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Whether you love them or hate them, WWE referees play a crucial role in every match. Whether they make the audience cheer by performing a three-count for a fan favorite wrestler or they’re being booed because they miss a critical low blow made by a top heel, WWE referees can make or break a match.
They play out many other roles during matches such as helping wrestlers out and take instructions via management during a match via their ear piece.
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What some people may not know is that some referees have had some sort of intimate history within the ropes, and have competed in matches themselves.
Here are 5 referees that you may not have known competed within the squared circle.
#5 Danny Davis
In 1986, Danny Davis began his time as a full-time referee, favoring heels in the majority of matches he officiated, delivering fast counts and disqualifying faces for the most-minor of infractions.
This would lead to Gorilla Monsoon often asking on commentary how a mere referee could be as rich as Davis, insinuating that a number of bribes must have been accepted on Davis' part.
What some people may not realise is that Danny Davis actually began his career with the World Wrestling Federation in 1982. During this period he began splitting his time as a referee and as a wrestler, donning a mask and jobbing as Mr. X to many greats, including former WWF Champions Bruno Sammartino and Pedro Morales.
#4 Danilo Anfibio
Danilo is a referee within the WWE’s developmental system at this present time, but before he was a referee, Danilo had a bit of a wrestling past.
Danilo had wrestled for promotions such as East Coast Wrestling Association and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. Not only did he compete for the promotions but he did also compete in a match at WWE’s No Way Out PPV back in 2012 when Ryback defeated him and Rob Grymes in a handicap match.
#3 Scott Armstrong
Scott Armstrong appeared on WWE television in a 2006 episode of SmackDown, refereeing the WWE United States Championship match between Finlay and William Regal. In August 2006, Armstrong was hired as a full-time WWE referee, in WWE's ECW brand.
Not only is Scott a well-known referee in the world of professional wrestling but he also has a history in the squared circle as well. Armstrong started wrestling in 1983. He wrestled primarily in the Georgia and Alabama areas but has wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW, where he formed a tag team called "The James Boys" with his brother Steve.
#2 Charles Robinson
Charles Robinson had spent two years refereeing on the indy circuit in his early career and was then hired by WCW in late 1997. It was no secret that Charles Robinson grew up idolizing "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. In 1999, Robinson found great fortune in becoming the official referee for the Four Horseman.
He remained in that position until the (kayfabe) suspended-"Macho Man" Randy Savage demanded Robinson wrestle Savage's valet Gorgeous George; if George won, Savage would be reinstated.
This led to Robinson becoming "Little Naitch" in the match. He copied Flair from his robe and hair to his in-ring mannerisms and strut. George was, however, victorious, and Savage was reinstated.
This all led to a tag match one week later. Flair and Robinson vs. Savage and Madusa- and an errant elbow drop from Savage left Robinson with several cracked vertebrae and a collapsed lung.
#1 Drake Wuertz
If Drake Wuertz is doing his job, chances are you’ve barely noticed him. The man who refereed Kevin Owens’ NXT debut isn’t meant to be the center of attention. Let it not be said that it’s hard not to recognize him without thumbtacks hanging from his body and his face stained bright red.
Dean Ambrose has gone on record stating that, “He’s one of the toughest guys I’ve ever been in the ring with.”
Underneath the requisite black-and-white striped shirt he now sports for NXT, Wuertz still wears the scars of his days as a hardcore wrestler in the grueling independent deathmatch scene, where a regular night at the office included being thrown into fluorescent light tubes, panes of glass and, sometimes, makeshift nets of barbed wire.
Drake Wuertz has certainly paid his dues in the wrestling world.
