In honor of Chad Patton's unacknowledged and unforseen jump from the ranks of WWF officials to "The Alliance," we re-print the below interview for your perusal.

The interview, originally conducted back in June (2000), generated almost 20,000 visits to Pinfalls.com in less than two days. That's more hits than even the William Regal interview received, which was conducted almost two months later ,,, Chad's interview remains one of my favorites.

Pinfalls: How did you get started with Titan?

Chad: I started back five years now. [WWF referee] Jack Doan was actually the one who got on with the company. Basically, I started out driving for them, doing ring crew and things like that and from there I went to ring announcing. A year after that, I started as a ref, when Jack had his time off ... and when he came back, they liked both of us so they kept us both refereeing. But usually for each ring crew, they need a ring announcer and a referee--I wasn’t the greatest ring announcer so I tried out as a referee. As it turns out, I was a better referee than a ring announcer so that’s where I ended up.

Pinfalls: What type of referee training did you go through?

Chad: Basically ... I jumped into it with Earl Hebner helping me with most of my training. Then after a while, they threw me in to some dark matches for about six months. My first was in Chicago at the Rosemont and it was a pretty big rush being front of 18-20,000 people for the first time. Being out there, it was a real adrenaline rush ... and to be honest, I thought I’d be real nervous but I focused on the match and what I had to do and the guys, the talent--who work and talk with you in the ring--and just blocked out the crowd.

Pinfalls: During a match, what type of communication goes on between you and the wrestlers?

Chad: They’ll ask me as far as time--how long before they have to go home. The other thing is to talk to them to see if they’re ok. If anything goes wrong, if someone gets hurt, we’ve got signs that we give the agents to let them know.

Pinfalls: What type of communication goes on between you and the agents in the back?

Chad: What we do is that we wear IFB ear-pieces. And they do the same thing--they tell us when there is a commercial break, letting us know how much time we have left in our match and they’ll ask ‘Is he ok? Give us a sign.’

Pinfalls: Has there ever been an instance when you’ve been in a match and the guys in the back have told you to change the finish last minute?

Chad: Not really to change the finish but on taped shows ... if a guy messes up a finish, we can always go back and do it again. So, [they’ll say] to do the finish over again--to the actual crowd, the house, they are probably confused as to what’s going on but to the [television] viewers ... it can always be edited out.

Pinfalls: I know former WWF referee Bill Kruger and when he began with Titan [early 1990s], he had to sign a waiver stating that he would not reveal any ‘industry secrets’ to outsiders. When you started, did you have this stipulation?

Chad: No, I never had to sign anything like that. Actually back then, it was a so-called secret. But now, it’s out in the public and they love it more than ever. It’s no longer a secret and we’ve changed our name to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment ... everyone knows exactly what it is.

Pinfalls: How do they select who refs what matches?

Chad: They have certain refs for certain matches. [For example] Jack Doan is shorter so they want him to work with some of the shorter guys to make them actually look bigger. I do a lot of the girls matches because agent Tony Garea told me that he wants me in there and be able to talk to the girls and help them out with their matches. Another example of something we talk about in the ring is the wrestling spots. Sometimes the girls might forget a spot--which they tend to do more often than the guys do--and I’m there to tell them what to do.

Pinfalls: So, how much of the match is discussed with you ahead of time.

Chad: Depending on how big the match is ... the bigger the match, the earlier I’ll go over it with them in the daytime. Usually ... we’ll go over the match, where I’m supposed to be, what I’m supposed to be and what the finish is. Each wrestler is different ... you might have one guy tell you the whole entire match and one guy just tell you what you need to know. It just depends on how you’re working with. The more experience, the less they need to tell you.

Pinfalls: Say a ref counts three when he’s not supposed to ... how common are ref mistakes?

Chad: Oh yeah, a lot of them mess up. A lot more than people think. We all mess-up--we all have our times, you know, and it’s just like the wrestlers where we forget spots. Myself, Earl, we’ve all made mistakes. It does happen and it happens more than we want it to but ... we’ve been recovering a lot of the mistakes we’ve made recently. We’ve been having meetings about how we can fix and improve and it’s slowly but surely getting better.

