History Main / GlassJawReferee

A variation of this, which may have originated as a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], is for a second referee to eventually come rushing out and assume control. In a DoubleSubversion, this second referee may too be knocked out. Just as likely, though, the first ref comes to, and both refs rule the match in favor of a different wrestler/team (which, in particularly rare and hilarious instances, can result in the refs themselves duking it out). In fact, even if a fellow wrestler is performing the referee duties, they can sometimes be knocked out or incapacitated by a move they would shrug off while competing in a match, though most promotions are getting better about this. Still, for the "normal" referees, it's not uncommon for even the show's own announcers to suggest a stiff wind would knock a ref out.

* On an episode of Raw in 2013, a match between Daniel Bryan and Wade Barrett was interfered with when Vince [=McMahon=] came down to ringside and very slowly pulled the ref out of the ring to break up a pin. Despite not even really being hurt in any way, the ref stayed down long enough for the Bryan/Barrett match to continue, with Vince calling Brad Maddox down as the new ref, Bryan beating up Maddox, Triple H coming down to finish the match as ref, and a dramatic appearance by Randy Orton. The last one closed out the show and the ref was still laying on the ground, selling the small tumble he took roughly five minutes earlier.

A common trope in ProfessionalWrestling matches is for one of the wrestlers to knock over the referee during the course of the match, usually inadvertently. Apparently, this puts the referee in a comatose state of sorts in which he is completely oblivious to his surroundings. This can reach ludicrous extremes; a referee that is barely clipped may be rendered "unconscious" for several minutes at a time. In addition to having the [[EasilyDistractedReferee shortest attention span of all organisms in the known universe]], professional wrestling referees are apparently the weakest as well.

Since pro wrestling referees do not rule on anything they don't personally witness (remember, [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught if the ref didn't see it, it didn't happen]]), this gives the {{Heel}} ample opportunity to call out his cronies or locate a foreign object. Alternatively, the referee may be knocked out just as the {{Face}} pins the {{Heel}}. In either scenario, bonus points are awarded if the referee "awakens" just as the {{Heel}} begins pinning the face. More if he wakes in time to see the {{Face}} turning the tables with a foreign object on the {{Heel}}.

A variation of this, which may have originated as a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], is for a second referee to eventually come rushing out and assume control. In a DoubleSubversion, this second referee may too be knocked out. Just as likely, though, the first ref comes to, and both refs rule the match in favor of a different wrestler/team (which, in particularly rare and hilarious instances, can result in the refs themselves duking it out). In fact, even if a fellow wrestler is performing the referee duties, they can sometimes be knocked out or incapacitated by a move they would shrug off while competing in a match...though most companies are getting better about this. Still, for the 'normal' referees, it's not uncommon for even the show's own announcers to suggest a stiff wind would knock a ref out.

** Subverted by Shane Sewell, who's Puerto Rican wrestling background was noted and well-documented throughout his time as a Wrestling/{{TNA}} referee. Especially during Sheik Abdul Bashir's matches as X-Division Champion, when it was almost expected for Sewell to beat the shit out of Bashir after the match, regardless of all the [[{{Kayfabe}} storyline]] reasons against it. Bashir is better known for his time in WWE as Daivari. See below.
* Wrestling/EddieGuerrero loved taking advantage of this trope. When the ref was out he'd often try and get his opponent disqualified by pretending he'd been hit with a foreign object when the ref came to. Occasionally he'd knock the ref out himself and try to get his opponent blamed for it. His match with ChrisBenoit at Vengeance 2003 is a particularly classic instance of this.

* Wrestling/KurtAngle vs the then-[[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWE Champion]] Wrestling/JohnCena at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2005'' was a particularly hilarious instance of this trope. Angle had his own personal referee, Daivari, who was determined to make Angle win. Cena, slowly becoming GenreSavvy after several pin falls that should have been three counts, realized he could hit the ref and Angle wouldn't allow Daivari to disqualify him because it would cost Angle the belt. Eventually Daivari got inadvertently knocked out of the ring, and another ref came in. This ref was later knocked out by Angle so that he could bring Daivari back into the ring (still unconscious despite a relatively minor fall), but instead another ref came in, who ended up being knocked out as well, and then yet another referee who also only got knocked out, by which time Raw was out of referees and they sent in one from Smackdown. When Daivari finally came back in, he received a clothesline from Cena. By the time the match was over the ring was littered with the bodies of four unconscious referees.
* The main event of ''Wrestling/{{SummerSlam}} 91'' featured a notable aversion. It was Wrestling/HulkHogan and [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior the Ultimate Warrior]] vs. the Triangle of Terror (Wrestling/SgtSlaughter[=/=][[Wrestling/TheIronSheik Col. Mustafa]][=/=]Gen. Adnan [Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie]), with Sid Justice (Sid [=Vicious=][=/=]Sycho Sid) as special referee. Meaning, wrestlers would collide with Sid and he wouldn't actually move.
* On an episode of Raw in 2013, a match between Daniel Bryan and Wade Barrett was interfered with when VinceMcMahon came down to ringside and very slowly pulled the ref out of the ring to break up a pin. Despite not even really being hurt in any way, the ref stayed down long enough for the Bryan/Barrett match to continue, with Vince calling Brad Maddox down as the new ref, Bryan beating up Maddox, Triple H coming down to finish the match as ref, and a dramatic appearance by Randy Orton. The last one closed out the show and the ref was still laying on the ground, selling the small tumble he took roughly five minutes earlier.
* {{SHIMMER}} referees have been known to be knocked off their feet simply by being shouted at.

