1. The pinfall. The most important count of the ref. Be at a position where you can clearly see both shoulders. Be close, but give enough space so that you aren’t hit if they do something stupid. Around one and a half feet is good. Hit that mat like you’ve got a pair. Verbalize the count. Don’t count too fast, give it a good “one Mississippi” in between each slap of the hand. Make it big, but not too big. Watch fed refs for the best example on how to time this. Also, do not under any circumstances let me catch you stalling your arm on a near fall when you know that it isn’t the finish. You bring that arm down, otherwise it kills all of the emotion of the near fall. Bring it down and if need be swipe it through. Also, don’t hit the three ten times faster than you would any other fall just because you know it is the finish, it is a dead giveaway to the crowd.
Note: A lot of things I hear referees getting antsy about is, what happens if the guys don’t kick out in time? There are two ways to go with this. 1. Fuck ‘em, they should have kicked out. 2. They plan on having a super late kick out in order to build drama, in which case swipe everything but what you know the finish is. Which of the two you do is all about trust, because either could potentially go wrong. If you decide to swipe on everything, they know that, and they change the finish without telling you, that doesn’t just make you look bad. It makes them look bad too. So if you’re going to swipe, make sure you trust them enough to know that they aren’t going to change the finish without giving you the iggy that it’s going to change. In the end it is your call. Choose wisely.
2. Count to the outside. Make extra sure these counts are big and booming so that everyone hears you, especially the guys on the outside. Stretch the counts out to a reasonable amount of time to do whatever they’re doing. Fill in the brief time between the numbers with, “come on guys, in the ring, let’s go,“ etc. Find out before the match if the guys are going to the outside a lot, and if so, whether you should count from inside the ring, or if you should follow them out there (because they’re going to be a while). If one guy is on the outside and the other is inside, and they go to push past you, grab them and walk them back to the other side of the ring, tell them to stay in their corner. Then go back to the guy on the outside, restart your count. This is a ploy to give the guy on the outside more time, whether it is because he needs a breather or to get more heat from the crowd.
3. Ten count (double down). Take your time, make this big. All eyes are on you. Count should be slower than a pinfall, but faster than a count out. In between each count, check on alternating wrestlers. Aside from making things look legitimate, this is an effective way to communicate spots or other messages (something we will get to in a minute).
4. Five count (DQ warning). Slower than a pinfall, but only slightly. Give them time to work it. Be stern. Be within arm’s length for this. If you get to five and they aren’t breaking, don’t be afraid to grab them and pull them off. Get in there!
Tag team wrestling. Two important things here: 1. pay attention to the cues from the heels and the faces. If the heel draws the face in the ring that isn’t legal, go and stop that face from coming in. Failure to do so and you will make the hot tag less important. 2. Wrestlers, don’t bury the refs, and refs, don’t let the wrestlers bury you. There is a five count in between tags. Give them enough time to get something in, but wrestlers, don’t go in there doing spot after spot for minutes at a time, it buries the refs and makes them look like shit.
And what happens when you bury the ref in any way? Whether it be ignoring the five count or completely undermining his authority? You are essentially shitting on the company. Look at it this way: the referee is the official representing the company you are competing for, representing the owner, representing the rules they have laid down. If you disrespect him, you are disrespecting the company, the owner, and the entire professional wrestling business itself. And that will get you unbooked faster than fucking the booker’s wife.
Note: In reality, there are no rules in professional wrestling, only the illusion of such. Everything is an illusion in wrestling. By breaking the illusion of the rules, you break the overall illusion that every single person backstage is working so hard to achieve. And that will deservedly get you heat.
Now let’s look at a few other miscellaneous things to keep in mind as a ref.
-Stay busy. Don’t just stand there with your dick in your hand. We are working to build up the illusion of legitimate competition, so make it look like one. Constantly be looking for submissions, making sure of the legality of the action going on before you in-ring, etc. Watch referees from legitimate sports and take notes.
-Sell the in-ring action. The audience oftentimes looks to the referee for what the proper reaction to something should be, without that great reaction the angle won’t go over as well as it could. Whether it is the well timed look of disgust when there is a turn, that legitimate showing of confusion when you are told after the match the heel held onto the tights, the look of sympathy and concern as someone is hit, or the look of amazement when a death defying act is performed. A perfectly timed display of emotion heightens the drama and makes lifting the feeling of disbelief that much easier for the audience.
-Checking submissions. This goes hand in hand with selling. Be intense, be concerned. Treat this like it is a big deal, that it could be the finish. If you don’t act like you believe it, why would the audience?
-Work with the guy for cues. If he is right near the ropes while working the abdominal stretch, stay in a blind spot so he can pull on the ropes, then go check in-synch with when he lets go.
-What to do if you fuck up? Two ways to go, rather go with the flow and be 100% confident in your portrayal to the crowd that you made the right call, or admit that you made a mistake. You didn’t mean to slap the mat a third time, the kick out was too last second to stop the momentum of your hand. Either way, don’t half ass it. Go one way or the other, otherwise the crowd will know you fucked up and will tear into you. Not to mention the guys when you get to the back.
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