Pinfalls: So when there is a mistake, what happens to the ref?

Chad: It depends on how big of a mistake you make. If it’s the main event, then you’re going to have some serious heat. Even a mid-card match ... the guys are going to get hot at you because they’ve worked this hard throughout the match to make it to the finish and if the ref screws it up, then I can understand where they’re coming when they get hot.

Pinfalls: Wrestler wise, who are you good friends with?

Chad: You know, it’s funny because all of our wrestlers are pretty much good guys, like one big family. I’ve heard a lot of controversy about the WWF and WCW as far as they are ‘family wise.’ The WWF is like one big family ... everyone gets along, they’ll do anything for each other and they take care of each other. It goes down to the referees to the ring crew guys. I’ve heard stories about WCW in the past that they all had their little cliques and they hang in their own little groups. But all of our guys hang together and they know it’s about entertainment and making money as a living. I think we have a great group of guys ... they go out, we hang-out every now and then. I’ve got friends like Crash and we’ve got each other’s cel phone numbers and we call each other and talk. But overall, they’re a bunch of good guys--there aren’t any that we particularly like better than the other...

Pinfalls: You mentioned WCW ... has there been any indication when the new launch date will be?

Chad: I’ve heard a couple of different things. The last thing I heard was from the Jim Ross Report and he mentioned September now. It was June then July and they pushed it back--it’s really hard to say. You never know when it’s going to kick off. What I think they are trying to do is to make sure it’s right. They want to build it up right, they want to promote it right, they want to make sure that they have the proper talent for what they want to do.

Pinfalls: Have you heard any rumors on 'talent swapping’ between the WWF and WCW?

Chad: Yeah, there have been rumors. I’ve heard that a couple of us referees may go, we just don’t know which ones. Then we heard that we were all stay and they were going to hire all new guys for down there. As for the talent, the boys, I don’t know exactly...

Pinfalls: It’s an odd situation where there is somewhat of a wrestling ‘monopoly’ now...

Chad: Yeah it’s kind of scary too, because where are you going to go now? If anyone ever has difficulties in the business or wants to go to another organization, there’s no where to go. You can’t go any higher than this.

Pinfalls: I heard that Hulk Hogan was going to start his own Indy...

Chad: I heard he was going to start his own independent but as of now, I heard that it fell through.

Pinfalls: Do you ever foresee Hogan back with the WWF?

Chad: No. From the time I’ve been there has been enough negative things that Vince has had towards him and vice versa that no, I really can’t. I think that Vince has had his time with Hoganand that was it. He’s moved on to bigger and better guys. He may want to come back but his time is over and he’s got to realize it...

Pinfalls: Do you think we’ll ever see Bret Hart vs. Vince?

Chad: If it ever happens, I think it would might be a shoot. But, you never know. After everything that’s happened with the family, with Owen and his father [Stu] had a stroke recently, it’s been one thing after another. But wrestling is in his blood so I’m not going to say he’s done, because once a lot of them quit, a lot of them think about it and come back. Look at Shawn [Michaels] ... he was going to retire then he wanted to come back. I think they always want to come back--it’s in their heart and once you get it in there, it’s in their blood.

Pinfalls: Regarding Shawn, what is his status?

Chad: I’m not sure exactly what happened there but as far as I know on that, him and Hunter had a little behind-the-scenes controversy. I’m not sure what they asked him to do or maybe Hunter just didn’t want anything to do with him. I know that back-in-the-day, Shawn used to run the show and Hunter was the man under him. And now, Hunter is on top and it’s vice versa. Attitudes have changed, business is a lot better and the backstage locker-room certainly makes a difference in the show. We all have to work together in this type of business.

Pinfalls: What’s your favorite Owen Hart memory?

Chad: Oh, there are a bunch of them. Just him in general, he was a joker. He liked to joke around all the time ... and as his character [The Blue Blazer] he’d run around drinking his glass of milk. That was really good and I think we need more characters like that for the kids. We have a lot of kids that watch and I think he was really good for them, compared to others like The Godfather. You’ve got to have something for the kids to watch. But Owen was just a great guy, overall. I really loved him.

