Earl Hebner has been a professional referee since 1977. He's had stints in WWF/WWE, TNA/Impact, and even in AEW, though that final run wasn't particularly long. He's officiated thousand of matches, called almost as many victories, and become one of the most well-known wrestling personalities in the sport's history without ever hitting a foe with a hurricanrana or a tope suicida.

And yet, Hebner could officiate matches for the next 1,000 years, and we would never live down the one march in particular that has defined his career for the past almost 30 years: The Montreal Screwjob.

… what? You haven't heard about the Montreal Screwjob or at least watched the Viceland original episode of Darkside of the Ring about it? If not, you should check it out here, it's highly recommended.

Though Hebner has never been able to live down the history of that particular match, some might not know that his run in TNA/Impact was almost as prolific and ended with a spot in the promotion's Hall of Fame in 2015.

So, with Slammiversary 2022 designed around explicitly tipping the promotion's cap to the legends of their first 20 years of operation, it only made sense for Hebner to throw on the zebra stripes and call another in for the promotion he left in 2017.

Thrust into action for the 10-man tag team match between the Impact Originals – Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Frankie Kazarian, Nick Aldis, and Davey Richards – versus the Honor No More quintet of Eddie Edwards, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, PCO, and Vincent plus Maria Kanellis-Bennett at ringside when the original referee was put out of action, Hebner was helped into the ring by Kaz and counted the 1-2-3 as the returning “American Wolf” pinned the “French Canadian Frankenstein.” All things considered, this was a very good way to honor a legend and give returning performers like Shelley, Kaz, Aldis, and Richards a win that could set up an eventual “American Wolves” reunion.