Jim Ross Vents About Lazy Referee Practice In Pro Wrestling

Jim Ross is not shy about his opinion. He got a lot of attention for his recent remarks about diving spots to the outside and no-selling moves that used to finish a match. He has also advised AEW’s referees a time or two as well.

During Grilling JR, the Hall of Fame announcer went into another issue he continues seeing in pro wrestling today. Referees aren’t in position when they count for a pinfall attempt. If they can’t see both shoulders then they’re doing it all wrong. This practice, that JR considers lazy, is also something he’s spoken to AEW’s referees about as well.

“When you’re counting with the shoulders down, I’ll use a baseball analogy, when you’re a baseball umpire you’ve gotta see both corners, both sides of the plate. You can’t count a pin where you’re not head to head. Where your head is not even with the person who’s down. If I’m down, and this is the referee, see, now you can count both shoulders. I can look right down at it. You see it all the time. If you watch wrestling, which all of you do (thank you very much for that), pay attention to where the referees are when the go down to count a fall, in any company, any company. It’s become lazy.”

“So they’re guessing that they can see that other shoulder that they can’t see. It’s an expose. It’s bullsh*t. Sometimes you can’t get there. It’s more important to get there and see those two shoulders down it is to make that quick pin. ‘Well you took too long to get there I lost my buzz,’ or whatever — ‘wait for him to f*cking kick out!’ Right, but you gotta get in position because you can’t make a call if you can’t see it.”

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Jim Ross tries to make little hints about this positioning issue on commentary. He says things like “the referee’s gotta call what they see and see what they call.” This might lead to the referee taking a bit more time to get where they need to, but it would also greatly benefit the match’s quality.

Transcription by Ringside News