Angel Rivera

[ClawRidesAgain]

Angel Rivera gets to officiate big matches, and the Big10 announcers generally say he is a good ref.

That said, I do not like it when he is officiating.  It seems like there is always some controvery with his calls, and I think he injects himself too much into the matches.  There seem to always be issues with restarts.

This is my personal opinion, which may are may not be correct.

I wonder what others think.

 

[JimmyCinnabon]

I think the controversy comes from every fan base believing he has some personal vendetta against their program. 

[Alces Alces Gigas]

I hate the fact that he coaches while reffing.      Let the kids wrestle as they want and penalize and award points when warranted!   

[wrestle87]

3 hours ago, ClawRidesAgain said:

Angel Rivera gets to officiate big matches, and the Big10 announcers generally say he is a good ref.

That said, I do not like it when he is officiating.  It seems like there is always some controvery with his calls, and I think he injects himself too much into the matches.  There seem to always be issues with restarts.

This is my personal opinion, which may are may not be correct.

I wonder what others think.

 

I agree with this a lot.  I really don't like his "style" of refereeing, but I have to say he has been around FOREVER, and he gets to ref big matches because, for many of them, we don't notice him being there, which is the whole point.

When you mention a ref who injects themselves into matches too much, all I could think of was that poor ref who was in the Vito Fix match last year.  That was probably the hardest match to officiate last year, but he was just on the wrong side of so many calls, even with replay.  

When I get frustrated with Angel, I remember that dude's performance in that match, and I remember...it could have been a lot worse.

[Wrestleknownothing]

I find the Angel Rivera complaints to be unwarranted. He does a fine job.

[Fletcher]

6 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

I find the Angel Rivera complaints to be unwarranted. He does a fine job.

Center! Wrestleknownothing - move back to the center.

[Wrestleknownothing]

23 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

Center! Wrestleknownothing - move back to the center.

I never took instruction well. You should probably just hit me with the stall.

[Tyler]

I know people dig on him but honestly I feel like he does a fine job

[Idaho]

Angel used to be a staple in Pac12 wrestling... I am glad he is now being shared with the rest of the country, especially the Big10. 

[1032004]

He does like to make himself visible, but he still usually makes the right calls IMO (waving off the Andrews takedown being one exception).  His visibility paid off for him though, got him a part in the Robles movie

[1032004]

Surprised no one bumped this yesterday.  The Sealey call reversal was bad

[666]

On 2/9/2025 at 4:22 PM, Idaho said:

Angel used to be a staple in Pac12 wrestling... I am glad he is now being shared with the rest of the country, especially the Big10. 

The PAC12 always had the worst refs in every sport. I remember especially how terrible their football officiating crews were. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

6 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

Surprised no one bumped this yesterday.  The Sealey call reversal was bad

I have been a Rivera defender in the past, but that one was bad.

Edited yesterday at 05:27 PM by Wrestleknownothing

[DSims]

He's one of the few refs who call stalling consistently , on all 3 positions, neutral, top guy and bottom guy.  For that reason, I'm a huge fan.

[Wrestleknownothing]

56 minutes ago, DSims said:

He's one of the few refs who call stalling consistently , on all 3 positions, neutral, top guy and bottom guy.  For that reason, I'm a huge fan.

Iif you want a laugh read the HVI (PSU) and HR (Iowa) threads about the PSU/Iowa dual. Both fan bases think all the stalls on their guy was the reason Rivera should never ref again. Oh and he didn't call any stalls on the other guy.

[Dogbone]

Refs are not supposed to be known.  The fact that he is the most well known and recognized ref tells you all you need to know.     I don't know the name of another NCAA ref nor could I recognize one in street clothes, but I can with Angel.

 

[Husker_Du]

On 2/8/2025 at 2:26 PM, JimmyCinnabon said:

I think the controversy comes from every fan base believing he has some personal vendetta against their program. 

nah.

the controversy comes from the incredibly weird calls. 

anyone can be 'fine' 98% of the time. it's the other two percent that are critical and he far too often has odd decisions. 

[JimmyCinnabon]

Just now, Husker_Du said:

nah.

the controversy comes from the incredibly weird calls. 

I agree. It's not a bias against programs it's that he makes weird calls that are not aimed at any specific team. People just lose their mind because they are convinced it's that he hates :insert team here:.

[Husker_Du]

yeah. i don't get that at all. that's ridiculous. 

[No BS Fan]

Is he any relation to Angel Hernadez?

[BarSeries]

I started watching/following wrestling in January 2024 and even I picked up on Angel's questionable calls. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Despite what you think he is considered one of the best refs in NCAA wrestling.  There's a reason he ends up reffing so many NCAA finals.

[Dogbone]

1 hour ago, Husker_Du said:

nah.

the controversy comes from the incredibly weird calls. 

anyone can be 'fine' 98% of the time. it's the other two percent that are critical and he far too often has odd decisions. 

Exactly!  It has nothing to do with who the calls go against or any fan base because there have been so many questionable calls. 

He is like an athlete that chokes in big moments.   Sure is is fine with no one is around but when the moment gets big, his brain does bizarre things. 

[bnwtwg]

5 hours ago, No BS Fan said:

Is he any relation to Angel Hernadez?

Too niche for the separated at birth thread

 

 

[steamboat_charlie]

I don't know that Angel has any personal biases or leans in terms of who receives the benefit of strange officiating.  

I do know that a match called by Angel will often feature strange officiating.  

How much more than average?  Hard to say.  25%? 50%?  I'm not keeping stats, but he presides over a lot of matches that end up with coaches gesticulating uncontrollably near the scorers' table.