Nick Patrick during his time as a referee for WWE's SmackDown brand
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Birth name | Joseph Nicholas Patrick Hamilton Jr. |
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Born |
Lakeland, Florida, U.S. |
November 9, 1959
Residence | Griffin, Georgia, U.S. |
Family | Jody Hamilton (father)Tony Hamilton (son) |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Nick Patrick |
Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
Billed weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
Debut | 1984 |
Retired | 2010 |
Joseph Nicholas "Nick" Patrick Hamilton Jr. (born November 9, 1959), better known by his ring name Nick Patrick, is a retired American professional wrestling referee. He is a former referee for World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment. He has also served as head referee for former WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling until that company's closing, and is former head referee for Florida Championship Wrestling.
Hamilton is the son of wrestling legend The Assassin, who is better known in the wrestling industry as Jody Hamilton. He grew up wanting to become a professional wrestler, but an injury ended his wrestling career very early. Hamilton became a referee because he loved the sport so much. He used the name Nick Patrick to make a name for himself without his father's help.
He was a referee in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Georgia Championship Wrestling starting in 1980, then moved on to Jim Crockett Promotions and was retained when they became World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He eventually moved up to become the Senior Referee in WCW.
When the nWo formed in 1996, he joined and became their official referee. He would allow the nWo wrestlers to cheat and he would show a clear bias towards the nWo. Because of this, he was forced into a match against Chris Jericho at the World War 3 pay-per-view on November 24, 1996 in Norfolk, Virginia. Jericho had one arm tied behind his back and still defeated Patrick.
Patrick's biggest night with the nWo was refereeing every single match on the nWo Souled Out pay-per-view on January 25, 1997 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.