The unsung heroes of professional wrestling are the men in stripes, the referees. Silently, these brave men monitor the action as the sole authority figure in the ring. Their job is simple: to count the pinfall; signal a submission; count-out a wrestler who spends too long away from the ring; or watch for the kind of rule-breaking that would necessitate a disqualification. Unfortunately, referees are not made from the same muscle and bone as the men they officiate, as the slightest contact with one of the wrestlers has been known to knock a referee out cold for incredible durations of time. They are also known to be easily distracted by an outside source, as referees, pretty ladies, or tag team partners making the slightest move can pull a ref's focus from the action before him to ("SQUIRREL!") anything else. Of course, outside of the "kayfabe" portion of professional wrestling, the referees of the WWE and all professional wrestling bodies have a more important job than just declaring losers and winners. They are the third-man in the ring (more if it is a tag.) They are responsible for controlling the flow of a match, relaying backstage information to the superstars in the ring, and often play a part in the final outcome, be it because of interference or a "ref-bump" or what-have-you. Because of the skills required, those who referee on the main roster of the WWE generally find themselves in the role of enforcer for a long, long time. It requires a lot of trust to be placed on a single individual to help pull-off all that in a wrestling match (particularly when precise timing for a television show are taken into consideration.) And with that, here are the 10 Greatest WWE Referees of All Time.
The 'House is a father of two and husband of one in Minnesota. He is an improv comedian, and in his spare time follows WWE, MLB, The Simpsons, and Bob's Burgers. Growing up he was a huge fan of He-Man, and refuses to believe that it was in fact terrible.
