Standing in the squared circle of New York City’s Madison Square Garden surrounded by tens of thousands of screaming fans, John Cone can be forgiven for having been excited.
“It’s at the top of my list of memorable moments,” said Cone, who refereed the boxing match between former boxing Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield and Superstar Matt Hardy. “To be there explaining the rules of the fight was amazing.”
It’s a far cry from refereeing independent wrestling matches in the Ohio River Valley, where Cone got his start. He worked for Harley Race from 1999 to 2006 and got his big break when a WWE official attended a match he refereed. Cone tried out for WWE and was quickly signed, working at both ECW and SmackDown before joining Raw.
While Cone may not be King of the Ring, he is royalty in his native Kansas City, Mo. He and his wife Lauren own and operate the Donut King, where the couple makes “light and fluffy” confections from scratch.
Judging by his 5-foot-9 inch, 160 pound frame, however, Cone isn’t eating into the profits. And he’s quick to point out the number one difference between his dual occupations.
“Making donuts you have to start in the middle of the night and end early in the morning,” Cone explained. “Wrestling, on the other hand, could start early in the morning, but it ends in the middle of the night.”