John Hennigan on the Referee’s Role in Wrestling

– During an interview with The Comedy Store, former WWE Superstar John Hennigan (aka John Morrison), Hennigan claimed WWE was “hellbent on protecting the in-ring officials. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

John Morrison on WWE protecting the referees: “Here’s one problem I have with WWE; this is the only thing I’ll say about them, they are really hellbent on protecting the officials. If you have five seconds to tag and you don’t get out, disqualification. Ten seconds out of the ring, disqualification. When has anyone bought a ticket to go watch a referee?”

His thoughts on the referee’s role in wrestling: “The ref is extremely important, but the ref’s role should be to facilitate the storytelling. Some of those refs, there are a couple in AEW that work hard cam better than the wrestlers. That’s enough about refs. You get the idea. If they don’t have any sort of control or power, then they are meaningless. You shouldn’t just bury the ref and do a bunch of crap that takes away all their power, but at the same time, you have to be able to cheat. It’s a show, people are going to see a show. You can do a lot more with leeway than you can with a strict ref.”