AEW Official Stephon Smith Spells Out The Physical Toll Being A Referee Can Take

Being a referee in professional wrestling is a dangerous job. While lines like "it's not ballet" get thrown at the wrestlers that choose to compete, many forget about the oft-abused official that shares the ring with the stars. AEW official Stephon Smith spoke about the toll that referee abuse has taken on his body on the latest "AEW Unrestricted."

"My back has taken so much of a beating so far this year," Smith told fellow referee Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone. "I got squashed in the corner last week, I took an elbow drop, I landed on my neck this past week." The interview was taped just after "AEW Dynamite" in El Paso, where Smith took a nasty tumble during the AEW World Tag Team Championship match after colliding with The Acclaimed's Anthony Bowens. Smith says this was the culmination of a series of bumps that he took during the start of 2023. 

"I've taken more of a beating than I have in the last five years," Smith confessed. "Thankfully I'm ok, I'm upright, I can actually walk. It was pretty intense." Smith says he can't name a worse bump he's taken in the past 10 years of wrestling than the bump in the match between The Acclaimed and The Gunns. "This is probably the first time that I've like landed-landed on my neck." Edwards says that Smith's resilience in the face of so many bumps has many of the AEW referees jealous. According to Smith, Bowens apologized for his role in what Smith calls "the gnarliest looking" fall in his career.