10 Times Wrestling Referees Really F**ked Up!

2. Becky Lynch Walks Away With Gold At WrestleMania 35, The Ref Walks Away With A Fine

The first ever all-female main event at WrestleMania 35, that crowned Becky Lynch as the undisputed women’s champion and was the biggest moment in her career, was tarnished by its finish.

With Charlotte down, Becky rolled Ronda Rousey up in a crucifix pin to score the win, even though Ronda’s shoulder was off the mat. It was WWE referee Rod Zapata who officiated the match and made the cover, and as a consequence of the pin gaffe was fined afterwards off orders directly from Vince McMahon.

WWE has a modern policy of referees calling matches like a shoot. The belief amongst WWE higher-ups was Zapata should have stopped the pin when he saw Ronda’s shoulder wasn’t on the mat, with the wrestlers then having the responsibility to come up with another finish on the fly (even in WWE’s biggest match that calendar year).

The Chairman was clearly looking to set an example to others, with referee Dan Engler also getting fined around this time for a botched spot in the SmackDown Tag Team Title match on the card. Once again proving refereeing isn’t an easy job in WWE.