Nick Patrick Recalls Officiating First Full Show At WCW Souled Out ’97

Nick Patrick served as the referee for all of WCW Souled Out ’97, and he recently looked back on the experience. Patrick spoke with Fightful for a new interview and recalled working as the sole referee at the PPV, the first time he’d ever done so. You can see highlights below:

On the PPV being his first solo referee show: “Back in the day, a lot of times referees had to do the whole show and it got to where finishes became where they were bumping the ref so much, they couldn’t just get away with having one guy so they start using other refs. I had done the whole show many times before [Souled Out], but never a pay-per-view. That was the first time I’d ever done a pay-per-view, that was work man. That was work.”

On preferring to let the talent dictate matches: “I just kinda try to remember the highlights because I couldn’t remember everything from start to finish. That’s how I did it, I just got with each match and said, ‘Look, I’m gonna follow you guys.’ Cause I’ve been doing it all my life, and I can do that. But I think when I know the basic outline of what you want me to do, and there’s nothing specific you need me to do bump wise, I can follow and do whatever you want and that way you get a spontaneous reaction. That’s the way I grew up and for me that’s the most fun way. Times change, there’s only a few guys that can do that anymore. I was fortunate when I got to work in WWE, I got to do some Undertaker/JBL matches. They had a framework, but a lot of that stuff was off the cuff, on the fly man. I loved [officiating] that because that was my old school way of doing it. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do that again, there I was at the biggest level with the biggest company doing it the way we like it. That was fun.”