Mark Eric "Slick" Johnson is an American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

, best known for working for

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Natio ...

(WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Career

World Championship Wrestling

Johnson gained national exposure in the late 1990s when he joined the Atlanta, Georgia-based

(WCW) promotion as a referee. After suffering elbow injuries in 1998 caused during a match by Konnan, he was sidelined until late 1999. When he returned, Johnson was given the

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand ou ...

of an unethical referee who actively favoured heel wrestlers (as opposed to the other referees, who officiated matches in an objective fashion). While in WCW, he was a member of the New World Order faction, wrestled several matches, refereed a total of eighty five main events and had the dubious distinction of being pantsed by Stacy Keibler during a match on pay-per-view. He remained with WCW until the promotion was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001. In late 2001, Johnson toured

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

with the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Johnson worked for the

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

based Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion from its inception in 2002, portraying a corrupt referee who accepted

bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...

s, continuing the character he first adopted in WCW. He left TNA after several months to focus on his

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two gui ...

, The Slick Johnsons, which was entering a Battle of the Bands in an attempt to gain a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

. He returned to the promotion in March 2005, replacing Mike Posey as a regular referee. At Against All Odds on February 12, 2006, Johnson confronted Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko, demanding to know who was to referee the main event title match between Christian Cage and NWA World Heavyweight Champion

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he also serves as Director of Business Development. Beginning his career in his father ...

, suggesting that his experience in WCW made him an appropriate choice of referee. His inquiry was rebuffed by Zbyszko, who later revealed the referee to be the debuting Earl Hebner. Over the following weeks, Johnson repeatedly requested to referee main event matches, with Zbyszko rejecting his appeals each time. Zbyszko eventually was about to give in to Johnson's incessant requests when Johnson suddenly withdrew his request to become a senior referee. Johnson explained that TNA management would be sending in a new representative in the near future, and that everyone would have a clean slate at that point. This sparked the storyline of the new face of TNA management, in which backstage dialogue between Zbyszko and Johnson served to build up the debut of the newest authority figure in TNA Wrestling, later revealed at Slammiversary to be none other than

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

. During this time Johnson would frequently wear outrageous referee uniforms, such as elaborate bowties and striped shorts akin to those worn by a soccer referee. On June 13, 2007, he left TNA to pursue other interests. At Bound for Glory on October 14, 2007, Johnson returned to TNA Wrestling as a full-time referee. At Final Resolution in 2008, he refereed a match between Gail Kim and Awesome Kong. Johnson was powerbombed and hit with a chair by Awesome Kong. At Victory Road, he turned heel again when he helped Angelina Love of The Beautiful People regain the TNA Women's Knockout Championship even though Tara clearly had her foot on the ropes. Later on in the pay-per-view, Slick was seen leaving the Knockouts shower room and as he left,

Madison Rayne Ashley Nichole Lomberger (née Simmons; born February 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling under the ring name Madison Rayne, where she is also the coach of the women's division. She is best know ...

of The Beautiful People came out from the same cubicle as him adjusting her top, implying that the two had sex. However, it didn't last; he resumed being fair to both faces and heels shortly thereafter. Johnson left TNA in late 2010.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Mark Slick Living people People from Atlanta Professional wrestling referees Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)