Former WWE referee Drake Wuertz recently shared an anecdote about how Vince McMahon, the WWE Executive Chairman, reacted to a major mistake during a match involving Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. The incident occurred on August 22, 2015, during the first event of NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.
In the match, Flair was supposed to emerge victorious against Dana Brooke, Emma, and Lynch. However, in the closing stages of the bout, Lynch, who was legitimately dazed, failed to evade a planche attempt by Emma. As the referee of the match, Wuertz fulfilled his duties and counted to three.
It is a well-known fact that McMahon expects referees to officiate WWE matches as if they were actual fights. In a recent interview on the Cheap Heat Productions podcast, Wuertz revealed that McMahon respected the difficult decision he had to make that day.
Wuertz described the moment McMahon approached him backstage, saying, “He just walked up, not a hair out of place, looking like a million bucks. It’s Vince McMahon. He approached me backstage and extended his hand to me. He told me, ‘Good decision you made out there, kid.’ I looked at my hand and got goosebumps; I was tremendously excited. That was my first interaction with him, and it was amazing.”
The unexpected win by Emma surprised fans, especially considering that Flair and Lynch had recently joined the main roster. However, the following day, the Four Horsewomen (Flair, Lynch, and their fellow wrestlers Bayley and Sasha Banks) joined forces with Paige to win a three-team elimination match at Summerslam.
Many wondered why Lynch couldn’t escape the situation and avoid the pinfall. Wuertz explained that after Emma threw Lynch into the corner of the ring by her hair, Lynch became disoriented. Despite knowing about Lynch’s injury, Wuertz felt that he had no choice but to count to three.
“I looked Becky Lynch in the eye; she wasn’t there, she went crazy. This is the first show in an NXT stadium, we are in front of 15,000 people in Brooklyn, New York. As a referee, you have a job to do. At the time, no one was there to interrupt it. It wasn’t the planned ending, but as a referee, I was taught and trained by the best in the business to think it’s real, not planned,” said Wuertz.
Wuertz’s story sheds light on McMahon’s professionalism and reaction to unexpected situations in WWE matches.