Mickie Henson

Mickie Jay Henson was an American professional wrestler and referee. Before signing with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2005, Henson worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) for nine years. Once signing with WWE, he worked for its farm territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), before he began officiating matches on WWE television.
==Professional wrestling career==
===Florida Championship Wrestling===
Henson refereed his first match in 1987. He broke into the business with the help of Steve Keirn, Mike Graham, and Gordon Solie in Florida Championship Wrestling. According to Henson, “My first match was in Orlando, Fla., at the Eddie Graham Sports Complex. I think it’s been turned into apartment buildings now. The match was between Bob Cook and a young Mike Awesome. I wasn’t really all that nervous. I had watched it on television forever. I paid attention to the referees, and when I got out there I kind of just fell into it. I was lucky enough to learn from some of the best workers of the time like Dick Slater and Mike Graham so it was pretty easy to catch on.”
===World Championship Wrestling (1992–2001)===
Jim Crockett Promotions eventually took over the area and Henson began refereeing in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1992. Henson refereed the main event at Starrcade in 1998 between WCW Champion Goldberg and Kevin Nash, which Nash won.
When Vince McMahon bought WCW in March 2001, Henson was out of a job.
===World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2009)===
After he was signed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2005 he was placed on the Raw brand officiating matches, such as the John Cena versus Kurt Angle WWE Championship match at Survivor Series in 2005 and the Hardcore match between Edge and Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22.
He continued to officiate matches on Raw for nine months until 2006 when he was moved over to the newly established ECW brand. He made his debut for the brand on July 18 edition, officiating a match between Mike Knox and The Sandman, as well as the main event ECW World Championship match between The Big Show and The Undertaker. He was named the ECW brand head official shortly after. Despite moving to SmackDown in February 2007, he was featured as the only ECW brand referee in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008.
In February 2007, Mickie Henson was moved to the SmackDown brand and later became its head official. In late 2008, WWE made the decision to have universal referees, in which referees were to appear on every brand, which included Henson. He was then pulled off the road in 2008 due to health issues. On January 14, 2009, Henson was released from his contract with WWE.
==Personal life==
Henson has stated that, outside of the ring, he likes to go fishing. He had lived in Key West, Florida for about 16 years.
==External links==
*Mickie Henson profile at CAGEMATCH.net
*WWE Profile (Archived)
Category:Referees
Category:World Championship Wrestling alumni
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni
Category:1963 births
Category:1987 debuts
Category:2008 retirements
Category:Male wrestlers
Category:2022 deaths
Category:Wrestlers who have died