39 Facts About Earl Hebner

1.

Earl William Hebner was born on May 17,1949 and is an American retired professional wrestling referee who last officiated for All Elite Wrestling.

2.

Earl Hebner is best known for his time as senior referee for the World Wrestling Federation from 1988 to 2005.

3.

Earl Hebner participated in a number of storylines, including feuds involving The McMahon-Helmsley Faction and The Alliance.

4.

Earl Hebner was the senior referee for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2005 to 2017, and was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2015.

5.

In 2019, Earl Hebner joined All Elite Wrestling, where he was used primarily for main event and title matches.

6.

Earl Hebner officiated matches for Jim Crockett Promotions during much of the 1980s.

7.

Earl Hebner was the referee during the famous "I Quit" match at Starrcade 1985 between Tully Blanchard and Magnum T A Earl Hebner can be seen at ringside during the first ever WarGames match at the 1987 Great American Bash as well as the final match of the Bunkhouse Stampede tournament in January 1988.

8.

Just days after that match, Earl Hebner debuted in the World Wrestling Federation as a referee during a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match pitting champion Hulk Hogan against challenger Andre the Giant, which aired live on February 5,1988, on NBC's The Main Event.

9.

Earl Hebner then counted Andre's pin against Hogan, even though Hogan's shoulders were clearly off the mat.

10.

The report continued by noting that, despite Dave's appeal of the controversial ending to the Hogan-Andre match at The Main Event, Tunney had to uphold the decision since Earl Hebner was a licensed referee in Indiana ; and that, as a result of Earl Hebner's cooperation, he became a "very rich" man thanks to a payoff by DiBiase.

11.

However, the "evil twin" referee storyline was quickly dropped when Dave was apparently injured in the aftermath of the Hogan-Andre Main Event match; in a 2001 interview with the WWF RAW Magazine, Dave claimed to have suffered broken ribs as a result of Earl Hebner kicking him as part of the angle, forcing Dave out of action until after WrestleMania IV.

12.

The storyline was then shifted to have Earl Hebner come clean, and he was the referee when "Macho Man" Randy Savage won the Tournament final at WrestleMania IV against "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

13.

Earl Hebner had, at the behest of Vince McMahon, "screwed" Hart out of the title.

14.

Earl Hebner therefore decided to remove the title from Hart forcibly, by instructing Hebner to signal an end to the bout when Michaels had Hart in a submission hold.

15.

However, on Right After Wrestling, hosted by Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas, Earl Hebner stated that he has since spoken with Bret and they have buried the hatchet, in regards to the Montreal Screwjob.

16.

Earl Hebner spearheaded the referee's strike in 1999, resulting in referees being given the authority to defend themselves if physically provoked by wrestlers.

17.

In early 2000, he cost Triple H his WWF Championship by quick-counting during a match between Triple H and Chris Jericho following weeks of abuse by Triple H Triple H eventually forced Hebner to reverse the decision, promising never to lay his hands on Hebner as long as Hebner was a WWF employee.

18.

Earl Hebner was reinstated by Linda McMahon thirteen days later, replacing corrupt guest referee Shane McMahon during a title match between Triple H and The Rock at Backlash and counting the fall when The Rock covered Triple H for the pin.

19.

Earl Hebner was the first referee to be a playable character in a wrestling video game as he was included in the roster of WWF No Mercy.

20.

On July 18,2005, WWE announced that Earl Hebner was fired from WWE for selling WWE merchandise without permission.

21.

Seven months after his departure from WWE, Earl Hebner debuted for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling at the Against All Odds pay-per-view on February 12,2006.

22.

Earl Hebner officiated the main event, which saw Canadian born Christian Cage defeat Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

23.

Earl Hebner was then reinstated by Cornette due to Jarrett's polygraph test saying that Earl Hebner was not involved.

24.

Earl Hebner was punched in the face by Jeff Jarrett and was injured.

25.

In May 2012, Earl Hebner signed a contract extension with TNA, which would keep him with the promotion through 2013.

26.

In July 2012, Earl Hebner started a romance storyline with Madison Rayne, as part of which, he started helping her win matches, including one for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship on August 12 at Hardcore Justice.

27.

On June 19,2014, Earl Hebner was involved in the TNA World Heavyweight Championship bout between Kenny King and Eric Young, but after King's loss, MVP fired Earl Hebner and made him get rid of his uniform, to the disgust of his son, Brian, but was reinstated by the new Executive Chief of Wrestling Operations, Kurt Angle after MVP was relieved of his duties by Board of Directors.

28.

On September 14,2015, it was announced that Earl Hebner would be inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame class of 2015.

29.

On July 7,2018, Earl Hebner refereed what was advertised as his final event at Ring Wars Carolina, which saw the refereeing debut of his daughter, Katie.

30.

On September 1,2018, Earl Hebner refereed All In, and was part of the match between Nick Aldis and Cody Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

31.

Earl Hebner refereed NWA 70th Anniversary Show in Nashville, Tennessee, and was part of the main event match between Nick Aldis and Cody Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

32.

On February 16,2019, Earl Hebner refereed at All Star Wrestling's Justice in the main event between Sharp Dressed Man Lawrence and the debuting Brian Snyder in Lewisburg, Tennessee.

33.

Earl Hebner officiated a limited number of AEW events, primarily AEW pay-per-views and selected episodes of AEW Dynamite.

34.

Earl Hebner then went on a one-year officiating hiatus that ended in 2022 when he returned to Impact Wrestling.

35.

Earl Hebner was married twice, he was first married to Carol Ann Kettner from 1969 to 1977.

36.

Earl Hebner later married Susan Ann Green, the marriage lasted from 1978 to 2000.

37.

Earl Hebner's son Brian Earl Hebner is a professional wrestling referee, while his daughter Katie made a cameo appearance with TNA in 2008 as "Katie Kim", the sister of Gail Kim.

38.

Earl Hebner's identical twin brother, Dave, was a wrestling referee as well as a promoter.

39.

Earl Hebner played himself in the episode "Sixteen Candles and Four-Hundred Pound Men" of Boy Meets World.