Brian Hebner is hanging up the stripes.
After being a prestigious referee for nearly twenty three years, legendary referee Brian Hebner is officially retiring from being a full-time referee. The IMPACT Wrestling legend made the announcement on the latest episode of his podcast, Refin' It Up with Brian Hebner, after teasing a big announcement for weeks.
“I am announcing that I am going to retire from professional wrestling as a full time referee. I will no longer be under contract for anybody, I will be working for myself. This is a move that I’m making because of the fact that, there’s a lot of different reasons. I’m not bitter towards the business at all, this has nothing to do with anybody making me mad or anybody making me angry. This is a move I'm making that’s personal. I’m healthy, I’m in great shape, I’m not beat up. I have a lot of life left still with my kids and my family, and my friends. I have other projects that I’m working on, with this podcast being one of them that I’m really trying to dig into. Some people may think it’s something that I shouldn’t take seriously, some people think it should be, but it doesn’t make a fuck what people think today. What it means to me is this, I'm doing what Brian Hebner wants to do on his own terms."
Hebner continued on and explained how he came to terms with his decision to walk away from the business.
"I’ve talked to many of my people that I work with, many of my friends that I’ve reached out to, I’ve made so many phone calls to so many people not in just TNA, not in just IMPACT Wrestling, not just WWE, not just AEW, the whole kit and caboodle. I’ve just talked to so many people. This is a big move for me because I do care about this business deeply, the business means more to me than anybody in the world. I just wanna say that this business has been the greatest thing that’s ever happened in my life. But now it’s time for me to take a step back, to get off the road, to stop flying, to stop missing my children’s games, to stop missing my family cookouts, to stop missing Father’s Day, to stop missing Mother’s Day, to stop missing the things that are important to my family. I’ve done it long enough, over 23+ years. I’ve done a lot in this business. I’ve done WrestleManias, I’ve done SummerSlams, I’ve done Slammiversary, I’ve done NWA 70’s, I’ve done main events of television shows, I’ve worked with every major wrestling promotion in the United States. I just feel like it’s time, I feel like god is pulling me away. I have two thirteen year old daughters, I have a nineteen year old son who’s getting ready to go to college. He’s a huge person and body in their lives, he’s not gonna be there anymore. He’s got four years of college, he’s going to Tennessee and I live in Virginia. Add up the math, it’s not close. So they need their daddy, I think it’s time for their daddy to be there for them. This is more of a me thing, it has nothing to do with wrestling. I’ll be honest with you, ever since I moved around a little bit from WWE to TNA to NWA to ROH, back to IMPACT, my goal was always to retire in IMPACT Wrestling. I mean that with all of my heart. They gave me the most infectious love I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Hebner will be fulfilling his wish to retire with IMPACT Wrestling, as he'll finish up with the company at the upcoming TV tapings following the Slammiversary pay-per-view.
“[Slammiversary] weekend will be my last full time wrestling gig. I’ve talked with Scott DaMore, I’ve talked with D’Lo Brown, I’ve talked with Gail Kim, the powers that be. There wasn’t any excitement in the announcement of course, but it wasn’t like they were angry at all.”
During his tenured career, Hebner has worked with nearly every major wrestling. Hebner has spent time with WWE, TNA/IMPACT, Ring Of Honor, AEW, NWA, and many more.
Kurt Angle recently revealed that Hebner was his favorite referee to work with. Click here to see more.