over into a Jacknife cover when Taker slapped the hold on last year.

[Jimmy Redman]

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite individual referee spot of all time is Charles Robinson making the quarter mile sprint down the aisle at WrestleMania 24 capped by his fluid dive and count of Undertaker's near fall.

 

This was one of the last times that the Tombstone Piledriver was perceived as a One Hit KO. That delay was Edge's saving throw. Now pretty much every Wrestlemania you can expect Taker's opponent to survive at least one Tombstone without any delays (or two if your Michaels and or Triple H).

I'm on the side of protecting finishers generally speaking, but the Tombstone at Mania is something that makes perfect sense to me.

 

The story of the Streak matches since the first Shawn match has been built around the mortality of the ageing WWE Legends involved. They're all getting older and getting closer and closer to the end, to retirement, and in the case of Taker, to the Streak being broken. His entire mission as a wrestler now is the preservation of the Streak, the one remaining part of his in-ring legacy, but as he gets older it is slipping out of his grasp and that task gets more and more difficult.

 

Flair was the first to fall, he hung on well into old age and was "put down" by Shawn at WM24. Shawn, Mr. Wrestlemania and now the "1A Greatest of All Time", tried to cement his own legacy by doing one last big thing: ending the Streak, and he pushed Taker further than he ever had been before by kicking out of the Tombstone, but in the end he succumbed. Then Shawn faces his own mortality ("without the Streak, I have no career") and was in turn "put down" by Taker at WM26. But still those matches took a gigantic toll on Taker himself in the process.

 

The first match with Hunter is one that Taker wins but barely survives, and The Undertaker actually does a stretcher job to sell it, while Hunter, the loser, walks out under his own power. Taker is getting weaker, one more match could do him in, and Hunter with his typical delusions of grandeur thinks that HE is the next man in the cycle, the one who is going to "put down" the Undertaker at the end of his road, just like Shawn and Flair before. BUT, he can't account for the power of Undertaker, the power of the Streak. Taker isn't just another old timer Legend who needs to be put down, he's the God damn undead zombie UNDERTAKER. He don't get put down. So he still, somehow, pulls it off. But God damn does it take a toll, and he keeps getting older.

 

Then it's Punk, not a Legend but a younger guy in his prime, coming off a year-long title reign. Again, it takes a gargantuan effort from Taker to protect the Streak. One Tombstone just doesn't do the job anymore. Not because LETS KICK OUT OF FINISHERS, but because Taker is older and weaker, and holding onto his powers with his last gasp. And he's in there facing guys who have basically made it their life's mission to End the Streak. They go above and beyond during the match to get it done, wrestling the matches of their lives. They're not kicking out of the Tombstone at Backlash, but here, at Mania, with the most fantastic and impossible-to-achieve prize dangling in front of them, they go the extra mile. They force Taker to do the same, to dig deeper, to find some other way to win. And so far, he has done just that. But really, for how much longer will he be able to?

 

That's why I don't mind the Tombstone kickouts.

I love this post.

 

In terms of The Undertaker gradually weakening yet still finding a way to win at Wrestlemania though, how long before it becomes ridiculous? What is Brock Lesnar (and any following opponents) going to have to do in order to continue the method of storytelling you described in your post? The only way kicking out of the Tombstone can be topped now is for somebody to no sell it Puroresu style. Would that really be a good thing? It would work if Taker was the guy doing it, after all, he no sold the GTS last year, and then immediately Tombstone'd Punk for an ultra near fall (which was awesome by the way!) Would it not be extremely hammy if Brock Lesnar were to get Tombstone'd and immediately stand up and do his Pterodactyl scream?

 

There isn't much left in Taker's arsenal that is a definitive match ender. Shawn Michaels was the first person to escape from the Hells Gate, by reaching the ropes whilst in a hold that typically immobilised and always resulted in a submission victory for Taker up until that point. Triple H then ebcame the first person to reverse it when he powered Taker up into a Spinebuster. After this, it was all pretty routine, Punk simply rolled over into a Jacknife cover when Taker slapped the hold on last year.

I think the leap from kicking out of a finisher to no selling a finisher is bigger than you're implying. WWE isn't puro or indies where no selling is a staple. I don't envision anyone standing up from a Tombstone, and nor should they.

 

I can maybe imagine a spot like the one from Summerslam where Brock got Pedigreed and immediately did the kimura from his back, just because he's done it before and it would seem like a cool spot to do. Somehow that is a different kind of no selling than standing up or Fighting Spiriting, I dunno.

 

But my point is that it's a gradual loss of powers, and the leap to actual no selling is not a gradual one. They don't have to escalate the level of no selling of a particular move - from death to kick out to no sell or something - to keep telling the story of Taker's twilight decline. They tell it with the entire picture, with how the match progresses and what moves work where, and through the selling and body language of course, particularly Taker's. They can paint that picture even if Brock gets pinned by the first Tombstone.