Nick Hamilton

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Joseph Nicholas Patrick Hamilton


Statistics
Ring name(s)	Nick Patrick
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Billed weight	220 lb (100 kg)
Born	November 9, 1959 (1959-11-09) (age 48) Lakeland, Florida
Debut	1979

Joseph Nicholas Patrick Hamilton Jr. (born on November 9, 1959 in Lakeland, Florida), better known by his ring name Nick Patrick, is a professional wrestling referee currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment, refereeing on its SmackDown brand . He has also served as head referee for former WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling, LLC until that company's closing, and is former head referee for Florida Championship Wrestling.

1 Career
2 Job titles
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Career

Nick is the son of wrestling legend The Assassin.^[1] He grew up wanting to become a professional wrestler, but an injury ended his wrestling career very early. Nick became a referee because he loved the sport so much. He used the name Nick Patrick to make a name for himself without his father's help.

He was a referee in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Jim Crockett Promotions and was retained when they became World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He eventually moved up to become the Senior Referee in WCW.

When the nWo formed in 1996, he joined and became their official referee. He would allow the nWo wrestlers to cheat and he would show a clear bias towards the nWo. Because of this, he was forced into a match against Chris Jericho at the World War 3 PPV on November 24, 1996 in Norfolk, Virginia. Jericho had one arm tied behind his back and still defeated Patrick.

Patrick's biggest night with the nWo was refereeing every single match on the nWo Souled Out PPV on January 25, 1997 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Eventually, Patrick was kicked out of the nWo for not wanting to cheat for them anymore.

Patrick created massive controversy over the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1997 when he made a fast count in the Sting-Hollywood Hogan match; the only problem was, the count wasn't fast—it was a standard 3-count. Backstage wrestling lore suggested that Hulk Hogan wielded his backstage "creative control card" to make Sting look foolish. Other backstage lore suggested that WCW was trying to get Earl Hebner as the referee for the match and Patrick was the backup plan. Bret Hart stopped Patrick from giving Hogan the title, claiming the fast-count, and restarted the match claiming that he didn't want to see Sting get screwed like he was by Vince McMahon. After a subsequent rematch, the title was declared vacant. Patrick would referee another rematch for the vacant belt, taking over for Charles Robinson (who had been knocked out during the bout). Sting would win that match and WCW management upheld Patrick's ruling.

When WCW was bought by the WWF, he went along and became the Senior Referee for The Alliance of WCW/Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) wrestlers trying to take over the WWF. He even had a match against Earl Hebner at the Invasion PPV on July 22, 2001 in Cleveland, Ohio. Patrick lost to Hebner and Mick Foley, the special guest referee, gave him "Mr. Socko" after the match.

After the end of the Invasion, Patrick would continue to play a heel referee, working against the faces. For example, during a championship between The Rock and Chris Jericho in 2002, Patrick would refuse to count when the Rock had Jericho pinned down. He however played a face referee in matches involving William Regal, who often used brass knuckles to win matches.

Patrick became a neutral referee working on the SmackDown! brand for WWE. He became senior referee following the release of Brian Hebner. Patrick also appeared at ECW One Night Stand 2006.

Patrick left the SmackDown! brand on February 9, 2007. Mickie Henson has taken over as senior referee for the SmackDown! brand. Patrick is still with WWE though officiating matches in their new developmental, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).

Patrick returned to the SmackDown! brand on February 8, 2008 and refereed the tag team match between Jesse and Festus and Deuce n' Domino