Eddie Orengo Credits Shawn Bennett For Getting Him A Referee Tryout In WWE

Eddie Orengo credits Shawn Bennett for his career as a referee.

Before signing with WWE in 2015, Eddie Orengo spent multiple years on the independent scene under the ring name Bandido Jr, competing in promotions like CZW and Jersey All Pro Wrestling.

Speaking with the I’m An Artist, Not A Salesman podcast for a new interview, Orengo said that he received a call from Shawn Bennett just a couple hours after contemplating his future in wrestling.

“When I had that thought, less than 24 hours later, I get a call from my buddy Shawn Bennett, who’s also a ref in WWE. We had always kept in touch because he would ref my matches on the indies, we had known each other since we were 14. He was already in WWE as a ref and he called me up one day like, ‘Hey man, what’ve you been up to?’ I was like, ‘Oh, nothing.’ In my mind, yeah we’ve kept in touch but we’ve never really talked on the phone. He’s like, ‘What’s been going on, how’s wrestling?’ Wrestling is alright, I explained to him my situation. He’s like, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years with wrestling?’ I said, ‘Well, it’s funny you ask me that, because I just had a come to Jesus moment and had this conversation with myself where I was like, I’m gonna do this for another year and if it works out, cool but if not— so I can’t really answer that.’ He goes, ‘Alright, I totally understand that.’ He says, ‘I’m pretty sure you’re wondering why I’m calling you’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, what’s going on?’ ‘Well, so, WWE has been looking for more referees.’ This is a time where NXT is just starting to pop off, so they started to bring in talent from all over the world. He said, ‘They’re looking for a ref that can speak Spanish.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know any ref that speaks Spanish, I’m sorry dude.’ He’s like, ‘No, would you ever think about doing something like that?’ I was like, ‘Being a ref?’ and he’s like, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘No, not really.’ That was ironic because my first time in a wrestling ring during a show was my dad surprising me with the opportunity to ref a match. I said, ‘I never really thought about it, what’s up, talk to me.’ He’s like, ‘Well, your name had been floating around when Mr. Regal had asked a couple of guys, ‘Is there anybody on the indies?’ My name popped up. He’s like, ‘If you want, try it out. The worst thing that can happen is that you don’t like it and you can keep moving forward.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you know what, I’ll try it out.’ He said, ‘Cool, I’ll put you in touch with the head of talent relations’, who was Canyon Ceman at the time.

Orengo then recalled hearing back from Canyon Ceman after asking Bennett about the opportunity again.

”He sent me an email asking for my information. It’s funny because I sent him the information and I didn’t hear back, I was like, ‘Did I screw up already?’ I remember sitting at the desk at work and it was just eating me alive. It had been a few weeks and I didn’t hear anything back. So I was like, I’m just gonna call Shawn and see what’s up. ‘Hey man, have you heard anything? Was there something that I did or didn’t do that kind of turned them away?’ He was like, ‘No, I actually haven’t heard anything. He goes, ‘Well, Canyon is going to be here’, I think they had tryouts going on that week. ‘Canyon’s going to be here this week, I’ll talk to him and see what he says.’ He calls me back the next day like, ‘Hey, I spoke to Canyon, he said you were good to go.’ I said, ‘Well, I didn’t get anything.’ A few minutes later, I get the email, hey your tryout is set.”

Eddie Orengo and Shawn Bennett still work for WWE to this day.

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