When Jason Sensation impersonated Owen ... the first time Jason Sensation did that, Owen was hot. Owen had no idea he was going to do it. So, then everyone told him and Owen as a joke went over there [to Sensation] and said, ‘I’m really upset, I don’t think it’s funny,’ and shooting on him. Actually he was ribbing but Jason thought he was shooting ... and that was pretty funny.

He liked to do a lot of phone call pranks, calling people up in the middle of the night acting like he’s room service. Just funny pranks. He was a good guy ... a really nice guy.

Pinfalls: How is it working for Vince?

Chad: Great. Vince is a really down-to-earth person. He’s strictly about business and that’s what he does and that’s why he is where he is today. It’s takes a businessman like that to be successful at what he’s doing.

Pinfalls: Regarding Internet reporters and sites, how do the guys view these news sources?

Chad: I think a lot of the guys go to their own pages for information ... a lot of it is rumors but I’d say it’s 50-50. A lot of it’s true and a lot of it is not. I look at them myself to see what’s going on because actually, I sometimes find out from the fans what’s going on quicker than I can working for them. It’s pretty funny, but it’s true.

Pinfalls: What’s the weirdest Internet rumor you’ve seen?

Chad: One I saw said, ‘WWF forgets trap door ring gimmick’ or something like that. And we’re like, where do people get this information. We would be in serious trouble if we lost or forgot something like that. Believe me, Vince wouldn’t put up with that. You’d be seeing new people out there if that happened.

Pinfalls: Who does the voice of Kaientai?

Chad: Bruce and Tom Prichard. They do the voices of Kaientai ... they’re both great. Usually it’s just Bruce Prichard [aka Brother Love] and Tom fills in, but they both do really good at it. Actually, it’s Bruce most of the time. But they sound so much a lot a like so you can’t really tell.

Pinfalls: Have there ever been any angles or gimmicks that you personally objected to?

Chad: Not me personally. Entertainment is entertainment. If people want to watch it , they’ll watch it. If not, turn the channel. For the parents, I feel the same way ... if it’s too much for the children then turn the channel. You’ve got soap operas in the middle of the day where the people are half naked and you’ve got young children at home ... I don’t think they’ve gone to far. In some people’s eyes, maybe they have but I don’t think so. The wrestling business is what it is. We’ve got different characters for different people.

Pinfalls: How is Mick Foley to work with?

Chad: He’s a real nice guy. Crazy as ever but a real nice guy. He’ll do just about anything for the business. He loves the business. Obviously--he’s been retired and he still comes back.

Pinfalls: Are there any wrestlers that you are ever scared for or worried about during a match due to their styles or the moves they have planned?

Chad: The Hardy Boyz ... they do some crazy stuff. They’ve been trained to do the high flying stunts but every time they do something like that, especially the ladder matches ... it scares you to death because you don’t want to sit there and see anything happen to someone you’re a friend with and also a co-worker with. That’s why they promote it a lot on the shows, telling kids to leave it to the pros and leave it to the experts.

Pinfalls: Aside from Droz, what’s the worst injury you’ve seen?

Chad: When Jack Doan was refereeing Eddy Guerrero’s match [with Dean Malenko vs The New Age Outlaws] and Eddy came off the top rope and when he did his splash, his elbow popped out. You could see his elbow sticking out and it was pretty nasty. Bob Holly had a pretty vicious break [against Kurt Angle] and the bone was just about poking out of his arm. But those breaks are the worst ones.

Pinfalls: Who is totally opposite of their character?

Chad: There are quite a few of them actually ... but I’d have to say Vince is probably one of the best. He can really change up his character when he wants to ... I’d have to say that Vince is one of the best for being opposite.

Pinfalls: Who is most like their character?

Chad: Stone Cold. He’s a tough S.O.B. that’s for sure, that’s his character. And a heel is what he likes to be and that’s his true character ... he’s been waiting for this for quite a while so the turn was good for him.

Pinfalls: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen happen during a match?

