Former WWE referee Marty Elias recently appeared on the Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast. He has worked a number of big matches in his career, including one of the best Wrestlemania matches of all time: Shawn Michaels vs the Undertaker (Wrestlemania 25).
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During the interview he spoke about some common misconceptions that fans have about being a WWE referee. He also explains how difficult it actually is to be a ref.
“A referee can make a good match better and it can make a bad match horrible. For a referee it is all about positioning, it is all about timing, it is all about being able to work with a heel and a baby-face. It is being able to communicate time cues and being able to communicate spots when the boys are down, there are all these factors that people don’t take into consideration. The referee has a responsibility of safety, times, the crowd to worry about and you have to make sure nobody is going to come into the ring and do something”
He continued:
“You are given feedback from the producer or Vince McMahon or a Chris DeJoseph in your earpiece that they want to see something different or someone needs to tighten up their punches or a kick-out needs to be better and you need to communicate all this stuff. There are all these different factors and probably about twenty different things you need to be cautious of and aware of and you have to make sure you are doing it right. These are the things I think people don’t have the perspective on and that there is so much going on for a referee all at once.”
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You can listen to the full podcast here.
Interesting to hear an actual WWE referee give his take about the job. Especially one that has been in many high-profile matches. Seems like a difficult job, more than you would think!