REF WEEK: The Referee By Damian Slater
THE REFEREE, By Damian Slater
Why does Pro Wrestling have rules? First and foremost, as a vehicle for a heel to get heat.
Pro Wrestling is at its finest when it tells stories utilising whatever added stakes or limitations that it has. In a tag team match, the real fun happens when a 2nd partner becomes involved. When there’s a manager at ringside, the extra threat always looms and adds a new dynamic. And in any stock-standard, gimmick-free wrestling contest, we have a zebra-striped bystander who can be as active or as passive as you like in getting your message across to the audience. I’d argue that outside of the wrestlers themselves, the referee often has the most important job on the show.
When the rules are emphasised, enforced and occasionally stretched, we can unlock whole new levels of emotion. In some places, the referees are told to call it how they see it. If something crosses the lines of what’s legal multiple times, you’re getting disqualified. But in most, the referees assume the position of being supporting cast who need to make sure the matches run and end however they were supposed to on the run sheet, regardless of any mistakes made by an ignorant wrestler.
With that in mind, it’s up to each professional to treat their referee with the respect they deserve. If you bend the rules over and over and your referee does nothing, you’ve just taught your audience that none of the rules really matter. At least not to the point where they could get you disqualified or that they are deplorable enough to negatively affect a babyface (and therefore garner heat 🔥). Such a waste!
This isn’t to let officials off the hook. While many referees begin as young, aspiring Pro Wrestlers who put their hand up to fill a much-needed role before they’re ready to throw down, there is an art to doing the job justice and I wish that more had the desire to become high-level referees. It’s not glamorous but Pro Wrestling doesn’t work without them.
Referees need to be assertive. As soon as you consider yourself a minor piece of the puzzle in a match, you’re basically setting yourself up to be walked all over. Much of this comes from having confidence, not just with the rules, requirements and expectations of a referee but socially as part of the crew. You need to understand your role like anyone should in the game but must speak up at the right times, take initiative when needed and be able to improvise when things go south. Sometimes the referee is the only one who can save a match that has gone off the tracks.
It doesn’t take talent to hit the mat 3 times consecutively but it does to subtly communicate messages between wrestlers on the fly. To stay out of the way to allow the wrestlers to work for their crowd/camera but be in the way enough to assert their authority. And to protect the well-being of those in the ring when catastrophic injury occurs.
If you have interest in being a referee the advice I give is the same advice that I give to an aspiring Pro Wrestler. Learn the fundamentals of tumbling and breakfalling, get in shape and discover as much as you can about match psychology and the inner workings of the Pro Wrestling business. If you need help with all of this, I run my own unique online platform for aspiring Pro Wrestlers and others in the industry at WorldBeaterWrestling.com. Drop me a line and I’d be happy to assist.