Chad: It’s the crazy people in the audience that are running around. You see a lot of crazy stuff--you’ll be in the ring and a fight will break out. The wrestlers will be trying to do their spots and trying to watch the fight at the same time. People throwing stuff in the ring [is also a problem] ... we had to stop a couple of house shows during the main events. One time, back when I was ring announcing [Mobile, Alabama], Shawn Michaels got on the mic and said if they continued throwing stuff, he’d leave and sure enough they kept throwing stuff and he left. So, he left the main event and a riot broke out.

Pinfalls: What is the protocol for when a fan storms the ring?

Chad: We’ve got a rule. Basically, if they [a fan] come across the barricade, they are our territory then. Whatever happens is their fault. You never know what they might do to the guys--it could be a dangerous situation. Even though we say it’s entertainment, a lot of them still believe it’s real. That’s why we have a lot of security staying at ring side for those reasons, but I wouldn’t advise anyone to jump in. I had one guy ask me, ‘Hey, what will happen if I jump in the ring?’ and I said, ‘I’ll be honest with you, they’ll take you down.’ Sure enough, two matches later, the guy was standing on the top rope raising his arms in the air. The ref got him and kicked him out.

Pinfalls: Have you ever had to restrain any overzealous fans?

Chad: I had one guy run in at a house show and it was Steve Blackman versus Al Snow. Steve Blackman was on the ground selling and this guys comes over, sneaks around me and starts giving Blackman the boots. So, I grabbed him and took him down. [To some], it probably looked like part of the show.

Pinfalls: What’s the weirdest fan reaction to a wrestler you’ve seen?

Chad:We used to have a couple of girls and one used to dress up with Goldust and the other as Mick Foley as Mankind. And they used to come to every single show on the East Coast, so they were hitting a lot of shows. Finally, Goldust and Mankind took a couple of pictures with them.

Pinfalls: I always enjoyed the Goldust character ...

Chad: I actually liked the character too. I thought it was a pretty good character and he got the reaction he wanted from the fans. But one of the things was that his dad hated the character but it was getting over. But when I saw the change, I really didn’t care for it from Goldust to a religious guy and then back...

Pinfalls: With Vince owning both the WWF and WCW, maybe we’ll see Goldust return.

Chad: Maybe so ... you never know. I’d like to see a lot of the old characters come back. As far as the ones we have now, I know that Val Venis and the Godfather wants to bring their gimmicks back.

Pinfalls: Any word on Jeff Jarrett?

Chad: He was a real nice guy and I hated to see him go when he left. But I guess they had their disagreements ... it was more Jim Ross than with Vince. But he seemed like he got along with everyone. When I first started refereeing, he [gave me support] and was a good guy. I talk to Jeff probably every six months ... I try and still keep in touch with him.

Pinfalls: I’ve heard that WCW would be writing scripts shortly before they went live. How was/is the WWF different?

Chad: I’ve heard [that too]. What we do is have production meetings every morning and they will give the match run-down and they get done early. They pretty much know what they’re doing and are pretty organized. A lot more organized than what you’d think it is.

Pinfalls: You were the ref for the Saturn-Mike Bell match a few weeks ago on Jakked. What exactly happened there?

Chad: He [Mike Bell] messed up a hip-toss--he didn’t get Saturn up and he kind of rolled on his head and shoulders a little bit. Maybe [Saturn] did injure himself there but then I think what really happened was that he got embarrassed when he slipped and missed a drop kick--I think he was more embarrassed than anything.

Pinfalls: I don’t think the missed drop kick aired on Jakked...

Chad: They must had edited it out. But he [Saturn] was pretty upset about it, took him to the corner and they went at it. I was surprised to see him back [on TV] when I was on my vacation. I was told that Vince told him to leave ... what he exactly told him to leave for, I’m not sure.

Pinfalls: It looked extremely stiff.

Chad: It was stiff and I felt really sorry for the guy. I went over there to check on him to see if his neck was ok [when Bell was thrown outside the ring] and that’s one thing that they told me in my IFB ear piece, ‘Get down there and check on his neck.’ They were pretty upset about it.

Pinfalls: It looked like Bell broke his neck on that fall out of the ring.

Chad: Yeah, I thought he did too. I was really scared about that ...

