Video summary
The video explores the humorous and often chaotic moments when WWE referees abandon their neutral roles to intervene in matches for comedic effect or personal reasons. A prime example discussed is the incident involving Daniel Puder and Kurt Angle, where referee Jimmy Korderas counted a pinfall despite Puder's shoulder being raised, effectively ending a legitimate submission hold that could have broken Angle's arm. The narrator explains that while this was a "shoot" moment intended to ruin Angle's career by making him look foolish, the referee acted on his own discretion rather than following instructions from an earpiece, highlighting how referees sometimes prioritize protecting their wrestlers' reputations over strict rule enforcement in these scripted scenarios.
Another segment focuses on the infamous house show where Big Show and Daniel Puder turned a post-match celebration into a chaotic scene by donning referee uniforms and continuing to fight after the broadcast had ended. The video details how Rusev was repeatedly kicked out of the ring for fun, only to be fined later for not kicking out when he should have, illustrating the absurdity of taking such backstage antics too seriously. Additionally, the transcript covers a bizarre instance where Big Show intentionally set up referees to steal wins while he lay injured, a stunt that Big Show claimed he orchestrated just to make the fans laugh and take the blame if anyone got in trouble, showcasing the lengths performers go to for entertainment value.
The narrative also delves into darker and more serious instances of referees breaking character, such as Charles Robinson being given ridiculous instructions by Gerald Brisco during dark matches to perform unnecessary moves like cartwheels or Ric Flair chops just to make wrestlers laugh. The video highlights a particularly tense situation involving Chris Jericho and Neville, where referee Charles Robinson failed to recognize Neville's severe ankle injury and continued the count after Neville tapped out, leading to an argument between the two men before Jericho shoved him to get disqualified. These examples demonstrate how referees sometimes struggle to distinguish between scripted comedy and genuine emergencies, especially when they are unaware of the severity of a wrestler's condition or when they are following bizarre directives from management.
Finally, the video addresses the infamous Montreal Screwjob through the perspective of referee Earl Hebner, explaining that he was pressured by Gerald Brisco to call for the bell before Bret Hart submitted to Shawn Michaels due to financial threats regarding his mortgage and job security. Despite Bret Hart's trust in Earl and his promise not to screw him over, Earl complied with Vince McMahon's orders, leaving Bret confused and betrayed as he walked away from the ring. The narrator concludes that while these situations are often told as jokes or legends, they stem from complex pressures involving money, loyalty, and the fear of losing one's livelihood, adding a layer of tragedy to the otherwise funny anecdotes of referees breaking character.
Read the full video transcript
What's good y'all? It's your boy Ross
back at it again with another video. So,
check out when WWE referees break
character. This should be a pretty funny
one. I'm not gonna lie to you. These
referees be having some of the funniest
moments in some of our favorite classic
matches and it's always dope to kind of
check out some videos giving them a
little bit of some spotlight. So, we're
going to check this out. Know it's going
to be a dope one. Appreciate all the
love support you guys showing on our
channel. Let's check out some of these
referees breaking character. When
referees broke character.
>> He's running.
>> Shoulders are down and this one is over.
Daniel eliminated.
>> Watch Daniel Pewtor's shoulder. It's up.
The referee can see it, but he still
counts to three. Anyways, Jimmy Cordeas
knew that wasn't a pin, but he was
trying to get Kurt Engle out of there.
Kurt had challenged the tough enough
contestants to wrestle him for real. And
coming from an Olympic gold medalist,
that's usually a pretty safe challenge.
Except Daniel Pewer had MMA training and
when Kurt took him down, Pewer caught
his arm in the kamura. Look at the
position that Curt's in. He's on top,
but Pewer still has that arm trapped.
This could have actually broken his arm.
And Jimmy standing there trying to
figure out a way to end it without
making Kurt Angle look bad. Peter being
on his back gave him a way out because
Jimmy dropped down, started counting,
and when the shoulder came up after two,
he just kept going. And Jimmy says
nobody told him to do that. There wasn't
anybody in his earpiece telling him to
count to three. He made that decision
himself. You could argue with the pin
all you want, but I don't blame him for
wanting that hold broken up because Kurt
Angle could have suffered a severe
>> Yeah. N Kurt was pissed. Kurt was pissed
because he basically it was a shoot
essentially and he had him in a real
lock, the Kamora lock and he was
literally applying pressure. He could
have broke his arm and you don't have
Kirk tap because then that [ __ ] up a
lot of [ __ ] So, good discretion on the
referee. Now, I'm going just go ahead
and count this because I can see what's
going on here. And that's why Kurt was
Kurt was pissed. And this ultimately
ruined his wrestling career because at
that point people wanted to make an
example out of him. It was GG.
