5 referees you didn't know had a wrestling background

#1 Drake Wuertz

Drake Wuertz pictured above with Kevin Owens

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.