AEW referee Stephon Smith has already amassed quite a list of bumps in the AEW ring, and in this episode, reveals what Anthony Bowens, Jay Lethal, and Austin Gunn had to say after their respective contributions to that list. Stephon recounts his journey to AEW, meeting Tony Khan for the first time, and how one match at AEW Dark changed his life. He discusses the referee’s number one job in the ring, the differences between refereeing tag matches and singles matches, where he did his training, and the legendary referees in the business who’ve inspired him. Plus, he reveals the most stressful part of being a ref, his favorite wrestlers to work with, his favorite matches and who gives him the most smack talk in the ring.
Stephon Smith on who gives him the most trash talk in the ring:
“It’s Ari Daivari. That man just yells at me. I’m like, ‘bro, chill! I’m just telling you to get him out of the corner.’”
Stephon Smith on how refereeing an AEW Dark match led to a fulltime job with AEW:
“Tony Khan walks up to me and says, ‘hey, can you be in Atlantic City?’ and from Atlantic City, it just spawned into me being a fulltime referee at AEW.”