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| Personal information | |
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| Born | |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Mark Johnson Mark "Slick" Johnson |
Mark Eric "Slick"Johnson is an Americanprofessional wrestlingreferee, best known for working forWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) andTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Johnson gained national exposure in the late 1990s when he joined the Atlanta, Georgia-basedWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW)promotion as a referee.[1] After suffering elbow injuries in 1998 caused during a match byKonnan, he was sidelined until late 1999. When he returned, Johnson was given thegimmick of an unethical referee who actively favouredheel wrestlers (as opposed to the other referees, who officiated matches in an objective fashion).[1] While in WCW, he was a member of theNew World Orderfaction, wrestled several matches,[1] refereed a total of eighty five main events and had the dubious distinction of being pantsed byStacy Keibler during a match on pay-per-view.[1] He remained with WCW until the promotion was purchased by theWorld Wrestling Federation in March 2001.[1]
From 2001 to 2002, Johnson was the primary referee for theWorld Wrestling All-Stars promotion.
Johnson worked for theNashville, Tennessee basedTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion from its inception in 2002, portraying a corrupt referee who acceptedbribes, continuing the character he first adopted in WCW. He left TNA after several months to focus on hisrock band, The Slick Johnsons, which was entering aBattle of the Bands in an attempt to gain arecording contract. He returned to the promotion in March 2005, replacing Mike Posey as a regular referee.
AtAgainst All Odds on February 12, 2006, Johnson confrontedDirector of AuthorityLarry Zbyszko, demanding to know who was to referee the main event title match betweenChristian Cage andNWA World Heavyweight ChampionJeff Jarrett, suggesting that his experience in WCW made him an appropriate choice of referee. His inquiry was rebuffed by Zbyszko, who later revealed the referee to be the debutingEarl Hebner. Over the following weeks, Johnson repeatedly requested to referee main event matches, with Zbyszko rejecting his appeals each time. Zbyszko eventually was about to give in to Johnson's incessant requests when Johnson suddenly withdrew his request to become a senior referee. Johnson explained that TNA management would be sending in a new representative in the near future, and that everyone would have a clean slate at that point. This sparked the storyline of the new face of TNA management, in which backstage dialogue between Zbyszko and Johnson served to build up the debut of the newest authority figure in TNA Wrestling, later revealed atSlammiversary to be none other thanJim Cornette. During this time Johnson would frequently wear outrageous referee uniforms, such as elaborate bowties and striped shorts akin to those worn by asoccer referee.
On June 13, 2007, he left TNA to pursue other interests. AtBound for Glory on October 14, 2007, Johnson returned to TNA Wrestling as a full-time referee. AtFinal Resolution in 2008, he refereed a match between Gail Kim andAwesome Kong. Johnson was powerbombed and hit with a chair by Awesome Kong. AtVictory Road, he turnedheel again when he helpedAngelina Love ofThe Beautiful People regain theTNA Women's Knockout Championship even thoughTara clearly had her foot on the ropes. Later on in the pay-per-view, Slick was seen leaving the Knockouts shower room and as he left,Madison Rayne of The Beautiful People came out from the same cubicle as him adjusting her top, implying that the two hadsex. However, it didn't last; he resumed being fair to both faces and heels shortly thereafter. Johnson left TNA in late 2010.
Johnson is real life friends withBuff Bagwell. He appeared on theDark Side of the Ring episode covering Buff Bagwell.
