Earl Hebner Reveals Why WWE Fired Him

In a recent interview with WrestlingNews.co, former WWE referee Earl Hebner explained the reason he was fired from the company in 2005. The generally accepted reason is that his release was due to the unauthorised selling of WWE merchandise, but Hebner has challenged this, stating: 

"I went and partnered with a guy, and the merchandise was bought from the same people that [WWE] bought them from. But the whole deal was that [...] when WCW came in, if you look back, a lot of the agents started disappearing because Johnny [Laurinaitis] wanted to use their agents. And my brother was an agent. [...] So the whole thing was a big lie anyway about me doing the t-shirts and all that. So Johnny fired me and because he wanted to get rid of my brother. That's how that happened. Why would I give up a $250,000 a year job for a $12 t-shirt? The truth was never told you know, it was all a lie. But you know, there were other places that I went, and I just kept going."

Hebner would go on to work for IMPACT Wrestling between 2006 and 2017, then AEW between 2019 and 2021.