Long time Southern California referee Rick Knox has signed with All Elite Wrestling. The announcement was made at tonight’s Bar Wrestling event in Los Angeles when the Young Bucks made a surprise appearance after a match between Joey Ryan and KC Spinelli.

The following segment was filmed for Being The Elite and naturally contains spoilers for an upcoming episode.

After Joey Ryan was defeated by KC Spinelli, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) came to the ring. The Young Bucks announced they were there to announce their newest signing to AEW, and played it up that they would be giving a contract to Joey Ryan. Joey Ryan had been rumored to be signing a contract with a wrestling promotion and leaving the independent wrestling scene over the last several weeks, even promoting a farewell to the independents t-shirt. Instead of announcing they signed Ryan however, they announced they had signed Rick Knox.

It was also announced that he would be the referee for The Young Bucks match with the Lucha Brothers at AEW’s Double or Nothing on May 25 in Las Vegas.

Rick Knox, who is from Riverside, has long been a fixture on the Southern California independent pro-wrestling scene. He started training at EWF’s School of Hard Knocks in the 1990s before transitioning into becoming a referee.

As a referee he quickly became one of the top referees in the area in the early 2000s, becoming the referee promotions wanted in their biggest matches. When PWG started in 2003 he was one of the promotions original referees and has only missed a few PWG events in the past 16 years. He also currently referees for Bar Wrestling, PCW Ultra, AWS, and Ground Zero.

Rick Knox was also a referee on the Lucha Underground television program, MTV’s Wrestling Society X, New Japan USA, and at last year’s All In. Knox was inducted into the EWF Hall of Fame in 2018.