Magazine Archives: The Scariest 15 Minutes of My Life

By Matt Young For FightfulMag.com issue 3

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The world of professional wrestling is a world that does not always make sense. Whether it is storytelling or match stipulations, there are times where a match is given a name that does not fit the stipulation.

As a professional wrestler, or in my case, a referee, our job is to try to deliver what the promoter wants to accomplish, even if it doesn’t always make sense. In what was one of those instances, I was asked to officiate a tables, ladders, and chairs (TLC) match between former ECW legend Sabuwith manager Bill Alfonso, AJ Stylesand the rather unpredictable Teddy Hartat a Ballpark Brawl event in Buffalo, New York.

Normally, a TLC match is a somewhat easy contest for a referee since you’re not as involved as you would be in almost any other match. The wrestlers, along with the tables, ladders, and chairs, should make your life easier. That would not be the case in this match, and almost two decades later, I still often refer to this match as the scariest 15 minutes of my life.

If it were not the scariest few minutes, it would certainly be the most chaotic.

When I mentioned the three letters “TLC,” I am certain that it conjured up a picture in your mind as a wrestling fan. You’re likely thinking of the original tables, ladders and chairs match that was made famous by The Hardy Boys, Edge and Christianand the Dudley Boyz.You would be correct to think that, except for one issue with doing a conventional TLC match at a baseball field — there is no place to hang a title above the ring in the middle of a baseball diamond.

At that point, the question becomes, what exactly is the purpose of a TLC match if you can’t put something above the ring to climb up to? I can only assume to permit the use of tables, ladders, and chairs for the purpose of giving the fans a spectacle. The match was for what was called the Natural Heavyweight Championship title, and it would have to be won via pinfall or submission in this unique version of a TLC match.

I knew that it was going to be an interesting contest to try to officiate when the participants were not telling me a whole lot about the match itself. To be fair, I’m not exactly sure they knew what they would do in the ring, given the unique environment. When you factor in the different wrestling styles of the participants, it had the potential to be something incredible and possibly dangerous.

I knew even the promoter was quite nervous about what he had booked, given these wrestlers’ penchant for going outside the box in their thinking at times. My job was to keep the chaos to a minimum and make sure that the match was able to be finished in the ring.

In Teddy Hart’s previous Ballpark Brawl match, he did an unplanned moonsault off the top of the backstop behind home plate onto his opponent and the referee. I also happened to be the referee in that very match. Predictable was not exactly what you could write as a headline on Hart’s wrestling resume at that time.

As I said earlier, trying to get information for spots I was needed for or the finish was a challenge. I had no idea where Teddy Hart was up until the match. Luckily, Styles was able to fill me in on what he believed the finish would be. His other advice for me was to try to stay out of the way because it was going to be chaotic.

I knew he was likely right, but I had no idea how right he would be.

Compounding the problem was that I was the official in a Natalya Neidhartvs. Traci Brookscontest two matches prior, so my time to circle back and get an update on changes was limited at best due to my involvement in that match. I double-checked with Styles, and he said nothing had changed and reminded me that I should be ready to move fast.

It was time for the match, and everyone had made their way to the ring, and I attempted to corral the participants to start the match. I should have known how the rest of the event would go based on this alone, as it took five minutes to get them all in the ring.

I went to do the traditional boot check on Sabu, which led to him and Alfonso chasing me in the ring for what felt like 30 seconds. Eventually, I managed to get everyone into the ring, and the match started.

Immediately, I noticed Alfonso was standing on the apron, blowing his whistle non-stop. If I thought communication was going to be tough before, the difficulty just ramped up considerably. I did what all referees would do in this situation and tried to get the manager down from the ring apron. Unfortunately, the more I asked, the more whistle-blowing in my face I received, so I moved on to focus on the action in the ring.

Shortly into the match, all three participants were outside the ring, on the ground, when Alfonso then made his way into the ring to start blowing the whistle even more while pointing to the sky. It got a pop from the crowd, but I once again had to get him out of there.

The action returned to the ring, and that is when the chairs came out. The participants did a variety of moves using the chairs, including Sabu hitting his patented Arabian Facebuster. It was starting to get crazy.

I do not remember who it was, but Sabu or Alfonso was behind me and had a chair in his hands. I was watching the action with Hart and Styles for a pinfall when I heard Styles yell to me, “duck!” I just managed to bend forward in time as I saw a chair thrown by the former ECW champion fly over my right shoulder.

I am glad that the chair missed hitting me as I would have had to go down and sell the chair. Plus, it would have caused issues with the next part of the match as they moved into a series of pinfall attempts.

That phase of the contest saw the three attempt approximately 30 pins in under five minutes. I was now blown up from the up-and-down of counting in the 85-degree [Fahrenheit] heat. Thankfully, at that point, I wouldn’t have to avoid any thrown objects, as I don’t think I could’ve moved fast enough after that burst.

Eventually, Sabu would go through a table on the outside of the ring to allow Styles to hit the Styles Clash on Hart for the pinfall. I had never been more relieved to make a three-count as I had been in that exact moment.

The match itself was delivered as a spectacle despite the obscure stipulation given the venue. It would also end up getting some buzz on the independent wrestling scene.

The table spot caused a serious back injury for Sabu as he went through the table awkwardly, and it eventually sidelined him for ten months. It didn’t seem that bad at the time but watching it back, you could certainly see how the injury occurred. It was an unfortunate end to the match.

As we all know, wrestling is a dangerous sport at the best of times when planned, but not truly knowing what would happen next or what object I would have to duck was as daunting a task as I had ever faced in a live event. As a referee, you are trying to act as a director in the match, but this was as little control as I had ever had in the ring. For the first time in that position, I was not sure what was going to happen next.

Watching the match back on video, I often question why I felt that way in the moment. I did not get hurt or even have contact with anything, but I know it could have been vastly different had I not been keenly aware of my surroundings the entire match —and gotten a little help from AJ Styles.

That lack of control and predictability really did make it the scariest 15 minutes of my life.

Matt Young is a former professional wrestling ring announcer, referee, and booker on the North American independent scene. He is currently focused on hockey as the co-host of “IceDogs Xtra.”

Twitter: @mattyoung71