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LEGENDARY REFEREE, WWF OFFICIAL DAVE HEBNER PASSES AWAY

The Twitter account for Brian Hebner's podcast announced that his Uncle, legendary referee and long-time WWF road agent Dave Hebner has passed away at 73 years old.  Hebner passed away this afternoon.

Hebner and his twin brother Earl spent decades working as officials, initially breaking in as referees in the late 1970s for NWA affiliated promotions.  Dave moved in to work regularly for the WWF while Earl worked primarily for Jim Crockett Promotions.  While working for the WWF, Dave appeared on an episode of NBC's The A-Team that guest starred Hulk Hogan and featured professional wrestling scenes.

The pair were part of one of the biggest angles of the 1980s for the WWF with Earl officiating the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match on the WWE Main Event special in February 1988, the first live professional wrestling special on broadcast TV in decades.  When Earl counted three and declared Andre the new champion although Hogan clearly had his shoulder up, it set the stage for Ted DiBiase to buy the title that night from Andre. 

The idea was that Dave Hebner was supposed to be officiating the bout but had been prevented from doing so and secretly replaced by Earl, who was firmly in DiBiase's pocket.  Since the general audience wasn't aware the Hebners were twins, the angle got a big reaction with announcers questioning whether "The Million Dollar Man" had paid for someone to have plastic surgery to look like Dave.  When the dust settled, the WWF title was declared vacant leading into Wrestlemania IV that year.  The special drew over 33 million viewers live and was an instantly classic angle that still holds up and will never be replicated.

Hebner refereed one of WWF's most important and iconic matches, the Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage bout for the WWF Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania III.  While Earl continued to referee, Dave moved into a behind the scenes role as a road agent for the company due to knee issues and remained there through 2005, when he was cut by the company.

Dave's brother Earl had been caught allegedly selling bootleg WWE merchandise and when he was let go, Dave was as well.  Earl later noted during an interview with Sean Mooney on Mooney's podcast that he turned down overtures by WWE to return and a Hall of Fame induction because he was so upset at how hurt WWE had made his brother over the situation.

In June 2019, Earl commented, "I know what they said, but it was a big lie. Why would you risk a t-shirt for a $200,000 job, for a $15 t-shirt? And I was in partners with a guy in St. Louis, and we were buying the same merchandise from the same people that Vince was buying it from. And the jackets that I had made, like the agents wore them, because I had one made. I wasn’t selling them. I never sold the first leather jackets that the agents got. And then all of the sudden, I think Johnny [Laurinaitus] had a hard-on for my brother and I was his scapegoat, and that was the reason."

In the same interview, Earl commented "[the firing] hurt me more by hurting my brother more than it did me. That’s why he’s in the health condition that he is now because he lived that business. He was hurt bad. Remember all the years that he would get up. If they called him tonight and said, ‘We need you for a personal appearance tomorrow,’ he’d get up and pack his stuff and go. Not me. So, I never put all my eggs in one basket. He did.”

After his time in WWE, Dave made appearances for TNA (now Impact Wrestling) and spoke about being depressed for a long period of time over losing his WWE gig.

In recent years, Hebner had been battling Parkinson's Disease.   He had been part of the WWE concussion lawsuits that were dismissed back in 2018.

PWInsider.com sends our deepest condolences to the entire Hebner family, Dave's friends and his fans.

Slam! Wrestling in Canada has a very good piece on Hebner's passing, including quotes from a previous interview with him at this link.

 

 

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