Aubrey Edwards
Aubrey Edwards
Aubrey Edwards (born March 9, 1987) is an American professional wrestling referee out of Seattle, Washington. Her real name is Brittany Aubert. Aubrey Edwards currently is an active ref for All Elite Wrestling. In the ring Aubrey Edwards is known as Ref Aubrey and Gearl Hebner.[1][64]
Career
Professional Wrestling Referee
Ref Aubrey Edwards started her career in 2017 working at 3-2-1 Battle! wrestling promotion in Seattle, Washington as referee Gearl Hebner. The nickname comes from the ever popular and beloved professional wrestling referee Earl Hebner of WWE and TNA Wrestling Impact! fame.
"We have a lot of people come by the gym and try out ref training and find it's a lot more than just counting 1-2-3.
It's an incredibly nuanced role where you don't have a ton of control but find yourself taking charge a lot.
I'm focusing on the wrestling match as it unfolds, reacting to what the competitors are doing, communicating important status updates to the production team, adapting on the fly to changes, all while trying to not draw attention to myself (unless I have been specifically asked to draw attention to myself).
So I would say that there's an incredible amount of work that goes into the job, despite it looking relatively straightforward on the surface."
Aubrey Edwards is an active referee in a variety of wrestling promotions big and small across the United States, including:[11]
Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW)
3-2-1 Battle!
DOA Pro Wrestling
IWE Pro Wrestling
Prestige Wrestling
DEFY
Dramatic Dream Team (DDT Pro Wrestling)
All-Elite Wrestling
Pacific Northwest Wrestling
West Coast Wrestling Connection
Without A Cause Wrestling (WAC)
NXT (WWE brand)
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla tournaments (PWG)
Tag Team Match
In September of 2019 Aubrey participated in the 3-2-1 Battle!
VS The World event held in Seattle, Washington. She was involved in a tag team match alongside Dexter Beckett against the Legion of Gloom, which consisted of wrestlers Dante Smythe and River Strife. The match resulted in a loss for Edwards and Beckett.[37]
All Elite Wrestling (AEW)
Aubrey became the first woman ever to officiate a main event for a world championship title on AEW's 'All Out' PPV. The title match was held on August 21, 2019 in Illinois at the Sears Centre Arena and was between Hangman Adam Page and Chris Jericho. Jericho won the match, earning him his current title of Le Champion.[26]
Aubrey has also refereed for AEW's other PPV events including Full Gear, Fyter Fest, and Double Or Nothing.
She also serves as a Project Coordinator with the company as of December 2019.[54]
WWE
"She's amazing and an incredibly sweet person.
I reached out to her when I first started out and she gave me LOTS of advice and feedback on my matches.
She's blazing a lot of trails, and I'm so thrilled that I got the chance to work with her on multiple occasions!"
3-year Anniversary as a Referee
On July 8, 2020, Edwards tweeted out that she celebrated her 3-year anniversary as a referee.
She debuted as "Gearl Hebner" as an homage to the legendary Earl Hebner. Aubrey Edwards is grateful for her time in the ring and can't wait for the challenges that await her. She wrote:
Videogame production
Not only is Edwards an official referee, but in the past she has dabbled in programming and video game production,[11]
"Some background info for those that aren't aware: I've been a programmer and producer (mostly a producer) in the video game industry for about 10 years.
I've worked on games on the Nintendo DS, the Wii U, iPhone, Android, PC, Xbox One, and PS4. Six of these games have seen the light of day, and an equal number have not."
Scribblenauts
Edwards worked as a Programmer for the popular video game Scribblenauts. She also was employed as a producer for the games that followed, Super Scribblenauts and Scribblenauts Unlimited.[62][63]
Personal Life
Aubrey has been married to her husband for over a decade.[57]
Workout Regiment
"I need to be able to keep up with everything in the ring with some of the most athletic performers in the world."
Furry Friends
Ref Aubrey refers to herself as a 'proud mom' of 2 cats.
The felines often appear on her social media. She commented,[18][32]
"I am the proud mom of two cats.
They are sisters and littermates, roughly 12 years of age.Bailey
has the face of a kitten and is the softest cat of all time. She
is capable of being so adorable that she can make me do anything and it's both wonderful and annoying. Sometimes
she poops on the floor.Nikki is
a crotchety old woman stuck in the body of a cat. She basically
complains all the time unless her basic needs (like the bed being made) are met. She hates
everyone except me and my husband, but to us she is the sweetest cat in the world. Sometimes she
poops on the floor."
Fake Tinder Profile
Found out that there's a profile on Tinder that is posing as me.
They used an airplane selfie as the pic and listed my age as significantly younger (though that one I don't mind).
For the record, if you see me on ANY dating apps, it is most definitely not me.
🤣
Trivia
Edwards's tweet celebrating 3 years as a referee
Aubrey Edwards was given her ring name, Gearl Ebner by her husband who is also a wrestler.
The first wrestling she ever saw was WrestleMania XXVII. Prior to becoming a professional wrestling referee, Aubrey was a dancer. She revealed how she got into the wrestling circuit in a Reddit Ask Me Anything forum, stating,[11]
"I never once had the thought of joining the business.
I was perfectly content being a fan.
My husband started wrestling at our local indie and I really enjoyed cheering him on.
I had also been dancing for about 20 years, so most of my focus outside of work was on that.
Through a series of events, I found myself retiring from dance.
I didn't realize until it happened, but performing was a major outlet for me to express myself, and losing that caused me to fall into a deep depression.
It was right around this time that the ref team at 3-2-1 BATTLE!
told me they were auditioning for new referees and thought that I might be a good fit."
Aubrey is also a vegan and on social media can be found commenting on her latest vegan trends, like adding vegan cheese to an Impossible Whopper. Prior to becoming a vegan she was a practicing vegetarian for a decade.[31]
Daniel Bryan Crying Girl Meme
In 2020 Edwards appeared on a podcast and told the story of becoming a well-known wrestling meme.
On AEW Unrestricted Ref Aubrey discussed her love of wrestling, being a fan, and the Daniel Bryan Crying Girl meme.
She described attending one of her favorite wrestler's retirement ceremonies in the podcast, stating,[59][60][61]
"There's a lot of characters that I got drawn to because I saw myself in them.
My favorite wrestler is Daniel Bryan.
There's this really famous picture of me.
So Daniel Bryan is from outside of Seattle.
He's from Aberdeen.
His retirement show, he was at the arena where the Sonics played, and I'm in the front row just bawling my eyes out.
Like you can look up 'Daniel Bryan crying girl' online.
My face comes up, and I'm just crying.
It's pretty ridiculous when you become a meme because of your wrestling fandom.
Years later, someone on Reddit was like, 'is that Aubrey Edwards?' Yeah, that's definitely me.
I get invested dude.
Those were real goddamn tears."
Ring Name Origins
“My name is Brittany.
One of the things I noticed on the indies is they throw me in the women’s match.
There are either people who don’t think that a woman should referee a men’s match or they like the image of only women in the ring.
I typically worked the women’s matches.
I thought I’m probably going to cross paths with Britt Baker at some point or another.
I should probably come up with a different name to limit confusion.
I introduced myself as Aubrey, but I prefer Brittany backstage.
My dad’s name was Edward Aubert, so my name is Aubrey Edwards.”