Earl Hebner reflects on legendary wrestling referee career

RICHMOND, Va. — By his own admission, Earl Hebner was never much of a student and never had what most would consider a "real job."

"Not really. Once I got this one, I didn't need a real one. I would have been fired. It's easy to count to three," Hebner said.

With those simple math skills and a willingness to do whatever it took to be successful, Hebner has had a career of which many could only dream.

Hebner began his career in professional wrestling right in his hometown at the old state fairgrounds on Strawberry Hill.

"When I was a kid, I'd worked for a Richmond concessionaire, doing the concessions, and when they had wrestling out at the fairgrounds," Hebner said.

His big break came when Joe Murray approached him with an opportunity.

"The big break was one day, Mr. Joe Murray came in, and he goes, Earl, I need you to do me a favor. I said, Okay, you know, because I was working for him, putting the ring up and everything. He said, I need you to referee. And I said, Mister Murray, I don't know about referee. He said, All you gotta do is listen," Hebner said.

That he could do, and for the better part of the next five decades, Hebner was one of the best.

His career as a professional wrestling referee gave him a front row seat to the meteoric rise of the industry and a deep appreciation for the athleticism and passion of his co-workers.

"It's 150% athletic. These guys are great workers, but they're built for this business, just anybody off the street. One match being non athletic, you'll be laying in the bed for three weeks trying to get yourself back together," Hebner said.

Even though he was part of the show, that didn't always save Hebner from injury himself. He's taken several "bumps" as they're called in the industry, which didn't always go as planned.

"Well, when I first went up to WWF, when Hogan threw me out, Andre Dibiase and Virgil supposed to catch me. I hit the concrete floor. That was only that my first day I spent, I think it was six or eight weeks at Healthsouth," Hebner said.

"I'm all busted up and broke up. You know, one of the doctors says, I'm also telling you, drink some super glue. And, you know, things do happen and but hey, that's the price you pay if you if you want to be in the game," he said.

Like any other professional athlete or performer, there was nothing like being in the game. Hebner worked, traveled, partied and experienced life with all the biggest names in wrestling over the past 40 years.

When asked about "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Hebner said he was okay but had some challenges.

"I had a few problems with him, because he was a guy that wanted everything perfect, but nothing's perfect in the ring," Hebner said.

About Andre the Giant, Hebner had nothing but praise.

"Andre was super. I used to sit in the dressing room and play cribbage with him, and I could never beat him. He was the world. He was the world's best," Hebner said.

Hebner was especially close with Hulk Hogan.

"Oh, gosh, yeah, he was, he was a great guy. He took so good care of me and my brother, both of us. I'd do his match. We don't go in shower, limo, take us to the airport, get on that jet loaded with food and and and booze and man, you know, and I'm going, there's a kid out of nowhere living this life, and it was hard for me to believe, but it was great," Hebner said.

He also spoke fondly of Ric Flair.

"Flair was beyond himself. And, God, I love him to death. Uh, he probably, he's one of the, it's a lot of them that helped me, but he's probably one of the, one of the best that got me noticed, of being who I am and what I did by him," Hebner said.

Hebner recalled a memorable WrestleMania match with Stone Cold Steve Austin.

"It was a Wrestlemania match, you know. And the thing I liked about it is that at the end, Stone Cold, get me on The Buzz. I said, Steve, you throwing the beers too quick. I can't drink them that fast. So finally I watched him, and I go, Okay, now I know what he's doing. And I just chuckled and let him go like that. I mean, man, I was getting the buzz on, but that was a good part of it, working that message. I didn't have to buy any beer," Hebner said.

It wasn't always good times. Hebner was one of the central figures in what's known as the Montreal Screw Job, when WWE Chairman Vince McMahon made Hebner go against his word and the obvious flow of the match and rule in favor of Shawn Michaels against Bret "The Hit Man" Hart — a decision that stayed with Hebner for years.

"Well, what are you gonna do? I said, I don't know. He said, What do you mean? You don't know. You don't want a job here? Brett's getting $3 million in it. Is he giving you a million dollars? I said, No, really. And, you know, it was dual. It was do or go," Hebner said.

"I've had conversations with Brett. We call each other maybe three times a year, see how each other's doing, and we've, we've healed the wound, thank God, and we can go and see each other, on on signings and everything, we get along good, you know, and and even today, when I think about it, it bothers me some, but not as much as it did, because it's been 30 something years ago," he said.

When asked about working for Vince McMahon, Hebner said the experience changed over time.

"At the beginning, it was fun. But when they went corporate, it the whole atmosphere changed. You know, it was, it was fun before that, and then it got to be strict business about everything," Hebner said.

Earl worked with his twin brother Dave for years, traveled the world, got injured, got back up again and saw the explosion of professional wrestling from the inside.

Not bad for a kid from Sheppard Street who used to bring tapes of matches at the fairgrounds to Channel 6 to run on Saturday mornings.

"I never liked school, but I like to work, and that's all I've done my whole life. And knock on wood, I've been very successful, and like I said, God gifted me to have what I have, and the chance to do what I loved," Hebner said.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.