Former WWE referee Dave Hebner, who was front and center for some of the promotion’s most memorable moments during his career, has passed away at the age of 73, with the news revealed by the Twitter page of his nephew Brian Hebner’s official podcast.

Hebner made his start as a professional wrestling referee in the late 1970’s and joined what was then the World Wrestling Federation in the early 1980’s, with perhaps his most memorable moment coming during the February 5th, 1988 episode of WWF The Main Event on NBC. In a match where Dave Hebner was assigned as the referee for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship between Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant, Andre had defeated Hogan, with the help of Earl Hebner and ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase, who later revealed that Dave Hebner had been locked inside a closet and that Earl Hebner and not Dave Hebner had made the count. Dave made his way out during this moment, leading to fans as well as Hogan witnessing what was at the time a major referee swerve.

Following his retirement as a referee, Hebner moved into a role as a road agent and held the position with WWE before being released from his role in July 2005.

On behalf of Wrestling-News.Net, we would like to extend our condolences to the family, friends and fans of Dave Hebner.