Earl Hebner Says "You Feel Like A Prisoner" When You Work For WWE

Earl Hebner is perhaps the most famous wrestling referee of all-time. He's been in the business for over 40 years and worked for WWE from 1988 to 2005. He is now a part of AEW and Hebner talked about the differences between AEW and WWE when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.

"It doesn't feel like you're in prison here," Hebner said of AEW as compared to WWE. "You've got more leeway and it's more relaxing. It felt like you were in a prisoner in WWE but not in AEW.

"This is just a more laid back company and at my age, this is great for me."

Hebner has been involved in many memorable wrestling matches and moments. He was asked what he would pick as the highlights of his career.

"The first one would be Saturday Night Main Event when I screwed Hogan. And the next one would be the Bret Hart deal [Montreal Screwjob]," Hebner said before being asked why he considers that controversial match a highlight.

"It made a name for me..."

"I don't think they are ever gonna let that go. It's gotta be over 20 years ago... [The fans] wanna torture me but I'm torturing them!"

WWE officiating, and their product in general, came under fire recently with the Seth Rollins-Bray Wyatt Hell in a Cell match. Hebner was blunt when asked what he thought of that controversial finish.

"I don't watch their product," stated Hebner.

Earl Hebner can be seen every Wednesday night on TNT, 8/7c, as part of AEW Dynamite. Hebner's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post, or via the video player at the top.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.