* {SHIMMER}} referees have been known to be knocked off their feet simply by being shouted at.

* The original Dusty Finish comes to mind. After being ousted due to an injury by the Four Horsemen, Wrestling/DustyRhodes got his chance at comeuppance against the then-[[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Champion]], Wrestling/RicFlair, at Starrcade 1985, The Gathering's main event. Late in the match, referee Tommy Young was knocked clear out of the ring with two referee bumps. The Horsemen used this opportunity to jump Dusty, sending both Ole and Arn Anderson to attack Rhodes' injury. Rhodes persevered, and a second referee counted a small-package pin on Dusty, ''apparently'' (and to the appearance of all watching the show) making Rhodes NWA Champion for the third time. This was reversed (and the trope subverted) when Young noted on the next week's television that he had seen the interference, thereby disqualifying Flair, Flair retaining the title through the Champion's Advantage.

* Wrestling/KurtAngle vs the then-[[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWE World Heavyweight Champion]] Wrestling/JohnCena at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2005'' was a particularly hilarious instance of this trope. Angle had his own personal referee, Daivari, who was determined to make Angle win. Cena, slowly becoming GenreSavvy after several pin falls that should have been three counts, realized he could hit the ref and Angle wouldn't allow Daivari to disqualify him because it would cost Angle the belt. Eventually Daivari got inadvertently knocked out of the ring, and another ref came in. This ref was later knocked out by Angle so that he could bring Daivari back into the ring (still unconscious despite a relatively minor fall), but instead another ref came in, who ended up being knocked out as well, and then yet another referee who also only got knocked out, by which time Raw was out of referees and they sent in one from Smackdown. When Daivari finally came back in, he received a clothesline from Cena. By the time the match was over the ring was littered with the bodies of four unconscious referees.

* The original Dusty Finish comes to mind. After being ousted due to an injury by the Four Horsemen, Wrestling/DustyRhodes got his chance at comeuppance against the then-NWA World Champion, Wrestling/RicFlair, at Starrcade 1985, The Gathering's main event. Late in the match, referee Tommy Young was knocked clear out of the ring with two referee bumps. The Horsemen used this opportunity to jump Dusty, sending both Ole and Arn Anderson to attack Rhodes' injury. Rhodes persevered, and a second referee counted a small-package pin on Dusty, ''apparently'' (and to the appearance of all watching the show) making Rhodes NWA Champion for the third time. This was reversed (and the trope subverted) when Young noted on the next week's television that he had seen the interference, thereby disqualifying Flair, Flair retaining the title through the Champion's Advantage.
* Possibly the most over-the-top example of this may be a tag match at ROH's Manhattan Mayhem II show on August 25, 2008... where the referee was knocked out long enough for the Vulture Squad stable to debut, leading to a three way melee with weapons and high spots to break out, ''and'' for the match to be decided with the ref none the wiser.
* In a recent TNA match Chris Sabin of the Motor/Murder City Machine Guns inadvertently knocked out the referee in a match against Team 3D. He then got knocked out and Brother Ray of Team 3D pinned him, as Brother Ray was pinning him another referee came out and counted the three count. AT THE SAME TIME as this was happening Alex Shelley of the Motor/Murder City Machine Guns pinned Brother Devon of Team 3D. The original referee woke up in time to make the three count. Cue the two referees arguing over whose count was the real one, eventually it was ruled a no-contest.
** Subverted by Shane Sewell, who's Puerto Rican wresltling background was noticed and well-documented throughout his time as a {{TNA}} referee. Especially during Sheik Abdul Bashir's matches as X-Division Champion, when it was almost expected for Sewell to beat the shit out of Bashir after the match, regardless of all the [[{{Kayfabe}} storyline]] reasons against it.
* EddieGuerrero loved taking advantage of this trope. When the ref was out he'd often try and get his opponent disqualified by pretending he'd been hit with a foreign object when the ref came to. Occasionally he'd knock the ref out himself and try to get his opponent blamed for it. His match with ChrisBenoit at Vengeance 2003 is a particularly classic instance of this.

