Brian Hebner On Earl Hebner Not Being In WWE Hall Of Fame: "I Don't Know If It Bothers Him As Much As It Bothers Me."

During an appearance on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Brian Hebner spoke about how he actually wanted to be a wrestler before he became a referee.

“For me, I wanted to be in the business but I wanted to be a wrestler. But, you know, I’m not a really big guy or anything. I’m just an average normal guy, which average normal guys couldn't do it.”

“So I’m not saying to anybody out there that if you want to be a wrestler, don’t do it. I was a smaller guy and I thought that could be something I could do. Then, of course, my dad (Earl Hebner) showed me what it was like to do what he did, and I found that really interesting as well.”

“Plus, I got to be beat up and I liked that too. As odd as that sounds, just taking bumps and stuff like that was really something I really wanted to do. I realized that my calling was a referee as the years kept going. I stuck with what I wanted to do, and boom, there it was.”

On Earl Hebner's reaction:

“At one point, he wasn’t sure. I think he always deeply wanted me to be in it, but I think that he wanted to make sure that I was taken care of financially if this was the way to go and if this is the thing to do. I think that ultimately, this is what he wanted for me, and it’s what I wanted for myself.”

‘My biggest fight back then was my mom who was never big into wrestling or anything like that. But obviously, she’s a huge fan of me, and so it worked out with that, too.”

On how he got hired by WWE:

“Before I became full-time in WWE, I was doing part time stuff with them. As I kept working and doing my thing, Jack Lanza really came to where he liked my abilities and liked my style in the ring and really thought I could be really good. He pitched it one day in the meeting.”

“As far as my dad told me, my dad had nothing to do with it. Don’t get me wrong, my dad would get me booked on the shows or would say, ‘Hey, my son can drive this if y’all want to use him.’ I would just do that and then Jack Lanza pitched it one day in a meeting and said ‘Hebner’s boy, Brian, he’s been working and I think he can be a hell of a referee if you guys want to give him a shot.’ So that’s pretty much the history. That’s how it worked.”

On Earl Hebner not being in the WWE Hall of Fame:

“I don’t know if it bothers him as much as it bothers me to be honest with you, and if it does, he probably hides it. I mean, I just think it’s bullsh*t.”

“The man did anything and everything that a referee could ever possibly do in this sport. Whatever anybody wants to say, it doesn’t matter. They put people in there that had buried that company. They put people in there that could give two craps about that company. He cared about that company and he did everything he was asked to do in that company. If somebody could tell me why he shouldn’t be, I would like to hear that because I can’t understand it otherwise. I don’t get it. I think it’s a crock of sh*t.”

“I don’t know who’s in charge of it. If it was because of the supposed or what everybody thinks, the t-shirt gimmick that he sold, or whatever it was, horsesh*t, whatever. So because he did that, that takes away everything else you ever did? It’s the Hall of Fame that you honor and respect what they did in their career, not what they did wrong in their career, because it had nothing to do with in-ring.”

On if he's enjoying the new regime in IMPACT Wrestling:

“I really do. It is a lot different. It’s better. It’s more structured. It’s just a good place to be, and I’m very, very happy and blessed to be there.”