Hebner (along with his identical twin brother, Dave) played a prominent role in the inaugural The Main Event card in 1988, in which André the Giant controversially defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, as well as the infamous "Montreal Screwjob" during the main event of the 1997 Survivor Series.

Just days after that match, Hebner debuted in the World Wrestling Federation as a referee during a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match pitting champion Hulk Hogan against challenger André the Giant, which aired live on February 5, 1988, on NBC's The Main Event.

Hulk Hogan, figuring out that Dave's "evil twin" had jobbed him out, picked Earl up and gorilla press slammed him over the ropes and onto the aisleway (missing DiBiase).

The report continued by noting that, despite Dave's appeal of the controversial ending to the Hogan-Andre match at The Main Event, Tunney had to uphold the decision since Earl was a licensed referee in Indiana (the match took place in Indianapolis); and that, as a result of Earl's cooperation, he became a "very rich" man thanks to a payoff by DiBiase.

The reason for the "screwjob" was that Hart, who would be leaving the company one month later to join a rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), was unwilling to lose the title to Michaels in Canada.

Though Hart said that he was willing to vacate the title the next night on WWF Raw, McMahon feared that Hart would leave the company with the title, take the belt to WCW, and disrespect it as Madusa had done in 1995 with the WWF Women's Championship, throwing the belt into a garbage can during a live Nitro show.

The fallout of the screwjob led to a large degree of antagonism towards Hebner, McMahon, and Michaels, especially in Canada, where fans often chant "You screwed Bret!"

However, on Right After Wrestling, hosted by Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas, Earl stated that he has since spoken with Bret and they have buried the hatchet, with regards to the Montreal Screwjob.

[4] Hebner was also the first referee to be a playable character in a wrestling video game as he was included in the roster of WWF No Mercy.

These activities would have been conducted from a store that Earl Hebner had partial ownership in, the St. Louis based Pro Shirt Shop.

[6] Seven months after his departure from WWE, Hebner debuted for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) at the Against All Odds pay-per-view on February 12, 2006.

He officiated the main event, which saw Canadian born Christian Cage defeat Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

During the match, commentators Mike Tenay and Don West alluded to the Montréal Screwjob on several occasions, urging Hebner not to call for the bell when Jarrett placed Cage in a sharpshooter.

At No Surrender he replaced original referee Slick Johnson for the TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship match because of what happened at Victory Road.

On April 17, 2014, Hebner was reinstated as Knockouts referee, when Madison Rayne defeated Velvet Sky in a Street Fight.

[14] On June 19, 2014, Hebner was involved in the TNA World Heavyweight Championship bout between Kenny King and Eric Young, but after King's loss, MVP fired Hebner and made him get rid of his uniform, to the disgust of his son, Brian, but was reinstated by the new Executive Chief of Wrestling Operations, Kurt Angle after MVP was relieved of his duties by Board of Directors.

[17] On September 1, 2018, Hebner refereed All In, and was part of the match between Nick Aldis and Cody Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

On February 16, 2019, Hebner refereed at All Star Wrestling's Justice in the main event between Sharp Dressed Man Lawrence and the debuting Brian Snyder in Lewisburg, Tennessee.

Hebner's son Brian Hebner is also a professional wrestling referee (retired in June 2022) before becoming a professional wrestling podcaster with Jim Korderas, while his daughter Katie made a cameo appearance with TNA in 2008 as "Katie Kim", the sister of Gail Kim.

Hebner played himself in the episode "Sixteen Candles and Four-Hundred Pound Men" of Boy Meets World.

The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE, primarily over chronic traumatic encephalopathy, an issue that has risen to the forefront of sports-related injuries, especially after the Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide.