Q&A: How to Wrestle With a Live Wire with Bobby Ford

Pro-Wrestler Bobby Ford. Photo by Chuck Ford.

Pro-wrestler Bobby Ford is like really creative. Read the Q&A from our interview available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

ZACK ORSBORN:

So I'm joined by Bobby Ford. Bobby Ford is a pro wrestler, entertainer. Bobby, I found out about you on Instagram, and it reminded me of my first time I saw wrestling. It was a WWE match when I was, like, 5 or 6, and I was obsessed with Sting. And you're not like a typical wrestler that I grew up with.

And we were talking before this, and you were telling me that you saw your first wrestling match in 2004, and how you were fascinated with it ever since and you've been following it. So I wanted to get you on here and talk about your background in wrestling. So thanks for joining me.

BOBBY FORD:

Yeah, I'm happy to be here. I was a kid, and I saw it on TV and it was something that, you know, just the motion of it and the entertainment and energy of it really captivated me from early on. And I'd watch it and I'd get so wrapped up in it. I'd be jumping around my bedroom cheering for the good guys to win, booing the bad guys and it was something that—I don't talk about it a ton—but I think pro wrestling probably taught me what right and wrong were because when you're doing something that's obviously wrong and not the right thing to do in front of a crowd of people, they're going to let you know. And when that crowd's, you know, 10-20,000 people, they're going to really let you know. So early on watching John Cena, you know, “hustle, loyalty and respect” fighting Edge, who was calling himself the Rated-R Superstar. It's pretty clear how you should and shouldn't behave.

ZO:

I love that. I’ve never thought about wrestling as like a moral lesson. One thing I find fascinating about wrestling is the idea of a persona. And Bobby Ford isn’t your real name.

BF:

Oh, sure it is. Sure it is.

ZO:

Right! It’s your real name. What was it like creating this character, this persona, this wrestling persona?

BF:

So, with wrestling and creating a persona, there's two ways you can kind of take it. One is you can completely remove the reality of it, become entirely a character, or you can take who you really are and just turn it up all the way and be that all the time.

And that's kind of the route I took. Bobby Ford is a representation of who I am. You know, I go by Livewire Bobby Ford. So in the ring in front of crowds, like I really try to bring an electric feeling and emotion to everything I do. So that's kind of the point—to be high energy and really positive and go in and go in and go in until you're going to have to make me quit because I'm not going to do it.

ZO:

Where do you think all this energy comes from? How do you have all the energy to do something as grueling and focused as wrestling?

BF:

I think anything that is, like you said, focused and grueling, it's rooted in human emotion. Whatever emotion is going to drive you to do the thing it is you're passionate about, you have to really lean into it and focus on that to drive you. So for me, it is the crowd. It's the feeling of making people excited, getting them excited to see me, getting them amped up.

You know, if I hear a crowd cheer or boo or have any sort of reaction to what I do, that's the fulfillment that a pro wrestler is always looking for. You're looking for that feeling when you can make them feel something. That's how you know that you did your job and that's the fulfillment that you get. That's how you can be content.

You know, if I go out there and I'm working my ass off and they don't react to anything I do, I'm not going to go home feeling good. So that's what I strive for. I strive for making crowds care, making them invest their emotion and their time and their energy into what I'm doing.

That's the goal.

ZO:

I see. So this might be a little too deep, but like, where do you think that need comes from to get a positive reaction from a crowd, to get such an overwhelming response?

BF:

All right. We'll play armchair psychiatrist for a second. I don't mind. I mean, I'm an open book. Middle child. I had three brothers. So we were always vying for attention and approval. And, you know, sometimes that came out in some not so positive ways, but we were all characters from an early age. I think that was something that always came naturally to me, was to try to entertain and try to make people's day brighter.

You know, sometimes I fell on my face trying to do that, but I was I was always an energetic kid and somebody that tried to get attention, even though sometimes that—especially in like my teenage years—that probably wasn't what I should have been doing. I probably wouldn’t be sitting on this couch now if I put myself into something boring that would make a lot of money, you know?

ZO:

Yeah, you were following your path.

BF:

Yeah. And everybody has to do that.

ZO:

So from a kid, you started becoming obsessed with wrestling. Talk about the trajectory of you deciding to be a pro wrestler and getting into a ring for the first time. What was that trajectory like?

BF:

So I had kind of fallen away from wrestling. Like, I hit high school. I was playing football—”playing.” I was on the team. But I was staying active and busy and involved in some other things. I went to college, and I kind of picked it back up just watching it, being a fan, and I found out about the local independent scene.

I went to a 901Wrestling show, and from that night on I was like, oh, not only do I want to do this, I can do this. Like I saw what was there and something woke up and was like, you're going to do this, you're going to make it happen. So, I asked around, I begged and pleaded to get somebody to train me and get involved.

