Simon Williams is a professional wrestling referee working for PCW and a range of other promotions across the UK. We sat down with Simon to learn how he got involved in the UK wrestling scene.
We started by asking Simon how his career in wrestling began, he told us:
“I’ve grown up with wrestling since I was born watching all the WWF and WCW content back in the day, would you believe I’m the same age as WrestleMania! So, I’ve had the bug from a very early age. I went to a PCW show and met Kieth Myatt, and Roy and Zack Knight who invited me on a night out to around Preston and to watch WrestleMania with them.”
“This planted a seed and I started to go to more PCW shows and loved it, so it just carried on and I started to make a few friends at PCW. Then at one point, Steven Fludder put a call out for extras to help out with the shows and I volunteered.”
“So I put my name forward, not expecting anything to really come from it, and they got back in touch and asked me to come along to their next show. That’s when I started getting more involved with PCW. During one match, Mark Alexander Price who was the referee at the time, used me as a steppingstone to get into the ring, so I was getting involved in more aspects of the show.”
Simon continued: “Soon I was invited to a non-wrestling training day, learning how to do commentary, reffing, being a manager, a valet, all those different aspects. Then whatever you wanted to try you were able to do for real at a free show that evening. I did that as a referee, and I saw this as a great opportunity to get involved in wrestling, but in a way that suited me.”
“After a few matches I started doing more and more training shows as a ref, until I was invited to referee matches on actual PCW shows. I reffed two matches on Road to Glory 2020, just before COVID hit and everything ground to a halt. My attitude was, if I don’t ref again, I’m happy because I’ve lived out a childhood dream of having a role in a televised show.”
Luckily for Simon though, when the pandemic started winding down, PCW were more than happy to continue working with him and he soon become one of their most celebrated referees.
“Coming out of COVID, PCW started back up and I got straight back involved and from there I was given contact details for various other promotions in the UK. Fast forward to now and I’ve reffed all over the country. I’ve probably got around 500 maybe 600 matches under my belt now in the past two years. I’m also currently training with Flash Morgan Webster too, which is amazing!”
Simon is also heavily involved with Rascal’s Professional Wrestling Academy for children in Blackpool, as a referee and as a coach. We asked Simon how he started working with Rascals, and what he finds so rewarding about it.
Simon Williams also officiates matches at Rascals Academy.
He told us: “It was Rossy Rascal who mentioned Rascals Academy to me. We had become mates through PCW for a while and he told me he considered me one of the best refs he had worked with. He asked me if I’d come along and I told him I’d be happy to come and help out and keep the kids safe during their training and matches.”
“I get to see the kids there enjoy learning how to become wrestlers. It’s something I was never able to learn to do back in the day, so to see how much they love it and how they progress is so rewarding.”
“I mean, the creative gimmicks the come up with as heels or faces, and to see their confidence grow, it’s absolutely unreal. It fills me with so much pride much joy to see how far they’ve all come.”
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