Favorite Guest Referee

[Guest The Masked Yodeler]

Guest referee's are a fairly common way to add heat to a match, but a bad ref can really fuck up a match.  Lita's shitty ref job made Hardy v. Hardy even worse, and in Jericho v. RVD, Flair showed us why he's a wrestler, and not a referee.

 

What referee's do you guys think actually added to a match, or at least didn't hurt it?

 

1. Shawn Michaels in the Rock v. HHH Iron Man match.  He did a great job in that match.  He enforced the rules where it made sense, and kept the match clean.  He also introduced some interesting psychology when he didn't do a double count out, because it would be meaningless.  And he was able to keep the overbooked finish from turning into a trainwreck.

 

2.  Mick Foley in Vince v. Shane at WM18.  As the whole match was an angle driven brawl, a guest ref to keep the chaos in check was needed, and Foley did a great job.  As the match was a streetfight, he didn't do any rules enforcing, but his presence added to the story of the match.

 

What are your nominees?

[Guest Brian]

Rock reffed that one match in late 1999 with Bulldog (vs. HHH?). I think on RAW.

[Guest Tony149]

I would say Mike Tyson did a good job during the SCSA/HBK match at WM 14. Even though he was called "Guest Enforcer". Vince McMahon did a good job as well at Over the Edge '98 during the SCSA/Dude Love match.

 

The match The Rock was guest referee between HHH/Bulldog was on Smackdown. The Rock did the sliding People's Elbow.

[Guest WWF4Life]

Sunny refereeing the midget match at the Royal Rumble in 1997. That was great.

[Guest AM The Kid]

Shawn Micheals at the Undertaker/Bret Hart match at Summerslam 1997.

[Guest Kaoz]

lita reffing the hardy match.

[Guest Some Guy]

HBK during the Iron Man Match.  No one else has seemed to notice, or at least I haven't read it anywhere, when Rock was going for the People's Elbow on HHH, Shawn shuffled sideways towards Rock like he was going to superkick him.  This was a great spot in the match IMO, because HBK turned on the Rock by superkicking him during the People's Elbow on the 1st Smackdown!.  The angle never went anywhere and wasn't even mentioned again.

Shawn is the best guest ref I can think of but he needs to get a pair of pants instead of those faggy little shorts that he always wears.

[Guest TUS_02]

Earl Hebner....

 

Correct me if I wrong, but during the angle where HHH fired him... didn't Linda bring him back to be "Special Guest Referee" for a night?

[Guest Brian]

Forgot Shamrock at WrestleMania 13.

[Guest HellSpawn]

I liked both HBK matches, Summerslam 97 & Judgment Day 2000, I didnt saw the other one.

But my favs are Mr.Perfect & Piper on WM X.

And also Steph in late 2000, when she did an incredible fast 3 count, the match was Regal VS Austin.

[Guest X-Factor Corperation]

I enjoyed Jackys work the night she was called the special guest referee. Afterwards she was a referee.

 

This might not be my favorite but when Angle was the special guest referee in the WWF Tag Team Champions The Rock and The Undertaker vs Edge and Christian for the WWF Tag Team Championship on Smackdown was great. He even went against Edge and Christian. I also enjoy Vince's work.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

HBK is the best guest referee but i do agree that he needs to start wearing pants

[Guest The Masked Yodeler]

HBK's shorts dropped the Rock/HHH Iron Man Match down 1/2*

[Guest Choken One]

Yeah, esp when he had a Boner during the rest spot...Scary and this guy's married and has a 3 year old son...ah, jumping  to conclusions

[Guest Tony149]

Out of all the matches HBK has been referee...he's only worn pants once. That was at Summerslam 1997.

[Guest TheDames7]

HBK during the Iron Man Match.  No one else has seemed to notice, or at least I haven't read it anywhere, when Rock was going for the People's Elbow on HHH, Shawn shuffled sideways towards Rock like he was going to superkick him.  This was a great spot in the match IMO, because HBK turned on the Rock by superkicking him during the People's Elbow on the 1st Smackdown!.  The angle never went anywhere and wasn't even mentioned again.

Shawn is the best guest ref I can think of but he needs to get a pair of pants instead of those faggy little shorts that he always wears.

I actually remember that spot, because the second that he shuffled, I actually thought that HBK was going to do it again, so the psychology worked on me.  I thought that was just awesome.  

