I recently saw a bout where the ending surprised me. Two heavyweights had been battling it out a good 28 to 30 minutes...back and forth good exciting match at the end they were exchanging forearm smashes pummelling each other. After a while one was definitely getting the upper hand knocking his opponent down every time he got up. At the end the referee stood in and STOPPED THE BOUT. As the commentary was in french I did not fully understand what was happening at first. I mean there was no submission the other wrestler had not given up and no pin. I have seen fights stopped in professional boxing when one boxer could no longer defend himself and in films etc where dramatically a second would throw in a towel but not in wrestling. In the UK we have all seen throws out the ring ending in bad landings and or a wrestler in agony caught up in ropes and the referee stop the bout but I can’t remember seeing a stoppage because one wrestler is getting hammered? Can any of you? And it made me mull over the role of referee and his responsibility and duty. Perhaps I was surprised because you get use to seeing miraculously wrestlers like Lazarus suddenly rejuvenated and taking revenge on their attacker. But the referee can see things close up and more clearly and it is a right decision if he can see one is clearly struggling and unable to defend himself. Do you think the best referees are ex wrestlers who clearly understand the sport fully? And can also as wrestlers not be intimidated by the combatant? Also a good referee as to have exceptional ring awareness see as the wrestlers see it and not get caught up in the action or stop it by being in the way etc so anticipation is very important. And again, for the punters they don’t want to see the referee blocking their view so he has to consider that too...it made me think not an easy job at all!
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Most important role is to control the action without always appearing to control the action. The French referees hand out un advertissement (a warning) with great regularity but always working to the desired result for the promoter
What you saw may have been a one-off.
In my experience, the ref is there at a surface level to see fair play and make it all look like a legitimate sport.
At a deeper level, he is:
- passing messages
- making sure both wrestlers give full commitment, on behalf of the employer
- ensuring safety
but mostly
- keeping out of the way and leaving two pros to do it their own way.
I can surmise that what you witnessed was where one of the wrestlers was being naughty on tv and not wrestling to the programmed outcome. Like Preston v McManus. And the ref had to intervene.
RSF is an accepted outcome, not usually with manchettes. (forearm smashes)