Referee Odie Brown talks about meeting Vince McMahon; being in a WWE Braun Strowman-Kevin Owens segment and the life of a wrestling referee (Exclusive)

Referee Odie Brown

Being a wrestling referee can be incredibly funny, and he talked about a few of the incidents which made it difficult for him to hold in his laughter. He was there when Home Alone's Macauley Culkin made a wrestling appearance.

"There are a lot of hysterical moments throughout the course of my career, mostly just trying to keep a straight face while the silly people around me are doing things. I did just referee Orange Cassidy and Joey Ryan not too long ago, which is, if you haven’t seen it, is one of the funniest matches. I was there when Macaulay Culkin was at BAR Wrestling and had to save Christmas from Swoggle. That was a very big highlight as far as my moments. Suede Thompson is a wrestler from Las Vegas. He wrestles for us at Championship Wrestling regularly. He has been around a long time and has a great sense of humor as well."

"So there was this one point where he was wrestling maybe Luchasaurus. He comes up behind him like a cartoon, tip-toeing behind him. I tell him to get back in the ring. He reaches out and scratches the guy down the back. I yell, “Hey you! No nails! Bad!” and he turns around looking at me with his claws up, and just says, ‘meow’! I laughed so hard, it was pretty great."

He brought up what made it so difficult to be a referee and the side of refereeing that fans don't know about as well.

"You see it a lot with referees who don’t really know where they are meant to be or maybe they can’t necessarily keep up with what’s going on or any number of reasons. People are bumping into each other and they are not in time for the pinfalls or just not picking up on a heel cheating. A match has to flow almost perfectly for everybody to stay in sync with one another. You can feel it when you’re in the ring like your mind is channeling with the other people in the ring and everything is kind of gelling together. The minute that starts going off sync, things just start flying out of place. Some of the better wrestlers stop and take a moment and click back in and everything is fine, but not everybody is the best wrestler in the world and not everybody is the best referee in the world and sometimes bumping into someone at the wrong moment can really throw off the rest of the match."

"A lot of us travel as many miles as the wrestlers do. Also, the majority of the work that has gone into setting up the building is on the referee’s shoulders. We are often the leaders of the ring crew and we will help set up the chairs and the lights, and a lot of running around town getting whatever props, costumes, or whatever is needed for the show. Last night, I helped out Impact Wrestling in California, and I was more than happy to do it. I think I left the building to get things for the show 6 or 7 times in addition to doing ring crew work. From the moment that I showed up to literally the time that it was time to get into my ref gear for the show, I didn’t stop working or moving around. It’s part of the job and I’m more than happy to do it, but it’s just something that people don’t know about."

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Finally, he had some advice for young referees who are looking to make it in the business.

"If you’re a young referee and trying to get into the business, make sure you watch a lot of tapes. Watch matches, study referees. Someone gave me some really good advice. Make sure that the match you are studying you watch it three times. Watch it to enjoy it, watch it to study the wrestlers, and watch it to study the referee. You should find a school that’s run by people who are competent trainers who have had some measure of success so that they can give you proper advice. Get as fit as possible, because you need to keep up with the boys and you need to look good in your stripes. Aside from that, find us on Zebra Talk and find me anywhere on social media and I’ll do my best to help guide you wherever you wanna end up."

You can get in touch with him here:

"If anyone wants to find me on Twitter or Instagram I am @odie1kenodi and then on Facebook, I’m Robert Odie Brown. If you search Zebra Talk you can click to add yourself to the group and answer the questions we have provided, and I’ll see if you are up to snuff (laughs)."