Bill "Fonzie" Alfonso To Receive the 2024 Charlie Smith Referee Award

The Cauliflower Alley Club is pleased to announce that Bill "Fonzie" Alfonso will be the 2024 recipient of the club's Charlie Smith Referee Award.

The sportster.com has this to say about Bill Alfonso:

"Known mostly for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling, the Northeast-based wrestling promotion spearheaded by Paul Heyman, Bill Alfonso's place in wrestling history will always be tied to the promotion. Connected to a number of talents throughout the company's history, Alfonso would play key roles in the careers of Sabu, Rob Van Dam, and Taz, with his partnership with RVD being the most noteworthy, as while working together, Van Dam would become the longest reigning ECW World Television Champion. Despite standing out in ECW, Alfonso would also work in WCW, WWE, and TNA Impact Wrestling throughout his wrestling career.

While most wrestling fans may remember Bill Alfonso for his work in Paul Heyman's ECW promotion, the truth is that the man was a part of wrestling long before that. Beginning his career as a referee, Alfonso start as a pro wrestling referee at only 21 years old. Some of his notable matches included refereeing a chain match between Terry Funk and The Sheik, and Ric Flair vs Harley Race from Starrcade.

In the subsequent years, Alfonso would work in a number of promotions, including stints in both WCW and WWE, meaning that he would have worked in every major wrestling promotion at the time. While working in WWE, Alfonso's biggest match that he refereed would be a WrestleMania match between The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez at WrestleMania 9.

Following his exit from WWE as a referee, Alfonso made his debut in Extreme Championship Wrestling in May 1995 at Enter the Sandman, once again working as a referee. While most may remember him for his work as a manager, his early days in ECW saw Alfonso acting as a very strict referee who enforced the rules and handed out rare disqualifications towards wrestlers for using steel chairs as weapons or anything "extreme" in nature. During this period, Alfonso would also wrestle a few matches, though they would not be on the more memorable side of his run.

Later into his run with the company, his refereeing duties would be stripped away from the man before he would assume the role of Taz's manager, helping him develop his famous winning streak in ECW that would last over a year."

The Cauliflower Alley Club congratulates Bill Alfonso and, proudly, adds his name to the list of proud recipients of the Charlie Smith Referee Award!