Charles Robinson recalls the way he met The Rock.
Robinson has been refereeing since 1995. He signed with WCW in 1997 and stayed with the promotion until WWE bought it in 2001. Robinson then jumped to WWE, and he has been with the company ever since. He has refereed many memorable matches, and he was responsible for a classic moment at WrestleMania 24, where he sprinted to the ring during The Undertaker's match against Edge. But years before he became SmackDown's senior official referee, he was the new guy on the roster, and he got ribbed like everyone else.
Speaking on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Robinson was asked to describe how he felt when he joined WWE. He noted that he was nervous at first, but the other WWE referees at the time, like Jack Doan and Chad Patton, welcomed him in. He also recalled how the referees ribbed him early on by taping him up with a "The Rock who?" sign, sticking his middle finger up, and putting him in a chair before they sent him The Rock's way.
“Well, of course you’re nervous because you don’t know what to expect. But all the referees there, they were fantastic. Whenever someone comes from the outside, you’re really stand-offish anyway, but these guys were really good. You had Jack Doan, you had Chad Patton, who are fantastic. They actually taped me up. They had one of my fingers, I’m not gonna do it on here because I don’t know if I’m allowed to, but it was pointing up, and they put a sign on me. Guess what the sign said. ‘The Rock who?’ So they taped ‘The Rock who?’ on my chest, and they pushed me in a chair, and they introduced me to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. So that was my introduction to The Rock, flipping him off, saying ‘The Rock who?" Robinson said.
When asked to describe how The Rock reacted, Robinson noted that he said something like, "You’re gonna know who I am soon" and gave the referee is signature eyebrow raise.
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