Hello internet wonderland! Its me, Downtown Bruno,31 year veteran of the pro wrestling/sports entertainment industry here to give a little insight about my dear friend and colleague, Mr. Lucky Chucky Poe! Although I have helped a lot of guys over the years in various situations, whether it was helping them get booked in various territories back in the day, getting them a look-at by the WWE, getting their foot in the door with Memphis Wrestling, or whatever. Chuck is unique because he is the only person I have actually hands-on trained to become a professional referee and I might add, a damn good one! I never met anybody who had such a desire to learn the RIGHT way to referee. I cant take all the credit(or blame...LOL)..however, because Ken Wayne put Chuck to work as the second in command referee at NEW(behind the great senior official, the extremely handsome and talented Downtown Bruno!)....and that's where Chuck got the experience to get to where he is as good as he has become. Besides NEW, Chuck has reffed for Jerry Lawler's Memphis Wrestling, XOW, ASWF, and several other promotions such as RCW, and does a great job wherever he goes. He's no Downtown Bruno, mind you but he will do I guess..LOL! I have learned a lot from Chuck as well, I must say...such as: don't pig out at the country home buffet before you go to West Memphis to referee....don't pig out at the Mexican Cantina in West Memphis an hour before its time to referee...and mainly..make sure Vicious Vickie Peal is there with tums if you ignore rule 1 or 2!!!
Welcome to this weeks issue of The T-Bone Effect. You know I have inducted an area worker in every part of wrestling to the UWG. However, this week I'm going to choose from a category I have yet to talk about, Referees. Being a referee requires more than owning a shirt and having a license to ref. Referees play an important part in wrestling. Most professional referees go through rigorous training and must stay in shape to keep up with the in ring talent. the purpose of those referees is render decisions during a match. Referees also play a key role in making sure wrestlers are able to continue in their fight. Referees often wear a black and white striped shirt or polo shirt with company logo with black slacks or black pants. The referee I am inducting this week into the UWG is a professional in his craft. He is one of the best referees in the Indy Circuit I have ever seen.
Chuck Poe started out refereeing amateur boxing matches with the help of legendary professional wrestler Buddy Wayne in 2006. He's known Buddy for over 20 years and had been asked by him to help with a boxing benefit for muscular dystrophy at Ole Miss back in the late 90’s. After years of working with Buddy to help coordinate the event with the MDA committee, he asked Poe to start refereeing the event.
In 2008, he was asked to referee a benefit wrestling show in Mississippi and shortly after, he worked a few shows in Mississippi.
Downtown Bruno, whom he had been friends with for several years, had just started working at New Experience Wrestling in West Memphis AR for Nightmare Ken Wayne as a referee. Knowing that his schedule with the WWE would not allow him to be at all of the shows on Friday nights, he asked Poe if he wanted to work with him at NEW. Poe had just started refereeing and was green as everything but with his experience and knowledge in the business, Bruno trained him as a referee in wrestling. Buddy Wayne and Bruno had asked Ken Wayne to give Chuck a shot at refereeing and on January 2008 he would work his first NEW event and has been there ever since.
In his short time in the business, Chuck Poe has had the opportunity to work for various promotions such as: RCW, XOW, ASWF, MCW, Jerry Lawler’s Memphis Wrestling and Bad Boys Promotions. He has worked the several legends including Jerry Lawler, Bobby Eaton, Dutch Mantel, Bill Dundee, Rodney Mack, Koko B. Ware, Kamala, Eric Young and of course Downtown Bruno.
Ken Wayne as well as Eric Wayne, Kid Nikels, Austin Lane, Greg Anthony and Alan Steele were instrumental in not only teaching and giving advice to him, but would critique my work in the ring, and whether it was negative or positive criticism, their input helped tremendously.
Congratulations to Referee Chuck Poe and welcome to the Unsigned Wall of Greatness.
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