Former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas is very opinionated when it comes to how officiating is done in wrestling matches these days, even though he’s very biasedly slanted towards criticizing AEW referees.
Here he is commenting on AEW referee Aubrey Edwards in a match when one of the combatants tried using the ropes for leverage during a pinfall attempt.
And here’s some not so veiled sarcasm during this mess of a tag team match between Kip Sabian / Jimmy Havoc vs the Young Bucks.
Korderas does have a point regarding the tag team match. Before the match started, referee Rick Knox “relieved” Mr. Havoc of a pair of pliers the man had stuffed down his pants yet decided it was perfectly alright to leave the tool in Havoc and Sabian’s corner during the match.
Later on, Havoc somehow found a mallet and Knox attempted to relieve him of that foreign object as Sabian’s fiance and fellow AEW wrestler Penelope Ford blasted one of the Bucks with a janitor board.
In terms of wrestlers using the ropes as leverage, which I always thought was a stupid and illogical spot anyways since I don’t see how putting one’s feet on the ropes gives them a better shot of pinning someone, I wish more referees simply just kick the feet away rather than do the standard five count.
Maybe it’s because Edwards has a higher profile lately due to her growing popularity among the AEW fan base. She revealed a lot about her own life recently on podcasts such as AEW Unrestricted and Talk Is Jericho.
There is some merit to Korderas’ criticisms of AEW referees for not following the rule book if there ever was one. Edwards herself said the promotion is basically writing their own version of wrestling rules for referees, and as an old school guy I can imagine that would be just anathema to Korderas.
However, it’s ironic that the former WWE veteran ref decided to slam AEW referees for ‘getting over’, when I can point to several examples of WWE referees doing that themselves, whether under their own volition or not.
The most recent example is senior referee John Cone. During last year’s King of the Ring tournament, Cone officially declared both Samoa Joe and Ricochet as winners after a double pin, in an almost gleeful way as it disadvantaged Baron Corbin.
Cone also did these hilarious ‘Office Ref’ segments which can be found on YouTube as well. His most recent controversial call which, as Korderas would point out, put the referee as a focus in the storyline was an alleged ‘fast count’ on Nia Jax this past Monday on RAW.
Did I also forget to mention Cone’s most high profile contribution to WWE which is rarely discussed? His 10 year old son Nicholas became the youngest tag team champion with Braun Strowman at Wrestlemania. In fact, Cone himself officiated that title match.
For my own personal recollection, Charles Robinson, whom Korderas mentioned as one example of an official exuding professionalism, will always remind me of ‘Little Natch’ from WCW when Robinson became Ric Flair’s apprentice and even had a match with a blonde bombshell female version of ‘Gorgeous George’ who was one of Randy Savage’s then valets.
Nick Patrick, also from WCW, was a well known ‘NWO stooge’ for Hollywood Hulk Hogan with his biased officiating. In more recent years, former WWE referee Scott Armstrong was seen to be in ‘Triple H’s pocket’ on more than one occasion.
In the end, modern wrestling may begin to see referees develop more of their own personality, which may violate old school rules but under certain circumstances can work out, as with WWE’s first female referee Jessika Carr when she moved from NXT to Smackdown.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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