And it took about two years before I could get some consistent training. So two years of being a referee, setting up rings, running security, being a do boy, you know, “boy, do this, do that.” And it was frustrating and it ate at me that I couldn't be in the ring yet. But I think that that time I spent doing that prepared me just as much as learning how to wrestle did.

So for anybody that may be younger or interested in getting involved in wrestling, no, it's not a direct path to be who and where you want to be. But the bumps along the way are what makes it worth it and what makes you better.

ZO:

You were talking about training as a wrestler. So you did the do-boy stuff. Did someone teach you, like the rules of the ring, like how to perform or did that come to you naturally?

BF:

So obviously there's a lot of training that goes into getting in a ring because the idea is to get in there and compete but don't get hurt, you know, take care of your body. So it's a lot of learning how to fall down, learning how to roll around the ring, learning how to not kill yourself out there.

So there was a summer. It was a summer of 2021. And, Andy Mack, good friend of mine and Dustin Anthony got me in a yard. We found a guy who had a ring. It was in his front yard in Nutbush. If you're from Memphis, I mean, this sounds about as Memphis as it gets: a wrestling ring in the front yard in Nutbush. And we were out there every day, all summer, 3 or 4 hours a day. There was no shade. And they worked me until—like I said, if something was going to make me quit, we'd have found it by now, because that was grueling. And, finally I was able to have my first match, for 901Wrestling at Black Lodge, the first show there.

ZO:

So what was your first show like? What was kind of going on through your head? How did it turn out? What did it feel like to be in the ring for the first time?

BF:

That buildup. I mean, the day of, even weeks of, you know, from the second I found out that that was where I was going to have my first match—I mean, I was eat up. It was hard to eat. Like, everything. I don't normally experience anxiety. I know that's a common feeling.

It's not one I experience. I'm sorry. I feel bad about it. I have guilt about it. But that was a moment and a time where I was like, “Man, what if this goes wrong? What if I'm not good at this? What if I can't do this?” And then I went out there, we had the match, you know, we had the whole show, the whole night.

And I was just more affirmed than ever that I could, that it was in me. It was a trial and it was a learning moment, but also it was affirmation. It was like, you need to continue chasing this. You need to keep chasing it because it's—I haven't found anything—well, no, there's one other thing—as fulfilling as pro wrestling. I'm on the fire department, too.

ZO:

I was gonna ask about that. Do those overlap? Does being a firefighter mix with being a wrestler?

BF:

I mean, I feel like I tell people that I'm a fireman and a pro wrestler and they're like, oh, you just love adrenaline. Like, you just have to do something exciting. And yeah, that's pretty true. A boring life was never in the cards for me. I couldn't—I like my moments of peace and calm and settling down.

You know, I'm married. We own a home. I love my home life, but it is just something else to be in a wrestling ring and have people chant, chanting your name or wanting you to die—depending on the crowd you're in front of—and then running into a burning building. They're just feelings that can't be replicated anywhere else I don’t think.

And those are the things that I chase.

ZO:

You were talking about people either chanting your name or wanting you to die. Is your persona always good or is it always bad? What's the character?

BF:

I think just like anybody else, it's all about perception, you know, when you're doing right and people know it, they respect it and they treat you as such. And when you're doing some of the things that I did over the course of, like the last year or so, people were not as happy with me.

ZO:

What do you mean—like in the ring?

BF:

Yeah, in the ring. Well, there was a time, like I said, Andy Mack, my best friend, we had a match for a belt that I had the championship belt, and I lost. And I turned on him. I was wrong. I betrayed my best friend because I was mad that he took something from me.

Like an eight year old on the playground. We've squashed it now. We're on great terms. But that was a time that people were like, man, I just never thought Bobby Ford would do something like that. And I had to work through a lot of that to get back to being the Bobby Ford they knew and loved before. I'm trying to stay on that path.

ZO:

I'm always fascinated also by how people can take pain because I have a low pain tolerance. Like, we were watching a match before this, and I was like, kind of cringing.

BF:

A whole lot of that.

ZO:

There's this misconception that since wrestling is quote unquote fake, there's no pain, but there actually is. Like, you get hurt. So what is it? How do you deal with that pain? Is it even painful to you? Talk about that.

BF:

Yeah. Everything you do in there hurts. And I know the perception of wrestling, and some people may not respect it in the same light as other sports, but everything hurts. And that's the funny thing the old timers like to say, “It's not ballet.” Ballet hurts.

ZO:

Have you ever seen a ballerina's toes?

BF:

It's tough. My wife did ballet and figure skating as a kid.

And like, she talks about it. I'm like, oh, that sounds way worse than getting my head dropped in the ring. But yeah, it's a lot of pain. It's a lot of athleticism. And your body has to be in a certain condition. Both like cardiovascular conditioning where like, you can get up and keep going and keep doing what you need to do.

