ROLE OF THE REFEREE

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!