Pinfalls: So what were you thinking when this was happening?

Chad: I knew it was a shoot. Basically, what I did was say, ‘Come on Saturn,’ and try to talk to him but at that point, he was so fired up ... if the agents [in the back] told me to step in, I would had stepped in. That’s my job. I guess they were at a point where they were about to tell me to get Saturn off him...

Pinfalls: What type of injuries did Bell have after the match?

Chad: He had none. After the match, I asked him if he was ok and he said faintly, ‘Yes, I’m alright.’ But the next day, he was there for the show.

Pinfalls: Regarding future story lines ... how soon in advance do you know the results?

Chad: That’s one thing that they do is really keep it tight as far as what’s going to happen. They don’t let a lot of people know ... we find out at production meetings. The boys don’t actually learn until the day of the show. I have a lot of people ask me, ‘What’s going to happen this week?’ and I don’t know ... I find out sometimes an hour before the show.

Pinfalls: Were you a wrestling fan before you started with the WWF?

Chad: To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan. I was back in the days of Macho Man and Hulk Hogan but it kind of faded out. I think as the business kind of went down hill, I faded away from it also. And I wasn’t a great big fan but I liked it. Once I got on, even setting up, seeing the behind-the-scenes aspect--seeing them go through story lines and cut promos--[made me] respect them for what they do and what they have done and how far they’ve come. It’s a lot harder than people think. They just don’t go out there and wrestle. You have to go to school, get in good shape and you’ve got to have a look and charisma.

Pinfalls: You took a ‘Rock Bottom’ on Smackdown! ... How was that?

Chad: It went well ... it didn’t hurt as much as I thought. It’s stiff but it doesn’t kill you either. It’s part of your job. I had never taken one before but I just wanted to make sure it looked good on his part. I didn’t care at that point if I even got hurt, I just wanted to make sure that it looked good more than anything. I also took a chokeslam by Kane. With a lot of the guys you have to jump with them a little bit but with Kane, he just grabbed me and took me straight up.

Pinfalls: I know that other refs like Jack Doan and Teddy Long have wrestled. Have there ever been any plans for you along those lined?

Chad: Jack wrestled a hardcore match with Crash. It was a seven second match but it was funny. It was for the Hardcore championship. We always said they should do something with Crash and Jack since they looked so much alike. They were talking about it for a while but never did. Myself and Mike Chioda were the ones who got slammed by The Rock and we were initially supposed to be the tag team that teamed with The Rock but Mike was on vacation at home on the East Coast. So, by time they got a hold of him, there was no way he could get there in time. He is a huge Rock fan ... he was upset when he found out and [I joked with him that] you messed up my spot here! But they had Jack and Teddy Long do it and it was still pretty funny.

Pinfalls: Have you ever suffered any injuries?

Chad: Not really ... I’ve been banged up a little, my ribs ... but this was before I was refereeing and I was ring announcing. This was when Gillberg was still around and the pyro guys held up the sparklers--and I was one of the guys holding the sparklers. Chyna was supposed to come out and give me a forearm. And she did and she dislocated my jaw. We have a doctor on hand, on-site who popped it back in for me. I was in pain, my teeth would not line up and my jaw popped everytime I tried to talk. I was in a lot of pain ... but I didn’t let her know it.

Pinfalls: What type of interaction do you have with Stephanie?

Chad: She likes to rib me, joke around. She actually comes up and jokes around and talks ... she talks to everyone and she’s a real friendly person. She, like her dad, is totally opposite of her character. The whole family has a lot of talent.

Pinfalls: Do you think we’ll ever see Jerry Lawler back?

Chad: I heard that was in the working right now. I don’t think you’ll ever see The Kat back though. He’s a great announcer, a great guy and I’m sure that him and Vince will get things worked out over time.

Pinfalls: Finally, what's the most frequently asked question posed by fans and if you could answer it one last time and never have to answer it again, what would that question be?

Chad: It’s ‘How did you get this job?’ The second one is ‘Where do I put my application in?’ I’d be doing the same thing if I was a big fan but it kind of gets on your nerves. What we do is pawn him off on the next guy ... [we say,] ‘Go check with him over there...’