>> Dan on Fibio had a very different idea
of how out. This man took his referee
shirt off and joined a super kick party.
Smackdown had gone off the air and AJ
Styles and the Usos were having fun with
Rusev, Aiden English, and Baron Corbin.
Aiden kept getting thrown back into the
ring for more punishment until
apparently the referee needed a turn. AJ
ended up wearing the stripes and Dan
lined up Rusev. He even went for the
cover. Imagine having to explain to Lana
that she lost to a referee. The crowd
absolutely loved it, but WWE did not.
Rusev later said that they got fined and
that he was told that he could have been
fired if he did not kick out. And
personally, that is ridiculous to me
because
>> that's crazy, bro. It's just it's a
house show.
Like, you know, we know those are not
supposed to be taken seriously. They
were having fun. They was about to find
him. That's crazy.
That's That's insane, dog.
>> The show's over and people are just
trying to have a good time. But hey, at
least Rusev did kick out. But even if he
didn't, nobody went home thinking that
Dan was going to take his spot at
Wrestlemania. Big Show can lie there all
night, but apparently he draws the line
at putting over Chad Patton and John
Conn. So apparently Brock Leser laid him
out with an F5 and Show stayed down and
the referees came over, broke character,
and one of them tried to steal a win
while the other one counted. The best
part about all of this is that Big Show
called for this himself. He actually
wasn't sleeping. He wanted to give the
referees a moment and sent the fans home
laughing. He even said that he'd take
the blame if anybody got in trouble. And
after hearing what happened to Rusev, I
would want Big Show explaining it to the
boss as well. Chad Patton also had this
in his bag.
>> Jim also got the referee doing the na
na. And
>> it's so unseasoned.
This is an unseasoned
whipping na na. I mean, absolutely
bland. No seasoning, no spices and
herbs, just straight bland.
>> Glad somebody recorded this because I
would have had a hard time believing it.
And Charles Robinson found a completely
unnecessary way to get down for a pick.
>> Was somebody asking him to do this?
Charles said that Gerald Brisco would
get in his earpiece during dark matches
before TV and give him ridiculous
instructions. Sometimes a cartwheel.
Sometimes he wanted Charles to do a Ric
Flair chop. The wrestlers would not know
what was coming. So they'd be trying to
have a match while their referee was
doing whatever Brisco thought would make
them laugh. And a lot of the times it
required breaking character. Earl put a
little extra into that one. This was
after a 1998 heat taping and Boss Man
shoved him down and Austin made sure
that Earl got his revenge. You spend all
the night getting pushed around by these
guys and now Stone Cold's holding one
still for you. Of course, he took the
shot and look at how happy he is
afterwards. Listen to the crowd for
Jessica Card.
US.
>> She was moving from NXT to Smackdown and
after the show, Toamaso Champa brought
her into the ring to say goodbye. He
handed her the microphone and let her
have her moment. Jessica told him that
on her first night of training, somebody
had called her a terrible referee and
told her to quit the business.
>> And the guy said, "You're the worst
referee I've ever seen. You should quit
the business now, kid."
>> Imagine listening to that guy and
missing out on this. An entire NXT crowd
thanking you before you leave for
Smackdown. You can tell that Charles
Robinson was pissed off here. Chris
Jericho had just shoved him and it all
started. Neville actually broke his
ankle for real. Jericho realized that
they needed to get out of there and end
the match. So, he went for a quick roll
up to finish it off. But Charles did not
know how bad the ankle injury was. He
was trying to ask Neville if he was
okay, but he did not get an answer. So
when Neville's shoulder came up, Charles
just stopped counting. He thought he was
doing his job. But Jericho clearly
wanted the match over and Charles wanted
to know why Jericho was suddenly getting
in his face. They were arguing over a
finish because one of them knew
something the other didn't. Jericho
shoved him to get disqualified and
Charles started firing back and he says
his reaction was 100% real. Later on,
Jericho told him that he was just
acting, but Charles didn't buy that
explanation. Mike Chiota actually
managed to hit the wrong person. A fan
jumped into the ring during Triple H and
Stone Cold's match in Germany, and
Triple H immediately got a hold of him.
