Just a note from last night’s show regarding iMPACT Wrestling’s senior referee, Earl Hebner.
I know that at some point last year TNA Wrestling started to promote and sell a t-shirt at live events featuring referee pinstripes and the words, “Damn right I did!” This was the Hebner t-shirt and it promoted the fact that Hebner still gets chants of “You Screwed Bret!” even 14 years after the infamous Montreal Screw Job.
Well, last night Hebner not only received these chants, but he played it up. He put on a pair of sunglasses and marched around the ring with his hands out like Bret Hart normally does. I don’t know if you can see it, but in the picture below, Hebner is wearing his version of the Bret Hart sunglasses as well as the “Damn right I did!” t-shirt.
Given that WWE is wrapping up production on a Shawn Michaels/Bret Hart DVD that will go in depth about the Montreal Screw Job, I thought it might add a tiny little bit to the story to recognize that Hebner is still playing up the “screw job” part of that infamous event.
love earl! man is a hoot & very nice in person
I thought it was common knowledge that Earl did this at EVERY live event? He did it in Manchester in Jan and Iv read a whole lot of stuff since regarding house shows (esp since the BFG series)
I’ve been to both house shows in Asbury Park (last Fourth of July weekend and two years prior) as well as a TNA Wrestling pay-per-view and I’ve never seen him do this before. It was entertaining.
And Mal – yes, Earl is a good guy. He was very nice to my younger brother who told him, “Good ref’ing” after the show was over. Earl said thanks and thanked us all for coming out to the show.
I was browsing eBay and thought I’d look for it just for the heck of it and I found one on auction. There’s two pics on the page: One of the signed shirt and one of Hebner wearing it. Thought it might be better to be able to see a close up of it: http://cgi.ebay.com/WWF-WWE-TNA-EARL-HEBNER-AUTOGRAPHED-SHIRT-/190550650855?pt=US_Solo_Sports_Fan_Shop&hash=item2c5db42fe7
Thanks for finding this, Jarrett! This is the t-shirt that Earl Hebner was selling at the show. It was $10 with both his and his son’s signature.
I’m telling you, the way that Don West was hyping these shirts was amazing. Reminded me of his days hocking baseball cards!