I've been going through all the PPVs on the Network in chronological order and among many thing that have piqued my interest is the varying rules that referees enforce, some of which are very odd. For instance in SuperBrawl VI Savage has Flair in a Figure-Four, and Flair gets to the ropes. It's a no DQ cage match though, so as the announcers explain Savage doesn't have to break. For some reason the referee comes over and kicks Flair's hands off the ropes. It's a puzzling moment, because if it is a No DQ match, then what does it matter if Flair is grabbing the ropes, why kick his hand away?

 

Another is around 1993-1994 in WCW I noticed refs admonishing guys on just about every show for open hand slaps to the face and warning them that they would be disqualified if they did it again. Closed fists are illegal, not open hand slaps, so the admonishments always struck me as very odd.

 

These are just a couple, I have more, but I figured this would make for an interesting topic to explore some weird calls referees have made in pro wrestling, or at the very least some odd ways they've gone about enforcing nebulous rule.

Try watching any (W)WWF card from the 79 or 80 where Dick Kroll or Dick Woehrle is ref.

 

The calls are so arbitrary that they are basically random. You can go from a match where a guy uses a chair in the ring in front of the ref (no DQ) to one where a guy is DQ'd for not breaking the 4-count by the ropes. Quite funny at times.

The AWA had sleeper matches between Greg Gagne and Nick Bockwinkel where the referee was counting when a pin was attempted, despite it being noted that pinfalls didn't and wouldn't count.

 

Of course, the wrestlers going for pinfalls was also noted and explained as an instinctual move in the heat of a hard match, which could also be a fabed explanation of the ref counting as well, I suppose.

 

...on the other side of the coin, the smartest referee call I may ever have seen in the AWA was the Zbyszko-Bockwinkel texas death match (no rules) from 1986 in St. Paul. Zbyszko hit referee Scott LeDoux with nunchakus as Bock entered the ring, then hit Bock several times, KOing him. The substitute referee climbed into the ring and counted the pin while everyone was going "WTF?" and it was explained that because it was a no-DQ match, all that stuff Larry did counted and the match was over.

 

I think they made it a no-contest after the fact, but I always thought that was pretty cool, mostly because it was a ref call that made sense for a change.

Some referees (Joe Fiorito in Winnipeg is the first one I thought of) used to kick guys hands off of the ropes when they reached it while their opponent had them in a hold. It was explained once that he did that because the wrestler wasn't actually at the ropes, and he had to be actually in the ropes with more than just a tenuous grasp on one rope for it to make the old he was in breakable. It always looked stupid and made it seem the ref favoured the face, and at the end of the day the spot was too arbitrarily applied to make sense. Fiorito seemed to do it every match. Drove me nuts.

Another one that I just watched that drove me nuts is from Owen Hart versus Shawn Michaels at In Your House 6. Owen nails Shawn with an Enzuguri and sends Shawn to the outside. Instead of counting freaking Earl Hebner jumps down first to check and see if Shawn was okay. Lawler was on commentary and jumped on that right away, such an odd and stupid thing to do.

I can't think of any examples but there were matches where a face would beat heel by pin. The heel does something nasty after the match and the ref would change it to a DQ victory. Why does it matter? The face already pinned the guy.

As a kid I thought the finish to the OMG/Bigelow match from Mania 4 was absolutely retarded, and thought the referee should be fired. Bigelow standing on the ring apron, OMG attacking him and stopping him from getting in the ring, ref counts out Bigelow. Bogus.

Another one that I just watched that drove me nuts is from Owen Hart versus Shawn Michaels at In Your House 6. Owen nails Shawn with an Enzuguri and sends Shawn to the outside. Instead of counting freaking Earl Hebner jumps down first to check and see if Shawn was okay. Lawler was on commentary and jumped on that right away, such an odd and stupid thing to do.

 

Wasn't that match based on the collapse angle, which was attributed to Owen's enziguri almost as much to the beating that put him out in the first place?

Yeah, that sounds like Hebner was reacting appropriately.

Some referees (Joe Fiorito in Winnipeg is the first one I thought of) used to kick guys hands off of the ropes when they reached it while their opponent had them in a hold. It was explained once that he did that because the wrestler wasn't actually at the ropes, and he had to be actually in the ropes with more than just a tenuous grasp on one rope for it to make the old he was in breakable. It always looked stupid and made it seem the ref favoured the face, and at the end of the day the spot was too arbitrarily applied to make sense. Fiorito seemed to do it every match. Drove me nuts.

 

Word. I hate that spot too. And it's usually so randomly done. You can also argue that the ref is paying the heel back for cheating so much earlier in the match, but still. Just a stupid spot to me.

Yeah, that sounds like Hebner was reacting appropriately.

 

Shawn had already been wrestling regularly by that point and cleared to be in the ring. He's in a wrestling match, he should be counted out first and then checked on by the ref, or if they're really concerned do what they always do and send out other officials to check on Shawn while Hebner is counting him out.

 

Word. I hate that spot too. And it's usually so randomly done. You can also argue that the ref is paying the heel back for cheating so much earlier in the match, but still. Just a stupid spot to me.

 

 

The thing I noticed in the AWA versions of this spot is that it tends to happen early in the match in the majority of cases, which means the heel hasn't really had much of a chance to cheat yet.

 

In any scenario it doesn't make good sense.

Nothing touches the "Excessive Force" DQ at Survivor Series 1988. The biggest proof possible that Hogan had everyone in the company on the take.

Well, Boss Man used a nightstick and Akeem shoved the referee.

 

Now the year after that, when the Powers of Pain leveled Hogan with a spike piledriver and *both* got disqualified, after Zeus was (justifiably) DQ'd earlier ("I don't care if you've got a Z on the side of your head or not, that's not legal")...well, Jesse's frothing-at-the-mouth rant summed that up better than I ever could.

Sandy Barr in Portland would often pull the heels hair if they wouldn't release a hold quick enough.

I really hate when guys get their shoulders counted down while they're in the figure 4.

I actually hate when the ref doesn't count the pin on the figure 4.

I know Hebner liked drawing attention to himself but I cracked up during the In Your House ppv from 5/97. The main event was Austin/Undertaker and they kept doing the spot where Austin cheats but Hebner doesn't technically catch him. Then finally when Undertaker low blows Austin to gain advantage, Austin yells at Hebner to DQ him. Hebner, who knows that Austin had been cheating behind his back, turns to Austin and loudly says NO FUCK YOUUUUUU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! while shaking his head and giving the double finger.

The both shoulders down is a tricky one, and when not executed properly makes a ref look like an idiot. Case in point, Bulldog versus Shawn from the Beware of Dog In Your House. Shawn hits a terrible looking kind of German Suplex, and Mike Chioda counts and wards the title to Bulldog because both Shawn's shoulders were on the mat. Of course there's shenanigans with another ref and the decision is turned into a double fall. However, it makes Chioda look stupid because every camera angle they use clearly shows both of Bulldog's shoulders were on the ground, and Chioda just ignored them.