Chota said that the security wasn't
reacting because they thought it was
part of the show. So, Mike decided that
he was going to help and he started
kicking at the fan while Hunter had him
down. Except Hunter was right in the
middle of it. And Chota later recalled
that Triple H was telling him, "Yo,
Chota, you're kicking me." Imagine if
you're Hunter and you're already dealing
with somebody who's climbed into the
ring. And now,
>> hey, bro, you kicking me, kick him.
>> Oh, you got to tell your own referee to
stop kicking you. Mike meant well, but
come on, check which guy your foot is
landing on. Wendy Richtor was still
fighting after the referee had already
given her title to someone else. As you
can see, her shoulder is up, but Dick
Croll counts to three and suddenly she
lost the women's championship. Wendy
keeps fighting because as far as she's
concerned, her match isn't over. She
starts going after the mask. And by the
way, underneath that mask is the
fabulous Mulan. This was 12 years before
the Montreal screw job. Lindy was one of
the biggest names in the company, and
she had been arguing with Vince McMahon
about her pay. She says that she was
supposed to win this match, but instead
they put Moola under a mask and took the
title off of her. Wendy had seen Moola
backstage and was already suspicious, so
the mask wasn't exactly fooling her. She
still did not expect the referee to
count through a count out. That's the
part that makes this footage so
uncomfortable. You could see that she's
trying to keep wrestling while they're
treating the match like it was finished.
Nobody bothered to tell the champion
that they changed the ending. left WWE
after this and she would not return
until her Hall of Fame induction in
2010. By 1997, Bret Hart was worried
about getting screwed over. He even
spoke to Earl Hebner about it. Brett was
leaving for WCW and he and Vince could
not agree on how he would lose the
championship. He did not want to drop it
to Shawn Michaels in Montreal. Whatever
you think of that decision, Brett walked
into Survivor Series believing that he
was not going to lose the belt on that
night. Earl was a big reason that he
felt he could go through with that
match. They were friends and Earl had
given him his word that he was not going
to screw him. Gerald Brisco later said
that Earl did not want to do it, but
Brisco pressured him about his mortgage,
his family, and whether he would still
have a job if he refused.
>> Think about that, bro. Like that's a oh
that's a tough situation, dog.
Especially when you're you're trying to
make money, you're trying to provide for
your family and basically your boss is
is telling you if you don't do this,
there's a good chance you get fired.
Brett going to be fine. He's gonna f
He's going to WCW. He's going to be
fine. Is Brett gonna take you with him?
That changes the perspective of things.
That changes your mindset because yeah,
we can be good friends, but then what's
gonna happen? Are you gonna take me with
you? Like, ah, that's a tough one, bro.
Oh, that sucks.
>> So, Earl was going into that ring
knowing what Vince wanted him to do and
knowing what he already promised Brett.
So, when Shawn put Brett in the
sharpshooter, Brett was still working
the match that he thought they agreed
to, but Earl broke character and called
for the bell without Brett ever
submitting. Just look at how quickly
Earl gets out of there. Brett was still
trying to understand why the match
stopped and the referee literally's
already gone. I can
>> Oh yeah, that does make sense cuz the
ref did get out of there very quick
>> and called for the bell without Brett
ever submitting. Just look at how quick
out of there. Brett was still trying to
understand why the match stopped and the
referee literally is already gone. I can
understand why Earl was scared for his
job. I think that's a horrible position
to put somebody in. But Brett did not
know about the conversation with Brisco.
He only knew what his friend had told
him. Listen to how Brett was before the
match.
>> Well, I don't have to worry about the
referee tomorrow cuz I talked to Earl.
>> He swore on his kid that said he's not
going to let anything happen.
>> Oh man.
>> And I can trust Earl.
>> God, that's tough, bro. That's tough,
bro. Oh my god.
And there's a lot of nuances to these
type of situations. But what it really
ultimately stems from. Once again, Vince
and everybody else involved, they they
said, "No, we I hear what you saying,
Brett, but we going to do it this way."
And they just never let them know. Let
them know what was really going to
happen. And you know, we the Montreal
screw job is been told millions of times
before, but I didn't know the referee
aspect of it. So, but hey, comment down
below. Let me know some other wrestling
related videos y'all want me to check
out. I definitely will. Appreciate all
the love, support. Road to 200k.
Appreciate y'all kicking me. See you on
the next one. Peace.