WWE History Vol. 19: Wildest Title change in the company

Hulk Hogan saw double at Saturday Night's Main Event in 1988; Earl Hebner and his 'evil' twin Dave Hebner

Double vision, single treachery

The Twin referee trick would work only once, but WWE got maximum mileage out of it.

Hulk Hogan stood by, eyes wide in shock, as he witnessed his evil rival Ted Dibiase wearing the WWE World Championship belt. Hogan would then turn to argue with referee "Dave" Hebner about the phony three-count.

Then, things got even MORE confusing. While Hogan argued with the referee, another referee appeared--and he was identical in appearance to Dave Hebner.

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As the two referees argued, the 'evil' twin punched the real Dave Hebner. In reality, WWE had hired former NWA referee Earl Hebner, who was Dave Hebner's real life identical twin brother.

After the evil twin played his hand, Hulk Hogan would heft Earl Hebner in a gorilla press slam and then throw him over the top rope at the gathered heel wrestlers. But Hogan tossed Hebner a bit too far, and the heels barely broke his fall enough to avoid serious injury.

The moment is one of the most surreal in all of pro wrestling, and is unlikely to be repeated. There just aren't that many twin referees running around out there!

Edited by Alan John