Every Wrestling Secret WWE Tries (And Fails) To Hide

6. The Referee "X" Gesture

The New Day Chris Jericho
WWE

From the grip of hands to the crossing of them, the referee's responsibility remains to the health of the performer rather than the story of the match when the worst occurs.

Again something that cameras are supposed to miss and live crowd fans often ignore or simply miss, the "X" gesture thrown up by referees lets everybody from other wrestlers to commentators to those backstage that somebody is hurt and things need to happen to address that.

Legitimate injuries can often snap everybody back to reality in the moment, but the idea of this symbol is to try and achieve the opposite. With everybody empowered by the knowledge, there's often opportunity to think of something on the fly to aid in the pressing matter of somebody's health and wellbeing.

Over the last couple of decades, it's become known enough that WWE have occasionally been able to fold it into the work, but that's best kept rare. And anyway, in the era of headsets and wired-up refs, it's perhaps not quite as vital as it used to be, even if it remains as pretty admirable dark arts disguise from wrestling's roots.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett