AEW's Stephon Smith Nearly Quit The Wrestling Business Before Becoming A Referee

It's often said that when a professional wrestler retires, it's never for long. And apparently, that applies to referees too.

On the "AEW Unrestricted" podcast this week, AEW referee Stephon Smith said he was ready to walk away from pro wrestling before he decided to try out a new role as an official.

Before becoming a referee, Smith wrestled for nearly a decade with promotions like Ohio Valley Wrestling, the NWA, and IWA Mid-South. But in 2018, his last year on the independents, Smith said he "was just kind of down" about his career.

"It wasn't really progressing as far as I wanted to," he explained, "so I actually tried to quit wrestling altogether, just cold turkey. Just say, 'You know what, this is my last show. You know, screw it, I ain't telling nobody. I'm just done.' And you know, naturally the business just kind of draws you back in."

Smith started to referee instead because it was less pressure than being an in-ring performer, and wound up landing a job with WWE's developmental "NXT" brand in 2019. The referee eventually left WWE in 2021 to try his luck back on the independents, hoping to catch AEW's attention. One day, Smith said he emailed AEW asking if there were any opportunities.

"And then AEW reached back out to me to do 'Dark' in Orlando and that's just kind of how it all came together," Smith said. "It just so happens that I did a couple matches and Tony Khan, you know, being at the forefront of this thing, like he's there at these shows, and he just walked up to me he's like, 'Hey, can you be in Atlantic City?' And from Atlantic City just kind of responded to me being a full-time referee with AEW."