Your views on heel referees

[seabs]

I'm trying to get more and more into Lucha Libre, specifically CMLL I'm noticing it's more and more common for a match to involve a referee with a deliberate bias, a great example is the match below, the slow counts are the main storytelling aspect within it. Every count either makes you expect Terrible to kick out due to the delayed reaction or dispair as you know the heel Rush will kick out before the end of the falls, all of which had a rare depth to them which I enjoyed. Anyway this isn't a rate thread but a discussion one, so refs with the allignments, love them or hate them?

 

[Senhor Perfect]

I think you shouldn't even know the ref is there until a count needs to be made. Not a fan of the ref being in on the angle. The occasional ref bump is fine, but it takes away from the feud to have the ref be biased. The only time it should happen is in a special ref match.

 

[seabs]

I agree when they overshadow the match, however like a good manager I honestly feel they can add depth to a match.

 

[Lockard 23]

Only when they're used on special occasions. Like Nick Patrick being the NWO referee or the way Charles Robinson idolized Ric Flair and earned the nickname "Little Naitch" (don't remember if he was biased towards Flair in matches, though. Seeing as how Flair turned heel in early 1999 when this started up, I assume he was. Ironically, both of those examples were in WCW.) Otherwise, refs should be completely unbiased as it relates to the face/heel dynamic.