Distractions and Bumps
Sometimes during matches, referees will be knocked down by wrestlers. This is usually to allow for a wrestler to use a foreign object or perform an illegal move, or for another wrestler to run in and be able to get away with it.
To emphasize the power and fortitude of the wrestlers, referees are frequently "knocked unconscious" for periods of time by moves that are not considered particularly devastating when applied to wrestlers. For example, a wrestler being Irish whipped by his opponent may clip the referee. While a wrestler would probably only be knocked back in this situation, the referee would most likely be knocked across the ring and kayfabe injured or knocked out.
As a general rule, professional wrestling referees will not make a decision based on anything they do not personally witness happening in a match. This is used to explain the ubiquitous "distract the referee" tactic, used by heel managers to take the referee's attention away from the in-ring action, allowing the heel wrestler to cheat with impunity while the official's back is turned, or vice versa.
Read more about this topic: Referee (professional Wrestling)
Famous quotes containing the word bumps:
“America does to me what I knew it would do: it just bumps me.... The people charge at you like trucks coming down on you—no awareness. But one tries to dodge aside in time. Bump! bump! go the trucks. And that is human contact.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)