* TripleH vs. TheUndertaker at ''WrestleMania 17'' was very over the top about this as well. The referee got knocked down early on in the match. The two spent at least ten minutes brawling all over the arena. This included doing things that should have gotten them disqualified (not to mention counted out). By the time they returned to the ring, the ref still took a while to recover.
* Wrestling/KurtAngle vs the then-WWE Champion Wrestling/JohnCena at Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2005 was a particularly hilarious instance of this trope. Angle had his own personal referee, Daivari, who was determined to make Angle win. Cena, slowly becoming GenreSavvy after several pin falls that should have been three counts, realized he could hit the ref and Angle wouldn't allow Daivari to disqualify him because it would cost Angle the belt. Eventually Daivari got inadvertently knocked out of the ring, and another ref came in. This ref was later knocked out by Angle so that he could bring Daivari back into the ring (still unconscious despite a relatively minor fall), but instead another ref came in, who ended up being knocked out as well, and then yet another referee who also only got knocked out, by which time Raw was out of referees and they sent in one from Smackdown. When Daivari finally came back in, he received a clothesline from Cena. By the time the match was over the ring was littered with the bodies of four unconscious referees.

* The original Dusty Finish comes to mind. After being ousted due to an injury by the Four Horsemen, DustyRhodes got his chance at comeuppance against the then-NWA World Champion, RicFlair, at Starrcade 1985, The Gathering's main event. Late in the match, referee Tommy Young was knocked clear out of the ring with two referee bumps. The Horsemen used this opportunity to jump Dusty, sending both Ole and Arn Anderson to attack Rhodes' injury. Rhodes persevered, and a second referee counted a small-package pin on Dusty, ''apparently'' (and to the appearance of all watching the show) making Rhodes NWA Champion for the third time. This was reversed (and the trope subverted) when Young noted on the next week's television that he had seen the interference, thereby disqualifying Flair, Flair retaining the title through the Champion's Advantage.

* Wrestling/KurtAngle vs the then-WWE Champion Wrestling/JohnCena at Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2005 was a particularly hilarious instance of this trope. Angle had his own personal referee, Daivari, who was determined to make Angle win. Cena, slowly becoming GenreSavvy after several pin falls that should have been three counts, realized he could hit the ref and Angle wouldn't allow Daivari to disqualify him because it would cost Angle the belt. Eventually Daivari got inadvertently knocked out of the ring, and another ref came in. This ref was later knocked out by Angle so that he could bring Daivari back into the ring (still unconscious despite a relatively minor fall), but instead another ref came in, who ended up being knocked out as well, and then yet another referee, by which time Raw was out of referees and they sent in one from Smackdown. When Daivari finally came back in, he received a clothesline from Cena. By the time the match was over the ring was littered with the bodies of four unconscious referees.

* Wrestling/KurtAngle vs the then-WWE Champion Wrestling/JohnCena at Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2005 was a particularly hilarious instance of this trope. Angle had his own personal referee, Daivari, who was determined to make Angle win. Cena, slowly becoming GenreSavvy after several pin falls that should have been three counts, realized he could hit the ref and Angle wouldn't allow Daivari to disqualify him because it would cost Angle the belt. Eventually Daivari got inadvertently knocked out of the ring, and another ref came in. This ref was later knocked out by Angle so that he could bring Daivari back into the ring (still unconscious despite a relatively minor fall), but instead another ref came in, who ended up being knocked out as well. When Daivari finally came back, he received a clothesline from Cena. By the time the match was over the ring was littered with the bodies of four unconscious referees.

* The original Dusty Finish comes to mind. After being ousted due to an injury by the Four Horsemen, Dusty Rhodes got his chance at comeuppance against the then-NWA World Champion, RicFlair, at Starrcade 1985, The Gathering's main event. Late in the match, referee Tommy Young was knocked clear out of the ring with two referee bumps. The Horsemen used this opportunity to jump Dusty, sending both Ole and Arn Anderson to attack Rhodes' injury. Rhodes persevered, and a second referee counted a small-package pin on Dusty, ''apparently'' (and to the appearance of all watching the show) making Rhodes NWA Champion for the third time. This was reversed (and the trope subverted) when Young noted on the next week's television that he had seen the interference, thereby disqualifying Flair, Flair retaining the title through the Champion's Advantage.