And also, like you said, the pain tolerance where like your body has to get used to being hurt and working through pain and continuing to do what you're supposed to do to give people what they want. Because that's what it's all about. It's about giving that crowd what they want and what they deserve. Because if you buy a ticket to see me, I'm giving you all I got.

Like, I'm not holding back. You spent your hard earned money. Whether that was ten minutes of your time or three hours, you spent money to see me. And I'm not going to take that lightly. I feel like we have to respect our fans and our supporters’ times, you know. And that's in any industry, in the entertainment industry.

Every time LeBron sits out, you know, what a punk. You come to Memphis twice a year and you sit out both times? Like whatever.

ZO:

How do you feel about the whole masculine aspect of wrestling? How do you subvert it or lean into it or lean away from that?

BF:

I think with so much of the history of wrestling being male dominated, it's easy to think of it as a masculine thing. But like, women's wrestling is bigger than ever. Like, I'm in the midst of trying to organize a show of all women in Memphis, which I don't think has ever happened.

ZO:

No, that's really cool.

BF:

And the girls can go too, man. They're athletes. They're legit. They're tough, you know. But I guess to answer the source of the real question, which was about masculinity—gender in general, is subjective. I mean, the whole concept of gender is that it's not biological. It's a psychological and sociological thing.

So I don't necessarily have to feel like the manliest man in the room all the time. Sometimes I do. It's just something that ebbs and flows. I identify as male. I've never wavered from that. But at the same time, man, like, I've worn some things that other men would be like,“Is he wearing that?” I mean, I've come out and wrestled and got my ass kicked in a fishnet shirt. And when you break down wrestling to its core, a lot of more conservative men are going to be like, “Wait.”

ZO:

That’s a little gay.

BF:

Little gay. You know, I've had to deal with that, and I just shrug it off, man. I'm just like, whatever, dude.

ZO:

Maybe you’re gay.

BF:

Maybe you're gay for thinking that, for taking it in that direction. Because at the end of the day, I'm just trying to entertain a crowd. And that crowd can be men, women, children, grandmas. I mean, we need more Meemaws in wrestling.

ZO:

We do need more Meemaws. We need like a Meemaw’s Friends of Memphis Wrestling.

BF:

If you look at the older footage of pro wrestling, the crowd was full of Meemaws. They were into it, man. They'd be out there waving their cane and there were Meemaws out in, like, Oklahoma that would stab the bad guys. They did bring a knife to the wrestling and try to stab the bad guys.

ZO:

And so they really get into this world. How would you describe wrestling as an art form?

BF:

I really struggle with talking about it as art because it's like a lot of like—Jim Cornette, I know you're not watching this, but if you are, I'm sorry. I'm peeling back the curtain a little too much. I know he would get mad at me if I called it art. So that's the last I'm going to say art for a second.

But the art is more surrounding the match. It's picking the music you come out to. It's picking what you wear to the ring. I mean, I wear motocross boots. I've never been on a dirt bike. There's a guy that I know who was a professional motocross rider.

It's been a while now, but he had these boots that he wasn’t using, and I bought them from him, and I was like, man, I'm going to wrestle in these because I saw Shawn Michaels do it when I was a kid. And so that, like, that was a choice. You know, I'm paying homage to somebody. I'm respecting the craft and the people that came before me while carving out my own lane as a wrestler.

Like, that's the creativity, you know? I mean, that's the name of the game that we're talking about: like really creative. What makes wrestling like really creative? It's that you create an environment, you create a persona, you create emotion in a crowd. You create all these ideas that have to come together. And as a wrestler, you have a match.

You might have to go talk on the mic. You don't have a lot of time. But when you look at a whole wrestling show, if it's going to be successful, everything has to come together and make sense together. And somebody like really creative has to be behind that.

ZO:

Yeah, it’s a production.

BF:

It's an event. It's not just two guys beating each other up for fun. It's an event. It matters, you know, and you have to make it matter. And if you don't put in the work and the time to make it matter, it won't. It just won't. It's like anything else.

ZO:

There's definitely, for me at least, there's like some sex appeal that goes into wrestling. One of my favorite comments I'll never forget is when my aunt said—this when I was like 11 or 12—she said the only reason she watched wrestling was to see all the man sweat. And like looking at your pictures, I feel like there's some sex appeal going on.

Do you amp that up? Do you use that to your advantage? Like what is your view on sex appeal in wrestling?

BF:

If I'm blushing, I'm sorry. This is actually the first time I've been asked about this publicly.

We were talking about me Meemaws in wrestling. I've got my ass grabbed by a lot of Meemaws in wrestling and, you know, it is a thing where you play up certain things in front of certain crowds and you play them down in front of others.

I think there's an inherent sexuality to wrestling that is part of the appeal for so many people, whether they know it or not, you know, and I try to lean away from it as much as I can because the people who like really sexualize wrestling, it's gross. They can't just be like, “oh, that's hot.” Like, it can't be plain.

It's got to be—like, if you find a match of mine on YouTube, you're going to see some weird comments half the time. It can be embarrassing. But at the same time I'm like, man. They’re talking about me.

It's press, you know, it's free press. It's free publicity. So I can't hate them for it, but it's like, I wish yall wouldn't say these things about me. And there have been times in wrestling where it was played up or played down to different extents. You know, we were talking about women in wrestling earlier and for a long time, that's all they were treated as. They were an afterthought. They were there for sex appeal. They were there to to entertain a bunch of horny teenagers who didn't know any better. They've worked really hard. You know, there's some great women athletes who worked really hard to change that perception and be like, “no, we're we're legit. We're wrestlers.”

You know, women have a main event at WrestleMania now, and I'm happy for that because I remember growing up and that's just not how it was presented to me. And, I didn't like that as a kid. And really it's hard to go back and watch now. It's embarrassing. It's tough. So sexuality is one of those things that I feel like can be done tastefully and almost every entertainment industry where it needs to bubble right there under the edge like burlesque, where it's constantly moving up.

You cross that line for a second, you come right back. You know, that's kind of the thing where like, give them a little something. Sure. I don't mind that. But like if the whole focus of this is sex, it's not going to be sexy.

And I think that's a criticism of a lot of modern media in general is that it's not sexy. It's either so over-the-top sexed up that it's got no edge to it, or it's so sterile and not even a hint of any romanticism or intimacy that that's not there either. And it's like nobody can find that spot, that sweet spot.

And, you know, I've seen some things recently that, you know, like, Anora won the Oscar. We saw that in theaters. That really had that element of edge and danger and sex that was interesting without being just hardcore porn. Can we say porn on here?

ZO:

That's not the worst thing that’s been said on this podcast.

BF:

Corn emoji. Corn emoji. I mean, it's crazy. Literally. 1984 newspeak.

ZO:

I want to know more about the Memphis wrestling scene. How would you describe it?

ZO:

Memphis is a city known for grit and grind and hustle and we're a bunch of young, hungry wrestlers who are just trying to make it. And it's hard to tell us no. It's hard to tell somebody who's hungry enough no. Cause I'm not gonna quit. I'm not going to back down from anything.

So that's what I think is special about the Memphis wrestling scene is how hungry, how willing everybody is to be successful.

ZO:

I love that, and that's what I love about all the different kind of scenes is like, people just want to do their best and want to do their best work and have community and see where they can grow. And I guess that's a good segue to my last question, and my favorite question to ask is, if you had all the money and all the resources, what would be your dream project?

How big would you want Bobby Ford to get?

BF:

I love this city and I don't plan on leaving. First off, reopen Liberty Land. If you gave me all the money in the world, we'd reopen Liberty Land. That'd be the first order of business. We'd fix the Coliseum, and we would have wrestling there every Monday night. And we would feature the biggest talent we could.

We would do our best to make stars out of people. You know, a lot of people think it's a pipe dream, and it probably is. But you did say, if I had all the money in the world. As far as wrestling went, I guess if I had all the money in the world, I'd feed the poor and stop war but the creative side of it—

Yeah, that's what I want. I want wrestling to be the biggest deal it can locally, because it used to be such a huge part of the fabric of the city. Like if you listen to people of a certain age talk about wrestling in Memphis, it's like, “oh, Monday night we were at the Coliseum. Saturday morning, we were in front of the TV watching wrestling on TV.”

And, obviously things changed. You know, wrestling changed, the world changed. There's so much competition from other entertainment now. A lot of people would rather just sit on their couch and doom scroll and brain rot and watch reruns of The Office.

I hate The Office. Hot take, but, whatever, man. There's just so much going on in the real world. In real life. And we're running from it. We would rather couch rot and do nothing. And I think that that would be the dream is to get people out. I don't even care if it's just wrestling. Just get people out, get people involved with each other again, find community.

It's something that I think we are starting to struggle with. And I worry that it's only going to get worse with further advancement of technology. You know, I saw The Matrix.

ZO:

It's really a struggle because like—it has become an addiction to people. And, you know, as someone who's dealt with addiction, this might be the hardest one I've had—to think about having to give up my phone.

BF:

The instant dopamine release.

ZO:

And like we are also—not all, I don’t want to generalize—a lot of us get a lot of validation from likes and engagement on social media. Like you said, getting a reaction from the audience. That's a high in itself.

BF:

It's one you can seek constantly from the comfort of your own home. That's where it gets dangerous, you know? Because I can't hear you cheering for me from the couch.

ZO:

Well Instagram is about to release some voice thing, so maybe.

BF:

Oh, God.

Where to find Bobby

Instagram: @livewirebobbyford