Nick Hamilton Joseph Nicholas Patrick Hamilton Jr . ( November 9 , 1959 ) , better known by his ring name Nick Patrick , is a professional wrestling referee . He is a former referee for World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment . He has also served as head referee for former WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling until that company ' s closing , and is former head referee for Florida Championship Wrestling . Career . Hamilton is the son of wrestling legend The Assassin . He grew up wanting to become a professional wrestler , but an injury ended his wrestling career very early . Hamilton became a referee because he loved the sport so much . He used the name Nick Patrick to make a name for himself without his father ' s help . He was a referee in the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA ) ' s Jim Crockett Promotions and was retained when they became World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) . He eventually moved up to become the Senior Referee in WCW . When the nWo formed in 1996 , he joined and became their official referee . He would allow the nWo wrestlers to cheat and he would show a clear bias towards the nWo . Because of this , he was forced into a match against Chris Jericho at the World War 3 pay - per - view on November 24 , 1996 in Norfolk , Virginia . Jericho had one arm tied behind his back and still defeated Patrick . Patrick ' s biggest night with the nWo was refereeing every single match on the nWo Souled Out pay - per - view on January 25 , 1997 in Cedar Rapids , Iowa . His nWo tenure came to an end at WCW Spring Stampede 1997 . Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were scheduled to defend the WCW World Tag Team Title against The Steiner Brothers . Due to out - of - ring attacks and such , the title match eventually became a singles match between Nash and Rick Steiner . Nash was allowed to appoint a referee and he chose Patrick . During the match , Nash removed the padding over the turnbuckle and dropped Steiner ' s face on it . Nash covered an unconscious Steiner and Patrick quickly counted to three , awarding the contest to Nash . After the match , Nash kept performing the maneuver on Steiner . Patrick had a change of heart and attempted to get Nash to stop . Fellow nWo associate , Ted DiBiase , also had a change of heart and attempted , with Patrick , to get Nash to stop . When Nash refused , both Patrick and DiBiase left to get help for Steiner . On the April 14 , 1997 edition of Nitro , he unexpectedly appeared in the announce booth with Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko . Wearing a green WCW polo shirt , he cut a promo explaining that he was sick of the way the nWo did business and Eric Bischoff . He explained that he never wanted to fight fellow referee Randy " Pee Wee " Anderson and asked for his job back . Both Schiavone and Zbyszko were skeptical , especially Zbyszko , who was intensely critical . They went to a commercial break with Patrick and Zbyszko arguing . The next week on Nitro , WCW executive J . J . Dillion announced that Patrick was being re - hired on a probationary basis . Patrick was a neutral referee from that point on and never sided with the nWo again . Patrick created massive controversy over the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1997 when he made a " fast count " in the Sting - Hollywood Hogan match ; although that was the planned finish to the match , Patrick botched it by counting three at normal speed . Backstage wrestling lore suggested that Hulk Hogan wielded his backstage " creative control card " to make Sting look foolish . Other backstage lore suggested that WCW was trying to get Earl Hebner as the referee for the match and Patrick was the backup plan . Bret Hart stopped Patrick from giving Hogan the title , claiming the fast - count , and restarted the match claiming that he didn ' t want to see Sting get screwed like he was by Vince McMahon . After a subsequent rematch , the title was declared vacant . Patrick would referee another rematch for the vacant belt , taking over for Charles Robinson ( who had been knocked out during the bout ) . Sting would win that match and WCW management upheld Patrick ' s ruling . When WCW was bought by the WWF , he was one of the three WCW referees that had their contracts purchased , along with Charles Robinson and Billy Silverman . He became a referee for The Alliance of WCW / Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) wrestlers trying to take over the WWF . He even had a match against Earl Hebner at the WWF Invasion pay - per - view on July 22 , 2001 in Cleveland , Ohio . Patrick lost to Hebner and Mick Foley , the special guest referee , gave him " Mr . Socko " after the match . During the span of the Alliance , Patrick would continue to play a heel referee , siding with the Alliance wrestlers over the WWF wrestlers . For example , during a WCW Championship handicap match between The Rock and Booker T . & Shane McMahon at WWF Unforgiven 2001 , Patrick would refuse to count when the Rock had Booker or Shane pinned down . At Survivor Series , Patrick knocked out Hebner to take over as referree during the " Winner Take All " elimination tag match . After he gave a normal " slow count " for The Rock , Stone Cold Steve Austin became enraged , knocked Patrick out , and brought Hebner back in as referree . After the Alliance angle ended , Patrick became an official WWF referee , portraying a down - the - middle , neutral referee once again . After the brand extension , Patrick was used as the head referee on the SmackDown ! brand . Patrick officiated the World Heavyweight Championship match at ECW One Night Stand 2006 between champion Rey Mysterio and Sabu . Patrick left the SmackDown ! brand on February 9 , 2007 . Mickey Henson took over as senior referee for the SmackDown ! brand . Patrick remained with WWE , officiating matches in their new developmental , Florida Championship Wrestling ( FCW ) . Patrick returned to the SmackDown ! brand on February 8 , 2008 and refereed a tag team match between Jesse and Festus and Deuce ' n Domino . However , he quickly disappeared again due to his injuries . Patrick was eventually released from the WWE on August 8 , 2008 after seven months of inactivity due to a chronic back injury . On February 15 , 2009 , Patrick officially returned to wrestling . He was introduced as the on - camera commissioner of Rampage Pro Wrestling , an independent promotion based out of Warner Robins , Georgia . Patrick portrayed a neutral commissioner . Patrick refereed his first match since his WWE release at RPW ' s " Showdown " supercard at the Macon City Auditorium on April 10 , 2009 , officiating a no - holds - barred , hair vs . hair contest between Cru Jones and Dr . Johnny Gayton . In April 2009 , Patrick became RPW ' s television show director , replacing his father , Jody Hamilton , after the promotion released Hamilton due to financial cutbacks . The promotion re - hired Hamilton later in the year in October . In September 2009 , Patrick became the promotion ' s legitimate general manager after the company fired Nigel Sherrod . When Patrick took over , he and Hamilton became the primary forces behind the booking . In June 2010 , the promotion was temporarily closed down due to internal disputes Patrick and Hamilton were having with others in RPW . The company decided to move forward , but not before firing everyone involved in the disputes , including Patrick and Hamilton . A few days later , Patrick signed on to become the general manager of Great Championship Wrestling , an independent promotion based out of Phenix City , Alabama . However , Patrick resigned from GCW after only two weeks .