If the match had gone on, without VAR, it would be an obvious deviation from the rules laid out for the competition this season. The fairness of the outcome of the result would be questioned. If he hadn't got it working, the game would have been abandoned.
As someone who works in theatre stage management, I can assure you that this isn't true. With the increasing reliance on automation to cut crew staffing costs, there are regular show stoppages and cancellations at many AAA West End productions when technology fails. Recently (within the last few...