Among the more than 18,000 people packed into Madison Square Garden Saturday for a WWE event, every person except one — the referee — easily spotted the blatant rulebreaking employed by The Miz.

Referee Scott Armstrong failed to notice that The Miz was clutching the top rope to gain unfair leverage while applying an abdominal stretch, even though 18,377 fans clearly noticed the misdeed.

Armstrong seemed not to hear the screams from fans at ringside attempting to alert him of the wrongdoing, nor the protestations of opponent Tyson Kidd.

At one point, mere seconds after Miz let go of the rope, Armstrong questioned The Miz as to why the top rope was wobbling. But Miz merely shrugged, and then grabbed the rope again when Armstrong’s attention was once again diverted.

Every fan in the arena — including small children, several mentally handicapped people and a legally blind man sitting in the back row — noticed when The Miz again gained unfair advantage during a pin by propping his legs on the middle rope. Armstrong, however, was again the lone dupe of Miz’s unsportsmanlike behavior.

Armstrong and other WWE referees have been chronically inattentive for decades, allowing many acts of wrongdoing to go unpunished. Strangely, they have never been reprimanded or disciplined for shoddy officiating.

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