Referee (professional Wrestling) - Attire

Attire

Wrestling referees wear different attire in each promotion.

WWE referees have had a series of different uniforms throughout the years. From the 1970s until 1983, still operating under the "World Wide Wrestling Federation" banner, referees wore black and white striped shirts, comparable to referees in other sports, such as hockey, basketball, and American football. In the mid-1980s until 1995, a World Wrestling Federation referee's attire consisted of a blue collared shirt with black trousers, boots, and bow tie, similar to that of a boxing official. Beginning with the March 13, 1995 episode of Monday Night RAW, the uniform was changed back to the black and white striped shirt with a WWE logo patch on the left breast as well as the shoulders. With the WWE Brand Extension in 2002, referees appearing on WWE SmackDown began wearing blue striped polo shirts, differentiating themselves from the WWE Raw referees, who continued to wear black and white shirts. When ECW was revived in 2006 their referees were given black shirts. As of 2007, they have grey and black polo shirts. As of November 2008, however, all referees wear black and white striped shirts and are no longer brand exclusive. On the November 15, 2010 edition of RAW. The referees wore the "boxing referee" attire as part of the Old School RAW Special Episode.

In World Championship Wrestling, referees wore collared shirts with bow ties until around 1999, when they switched to striped shirts. During the Alliance storyline in WWE (known at the time as WWF), the WCW referees wore white shirts. In Extreme Championship Wrestling, referees first wore striped shirts (as they split off from the NWA), and later wore an all-black uniform akin to those of mixed martial arts officials, later with a half-black, half-red shirt.

In Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, referees switch between the striped shirts and the "boxing referee" attire on occasion.

In most territories of the National Wrestling Alliance, referees wear the traditional black and white striped shirts, many times with an NWA logo "official referee" patch on the left breast.

Special referees will of course wear 'themed' versions of these; for example, if an attractive woman is cast as one, she will typically wear a skimpier version of a normal referee's shirt (as in the above photograph). Others may just add a referee-style shirt to their normal costume such as the case of Mick Foley, who wore a rumpled white dress shirt with black stripes painted on while arbitrating matches. In these cases, the emphasis is on the character temporarily assuming the referee's role.