REF WEEK Dazzlers Corner: The Unsung Heroes Of Pro Wrestling

By Ken Dunlop

Referee’s are the unsung heroes of professional wrestling.

I was lucky enough to grow up as a young boy then a teenager through the boom period of wrestling here in Australia, WCW from 1964-1978. In Melbourne the referee’s became household names, Mike Hunt, Eddie Swan, Rob Phillips and the most famous of all the legendary Tony Marino. In NSW and Brisbane, WCW had Wallaby Bob McMaster, Ron Hanson, Bobby Regan and on special occasions Roy Heffernan.

After WCW finished in December 1978 wrestling was still big in Victoria with many small promotions, Tony Marino was still the number one guy and Vic Ferrari was the next top guy, Sam Rossi and myself also refereed on occasions. I use to referee for Kurt Schneider as he promoted alot of shows in shopping centres all throughout Victoria.

When I moved to Sydney at the end of 1980 , the main referees at the time were Doug Johnston, Alan Pinfold, Bobby Regan, Bobby Burns and Steve Rackman occasionally used legendary Australian actor Roger Ward.

A referee can make or break a match. In my opinion a referee should have wrestling experience, to have the knowledge to be able to help a young inexperienced wrestler out if needed. When I promoted from 1991-1998 we had alot of young inexperienced wrestlers so I had to be able to trust the referee to help them, Bobby Burns was fantastic with the young guys, we used Bob Blassie, Russ Carew, Myself and Lofty Pickford and Lou the Lebanese Butcher and Big Al.

When I was doing the announcing l had code words l would use to the referee and he would pass it on to the workers. Again back in my era most shows would only have one referee do the whole show, today on a regular show there might be 7 or 8 matches and they can use up to 4 referees, some are guys who are learning to wrestle but to me if something goes wrong during a match they won’t be able to correct it.
A great referee is hard to find and when you find one any promotion should look after them well.

A referee should always command respect from the wrestlers and the audience.

I salute and thank all referees. Respect.