History Main / EasilyDistractedReferee

** Also invoked and PlayedForLaughs by [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] when Wrestling/VinceMcMahon set up a match between Wrestling/TripleH and [[Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith British Bulldog]] with him as a special referee in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqdVrQ6p8uY one episode]] of ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackDown SmackDown]]'' for the WWF Championship in 1999. Rock, who detested both men (he was Triple H's main rival at that time and Bulldog had screwed Rock out of the title before), decided that he would use this opportunity to play this trope to its fullest. At no point in the match did he try to give either Hunter or Bulldog a chance for the win, which was seen from the moment he assaulted Bulldog before Hunter even entered the ring. Then once the match started, the situation escalated as he was more interested in chatting with the fans, joining the commentary booth, and screwing either opponent as the match goes on. Highlights include The Rock ''clapping'' to Triple H when he connected the Pedigree before he said this quote when Bulldog made a pin after The Rock hit Triple H with the Rock Bottom when Hunter tried to retaliate after the clapping moment.

** Also invoked and PlayedForLaughs by [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] when Wrestling/VinceMcMahon set up a match between Wrestling/TripleH and [[Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith British Bulldog]] with him as a special referee in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqdVrQ6p8uY one episode]] of ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackDown SmackDown]]'' for the WWF Championship in 1999. Rock, who detested both man (he was Triple H's main rival at that time and Bulldog had screwed Rock out of the title before), decided that he would use this opportunity to play this trope to its fullest. At no point in the match did he try to give either Hunter or Bulldog a chance the win, which was seen from the moment he assaulted Bulldog before Hunter even entered the ring. Then once the match started, the situation escalated as he was more interested in chatting to the fans, joining the commentary booth, and screwing either opponent as the match goes on. Highlights include The Rock ''clapping'' to Triple H when he connected the Pedigree before he said this quote when Bulldog made a pin after The Rock hit Triple H with the Rock Bottom when Hunter tried to retaliate after the clapping moment.

''Can'' be averted or subverted, as Shuichi Nishinaga of Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH once proved in a championship match: when the Heel's attempt to fake the Face champion cheating, his applying of fake blood was noticed by the guy reading pre-match officialese who pointed it out and the referee actually rubbed it away as a result. Compare GlassJawReferee for when it's not the attention span that's the issue, it's the fragility.

* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': An evil WizardingSchool forces its students to race in a brutal obstacle course for orientation. The protagonist Emily notices that her roommate Megumi is racing against an evil witch named Lucille, and that another member of Lucille's clique named Amira is hanging around the course exit. Sure enough, as soon as it looks like the elite students who are proctoring the competition are distracted by chatting amongst themselves, Amira attempts to cheat by attacking Megumi to help Lucille. This forces Emily to intervene and keep the match fair. However, the trope is averted when it turns out the elites were paying attention all along, and Amira is harshly punished for attempting to cheat.

-->"[[CatchPhrase Darn the luck! Darn!]]"

* In ''SekaiDeIchibanTsuyokuNaritai'' episode 11, Sakura pins her opponent, and the referee just stands there gawking until Sakura reminds her that she's supposed to count the pinfall. The commentator even mentions that if she'd started counting immediately, the match may well have been over.

** One of the later games in the anime version of the Davy Back arc inverts this, with a team of attentive refs impartially enforcing all of the "Hit and Dead Ball" game's hundreds of rules (it helps that they are enforcing the rules on pain of death). This is still to the villain team's advantage, because Luffy and his team ''don't know'' the rules of the game and end up committing penalty after penalty.