10 Problems EVERY Wrestling Company Has In Common
4. Abuse Of Referees
If referees always looked thick, they look f*cking thick now; with VAR and video replay the norm in real sports, there's no excuse - beyond the need to get one in - for the pro wrestling referee to look as dumb as they so frequently do.
WWE's refs look dumb because for years and years now, wrestlers have interfered in matches without - because f*ck your intelligence - bumping them first. The pattern and the frequency of the pattern should have proven instructive to the officials by now. It has not, because stupid people are incapable of instruction.
AEW take the piss in a cake-eating exercise that doesn't truly bother your writer - better a ref look than dumb than a finish - but it's still not ideal. Not perfect. That which would warrant a disqualification does not because AEW does not book DQ finishes. Several matches feature weapon shots and moments of excessive outside brawling that aren't penalised, which works on the "miles better than WWE" curve, but not entirely in and of itself; when FTR go to such meticulous lengths to outwit the referee, it all too often resonates as pointless. The heft of their act is somewhat lacking as a result.
NJPW has long annihilated the credibility of its refs, and just about gets away with it for two reasons: Red Shoes Unno is very endearing, and it happens so frequently that you simply have to get on with it.
A great, authoritative referee adds so much - Aubrey Edwards shutting down Chris Jericho was such a welcome reminder that referees matter, as do the integrity of the rules - but there aren't anywhere near enough of them.