Mark "Slick" Johnson
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Mark "Slick" Johnson (born in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American professional wrestling referee.
Johnson first came to prominence in the late 1990s when he joined the Atlanta, Georgia based World Championship Wrestling promotion. After suffering elbow injuries in 1998, he was sidelined until late 1999. When he returned, Johnson was given the gimmick of a unethical referee who actively favored heel wrestlers (as opposed to the other referees, who officiated matches in an objective fashion). While in WCW, he was a member of the nWo faction, wrestled several matches, refereed a total of eighty five main events and had the dubious distinction of being pantsed by Stacy Keibler during a match on pay-per-view. He remained with WCW until the promotion was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001.
In late 2001 Johnson toured Western Europe with the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion.
Johnson worked for the Nashville, Tennessee based Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion from its inception in 2002, portraying a corrupt referee who accepted bribes. He left TNA after several months to focus on his rock band, which was entering a Battle of the Bands in an attempt to gain a recording contract. He returned to the promotion in March 2005, replacing Mike Posey.
At TNA Against All Odds 2006 on February 12, 2006, Johnson confronted Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko, demanding to know who was to referee the main event title match between Christian Cage and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett and 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 debuting Earl 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 at TNA Slammiversary 2006 to be none other than Jim Cornette.
Slick also frequently wears outrageous referee uniforms, such as elaborate bowties and striped shorts akin to those worn by a soccer referee.
