10 Greatest WWE Referees Ever

By Adam Woolhouse /

8. Tim White

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Tim White- aka "Timber- is an instantly recognizable referee, with his round face, neatly-trimmed beard, and modest flat-top haircut. White began his WWF referee career in the late 1980s, making his PPV-debut at the very first SummerSlam. At the same time, his backstage duties included acting as the personal assistant and driver for the Eighth Wonder of the World, Andre the Giant. Later, he would hold the same duties for Shawn Michaels; unfortunately for Timber, that was during Shawn's drug-fueled, pissed-off-at-the-world period of 1996-97. In the ring, White had a lengthy career spanning over 20 years before a series of injuries- culminating in a severe shoulder separation when he took a bump off the apron and into the cage during a Hell in a Cell match-up between Triple H and Chris Jericho in 2004- forced him to retire. It was in referee-retirement that White gained his most notoriety, and not for the best reasons. To build up the dangers of the Cell for the upcoming Triple H/Kevin Nash match, WWE announcer Josh Matthews went to White's "Friendly Tap" bar- home to many WWF-brawls, most involving Bradshaw and Farooq amongst others- to interview the despondent former referee. White, obviously inebriated, admitted that the Hell in a Cell injury ruined his life, and- with no other way out- pulled out a gun and attempted to off himself.This turned into a series of internet-only videos entitled "Lunchtime Suicides," in which White tried to kill himself more than a dozen times, in more than a dozen ways in front of Matthews ("Mr. White, that's not wise!") ranging from eating a box of rat poison to bringing a toaster into a bath to walking into a giant fan. They were tasteless- especially considering Eddie Guerrero was found dead less than a month before the first one- but they- along with White's bar The Friendly Tap- have become White's legacy.