* The original Dusty Finish comes to mind. After being ousted due to an injury by the Four Horsemen, Dusty Rhodes got his chance at comeuppance against the then-NWA World Champion, Ric Flair, at Starrcade 1985, The Gathering's main event. Late in the match, referee Tommy Young was knocked clear out of the ring with two referee bumps. The Horsemen used this opportunity to jump Dusty, sending both Ole and Arn Anderson to attack Rhodes' injury. Rhodes persevered, and a second referee counted a small-package pin on Dusty, ''apparently'' (and to the appearance of all watching the show) making Rhodes NWA Champion for the third time. This was reversed (and the trope subverted) when Young noted on the next week's television that he had seen the interference, thereby disqualifying Flair, Flair retaining the title through the Champion's Advantage.

** His final match, against Mr. Kennedy, had this same trope. After Kennedy was disqualified for "using a chair" on Eddie, Kennedy did -- '''hard''' -- saying "DISQUALIFY THAT!!"

* The original Dusty Finish comes to mind. After being ousted due to an injury by the Four Horsemen, Dusty Rhodes got his chance at comeuppance against the then-NWA World Champion, Ric Flair, at Starrcade 1985, The Gathering's main event. Late in the match, referee Tommy Young was knocked clear out of the ring with two referee bumps. The Horsemen used this opportunity to jump Dusty, sending both Ole and Arn Anderson to attack Rhodes' injury. Rhodes persevered, and a second referee counted a small-package pin on Dusty, ''apparently'' (and to the appearance of all watching the show) making Rhodes NWA Champion for the third time. This was reversed (and the trope subverted) when Young noted that he had seen the interference on the next week's television, disqualifying Flair, Flair retaining the title through the Champion's Advantage.

* TripleH vs. TheUndertaker at ''WrestleMania 17'' was very over the top about this as well. The referee got knocked down early on in the match, and the two spent at least ten minutes proceeding to brawl all over the arena and do things that should have gotten them disqualified (not to mention counted out), but by the time they made it to the ring it still took him awhile to recover.

* TripleH vs. Undertaker at ''WrestleMania 17'' was very over the top about this as well. The referee got knocked down early on in the match, and the two spent at least ten minutes proceeding to brawl all over the arena and do things that should have gotten them disqualified (not to mention counted out), but by the time they made it to the ring it still took him awhile to recover.

!Notable Instances

A variation of this, which may have originated as a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], is for a second referee to eventually come rushing out and assume control. In a DoubleSubversion, this second referee may too be knocked out. Just as likely, though, the first ref comes to, and both refs rule the match in favor of a different wrestler/team. In fact, even if a fellow wrestler is performing the referee duties, they can sometimes be knocked out or incapacitated by a move they would shrug off while competing in a match...though most companies are getting better about this. Still, for the 'normal' referees, it's not uncommon for even the show's own announcers to suggest a stiff wind would knock a ref out.

A variation of this, which may have originated as a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], is for a second referee to eventually come rushing out and assume control. In a DoubleSubversion, this second referee may too be knocked out. Just as likely, though, the first ref comes to, and both refs rule the match in favor of a different wrestler/team. In probably the most [[WallBanger wall-bangingly]] amusing way, even if a fellow wrestler is performing the referee duties, they can sometimes be knocked out or incapacitated by a move they would shrug off while competing in a match...though most companies are getting better about this. Still, for the 'normal' referees, it's not uncommon for even the show's own announcers to suggest a stiff wind would knock a ref out.

** Subverted by Shane Sewell, who's Puerto Rican wresltling background was noticed and well-documented throughout his time as a {{TNA}} referee. Especially during Sheik Abdul Bashir's matches as X-Division Champion, when it was almost expected for Sewell to beat the shit out of Bashir after the match, regardless of all the [[WallBanger wallbanging]] [[{{Kayfabe}} storyline]] reasons against it.

* EddieGuerrero loved taking advantage of this trope. When the ref was out he'd often try and get his opponent disqualified by pretending he'd been hit with a foreign object when the ref came to. Occasionally he'd knock the ref out himself and try to get his opponent blamed for it. His match with ChrisBenoit at Vengeance 2003 is a particularly classic instance of this.

Possibly the most over-the-top example of this may be a tag match at ROH's Manhattan Mayhem II show on August 25, 2008... where the referee was knocked out long enough for the Vulture Squad stable to debut, leading to a three way melee with weapons and high spots to break out, ''and'' for the match to be decided with the ref none the wiser.

Example: In a recent TNA match Chris Sabin of the Motor/Murder City Machine Guns inadvertently knocked out the referee in a match against Team 3D. He then got knocked out and Brother Ray of Team 3D pinned him, as Brother Ray was pinning him another referee came out and counted the three count. AT THE SAME TIME as this was happening Alex Shelley of the Motor/Murder City Machine Guns pinned Brother Devon of Team 3D. The original referee woke up in time to make the three count. Cue the two referees arguing over whose count was the real one, eventually it was ruled a no-contest. This is the first time this troper has ever heard of this happening so thought it worth mentioning on here.