People do not realize the importance of referees in professional wrestling. People think that because pro wrestling is "fake", the referee serves no purpose. The referee is often in on the staging of a match, and sometimes talks to the wrestlers about things they want to do in the ring. Referees often have an earpiece and are aware of a commercial break, so may step in and halt the action with bullshit commands because he knows the show needs a tv time out. The ref can do a little dance of "Hey stop doing that" with a wrestler until the commercial is over, as opposed to the embarrassment of them stopping the match for a commercial, thus admitting it's fake and breaking the illusion. Talented referee's are VITAL to pro wrestling.
If a wrestler is injured accidentally in a match, he often secretly tells the referee and the ref will know to go ahead and do a DQ or some other ending because the planned ending won't work with the REAL injury.
Referees also serve as magician's assistants, so if a wrestler is attempting to get a chair or other illegal move, or there is a "surprise" entrance of another wrestler or personality , the ref will divert the audiences attention by barking irrelevant commands in the opposite direction and moving the audiences attention away from the staged work. This is a craft.
Many classic matches include audiences screaming at the referee to turn around and look at the outrageous illegal violation that is going on while the ref is "distracted". It takes a very good actor to pull off that he was busy keeping a tag partner out of the ring while some fool was grabbing a fucking metal chair from under the ring. This is the unsung talent of a pro wrestling referee.
The really good one's, like Tim White, will whisper how much time has gone by to the wrestlers, when it's time to bring the finish, etc. and the wrestlers trust a good referee.
Pro wrestling referees are VITAL to the success of any pro wrestling match.
