From MLB Umpire to WrestleMania Referee, The Tale of Larry Young

larry young

From MLB Umpire to WrestleMania Referee, The Tale of Larry Young
Like so many WrestleManias, WrestleMania XI was (for its time) a star-studded event.

Blonde bombshells Jenny McCarthy and Pamela Anderson were ringside as glorified valets for Shawn Michaels and Diesel.

Salt-n-Peppa sang “Whatta Man” for whatever reason.

Future NFL Hall of Fame Lawrence Taylor was in the main event against Bam Bam Bigelow and, as luck would have it, a coterie of fellow football players joined him.

Heck, even Jonathan Taylor Thomas (remember him?) played a role!

Another guy who made an appearance was Larry Young.

Wait. Who?

While the name might not ring any bells, if you watched the 1995 showcase of the immortals…you saw him.

From MLB Umpire to WrestleMania Referee, The Tale of Larry Young

Young, who has spent more than half his life working in Major League Baseball, was the referee for the Undertaker-King Kong Bundy match. That’s right, sandwiched between Razor Ramon beating Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart and Yokozuna winning the tag team titles, was a six-minute contest that was officiated by an actual MLB umpire, which begs the question…how?

“We were on strike and (the WWE) asked me if I wanted to go on the road, but I really didn’t want to,” Young told The Hall of Very Good. “They asked if I would do a few matches and if I wanted to do WrestleMania. That was a lot of fun.”

The most fulfilling thing Young, now an MLB umpire supervisor, got from the whole experience? An unlikely friend.

“I still keep in touch with (King Kong Bundy),” Young continued. “Most of the bad guys are good people. They’re just hard working guys trying to make a living and feed their family.

And that other guy?

“The Undertaker, I’ve gotta say, wasn’t too happy with me,” Young added. “He wasn’t one of my favorite people.”

https://dailymotion.com/video/xylbm7

To listen to the entire podcast interview with Young, CLICK HERE.

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