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The final WWE Hall of Fame 2023 Class member this year is the late Tim White, who will become the first former referee recognized by the company in their Hall of Fame as this year's Warrior Award recipient.
White, who spent decades refereeing for WWE before a shoulder injury led to his retirement and shift into working behind the scenes as a road agent.
White began working for WWF in the 1980s, handling Andre the Giant on the road as his handler, helping to make Andre's travel on the road more amenable. White traveled the world with Andre and was considered one of his closest friends. Whether it was on the road with the WWF or the set of The Princess Bride, White shadowed Andre. He was interviewed for the HBO documentary on Andre that came out several years ago.
White worked as a referee at the same time for WWF and was the third man in the ring for the 1998 Hell in A Cell bout between Mankind and The Undertaker. He was one of the company's top referees and was regularly tapped to work main events until suffering a shoulder injury at the 2002 Judgment Day PPV during another HIAC bout between Chris Jericho and Triple H. While he would return to the ring several years later, he would later retire from officiating due to a recurrence of the should injury.
White's Cumberland, Rhode Island bar, The Friendly Tap was a regular WWF TV haunt when the company taped TV locally, used for vignettes and brawls. The same location would be used for a series of WWE.com segments featuring what was supposed to presented as edge comedy with a despondent White attempted suicide while drunk because his life had been ruined by getting injured at the Hell in A Cell. This led to a series of similar vignettes with White attempting and failing to do so, running for over twelve weeks, generally considered in poor taste at the time.
After his refereeing duties ended, White shifted into the role of a road agent, shadowing talents at appearances and signing events to insure everything went without issue, similar to his original duties on the road for Andre. His final on-screen appearance would be the Andre the Giant-centric episode of WWE's Hidden Treasures series for A&E.
White passed away in June 2022 and was only 68 years. He was absolutely beloved across the board by the wrestlers and WWE staff during his long run with the company.
White joins Rey Mysterio, Stacy Keibler, The Great Muta and the late Andy Kaufman in the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame Class.
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