 

My bet for best guest ref is Shamrock at WM 13, because he enforced the rules, gave Bret the win via KO after realizing Austin couldn't give up (solidifying Austin's status as a man that didn't give up) and made Bret a heel in seconds after he stopped him from attacking Austin.  The fans wanted Hart and Shammy to get it on right there, and Hart refused...Shammy's charisma made him a face right there and Hart a heel.

 

Dames

[Guest The Masked Yodeler]

I miss Shamrock.  Maybe Don Frye'll beat him at the Pride show, and kill his shooter rep forcing him to return to the WWF so he can be misused.

[Guest goodhelmet]

"I miss Shamrock.  Maybe Don Frye'll beat him at the Pride show, and kill his shooter rep forcing him to return to the WWF so he can be misused."

 

I think the WWF has enough talent that they don't need to clog up the scene anymore with a Shamrock return. He never made a strong impression on me but I did like his matches with Owen. They were just so different. The only other Shamrock match I can recall liking was the three-way cage match with Foley and Rock but not because of anything Shamrock did. He can stay gone for all I care.

 

To his credit though, he played the ref role perfectly at Mania13. Hell, bring him back as a ref but don't waste my time with him wrestling.

[Guest InigoMontoya]

I liked Austin's last job. Anyone remember? He pulled a chair out and opened a can. Obviously not because he was doing a good jub but because it was so funny =P

[Guest Wheat Cracker Experience]

I have to agree that the WM X refs together did the best job.  They did a great setup with "Both sides had to agree on the guest ref."  So, obviously Luger thinks he's getting a face ref in Hennig, but Cornette had a fix on with him.  It works at a smark level too, because all Hennig did was enforce the rules--there as nothing remotely illegal in the match before Luger started hitting managers, because it was all resthold from Yokozuna.  So then when Piper comes out for the second match, Cornette thinks he has the fix on again in the Hart match, only a) While Piper and Hart had a match, it was a face v face match for a belt, not a revenge match like Luger v Hennig and b)Piper is less of a "sell-out a friend" type personality (If he were turning heel, he'd have just hit Bret with a coconut beforehand) and c)Piper is a "turn-them-loose" ref, because he cheats all the time in the ring.

 

So, great psychology in ref selection--God I miss the good old days.

[Guest Jimmy]

Mr.Perfect at Westlemania X.

[Guest The Masked Yodeler]

I really miss Piper.  I'd love to see him again in a non-wrestling capacity, but he's even more bitter than Bret Hart, so I doubt he'd come back to the WWF.  He's doing stuff with XWF, but the XWF seems pretty sucky.

[Guest Metallica]

Vince McMahon was fantastic during Austin Vs Dude Love at Over The Edge 98..his frustrated facial expressions every time Austin kicked out were hilarious.

 

Shawn did a very good job in the Bret V Taker match too, very believeable tension between Bret and Shawn

 

I liked Piper at Wrestlemania 11, he got a great pop from the fans..I had no idea who he was at the time but he was pretty charismatic during the I Quit match, asking Bret if he wanted to quit whilst HE was the guy putting the move on lol

 

nb they did mention Rock getting superkicked by Michaels later on. Rock cut a promo about it leading into the Iron man match, saying that the last time the three of them were in the ring together, Shawn superkicked him and cost him the chance to win the title...

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

It has to be Shamrock.

 

If it hadn't been a big fighter like Shamrock...Bret refusing to fight him might not have turned him heel enough.

 

He was the perfect choice...and the forgotten man in the double turn.

[Guest Who?]

Well, HHH used a "It looks like you're smuggling bananas in those things" line about HBK's shorts, so HBK's shorts are forgiven. To me anyways.

[Guest dreamer420]

Vince from Over The Edge 98.  The booking, the match, and the ref were all great and it was cool to see Vince get laid out with that wicked chair shot from Dude Love.

[Guest Just call me Dan]

I loved Austin reffing the Taker/Kane match for his vacated title at Judgement Day 98 ( I think).  Made the match enjoyable because you just expected him to snap, and, at the end, he went ape shit on both of them ,even with his job on the line, and walked out with the belt. Priceless.

[Guest Brian]

Thta whole thing with Austin as ref pissed me off big time at the time, another reason I hate Russo. That kind of booking sucked, because there was no champ for like two or three months IIRC.

[Guest RetroRob215]

I have to go with Perfect at WM X because he made an excellent call and because I mark out for him.