Hey SoCalUNCENSORED readers this is Lauren’s Lowdown and I was able to get a special interview for you all. You’ve seen him at shows in the middle of all the action, you’ve heard the crowd Call him King or boo him, you’ve seen him be knocked out by some of the wrestlers, you may have seen him in a match, you know him by his White and Black striped shirt, you know him as Referee Justin Borden. I’ve recently had the pleasure of doing an interview with him and getting the inside scoop of what happens in the ring and about his job as referee.
1- I like to start out my interviews with how are you tonight?
JB: A little tired but I’m doing well
2- You’re one of the main refs in CA, how did you get into refereeing?
JB: It’s a funny story actually, I got in by accident. I had no intention of refereeing or being involved with the wrestling business. I was just a fan. There was actually a promotion run by Candice LeRae who had an excellent match tonight, one of the best matches I’ve seen her have. She’s had many good matches. Her family was running a promotion out in Riverside called UWC. I started going tot he show as a fan to support. One day they asked me “Hey can you ref?” I was like “Sure, I don’t know how.” So they gave me a ref shirt and told me to go by instinct and stuff like that because they know I knew a lot about wrestling. I know the rules. That was in 2003.
3- What’s the most difficult thing about being a ref?
JB: I would say positioning. You never wanna get in the way of the gentlemen or ladies in action. The thing about it is that you can hurt somebody by being in the wrong position in the wrong way. It’s all about taking care of each other in the ring the best that you can, you can really hurt somebody. It’s all about positioning and being there in the right time.
4- What was the most intense match that you’ve ever reffed?
JB: There’s two: TJ Perkins and Ryan Taylor title VS title…Title on a pole match at EWF in 2007 or 2008… Both Gentlemen never had a match like that. It was pretty much a ladder match but there was two belts on the line the NWA Heritage Title and the EWF Title and it was out of their element. It was a very tough match to ref. I’ve done death matches too. I’ve been there and had to count on broken glass and stuff like that. I got BC Killer VS Carnage and when you’re counting and your hands meet broken glass as well as thumbtacks it’s not fun.
5- I know there’s been a few promotions where you were the only ref for all matches at the show how difficult was that?
JB: It’s not difficult it’s just really tiring I wont lie about that. You try to be as professional as you can and just do it. Make sure you have a lot of water and fluids. I’ve done this countless times. There’s one time I did this back to back. I think one show was IWL that I did 9 matches or 10 on a Friday. Then the next day in San Bernadino for EWF in the summer I had to do one out in the hot sun in 100 degree plus weather. It was like another 9 matches. It’s tough definitely mentally and physically. I’m not in the greatest physical shape but if I need to go I can go.
6- Do you prefer to referee indoor shows or outdoor?
JB: I prefer indoor, It’s more small. Though I’ve reffed bigger arenas that fit like 15,000 people. The most I’ve ever reffed in front of was 7500. I like indoor though because of the lighting and the smoke and stuff like that is fun. In outdoor shows when the sun is beating down on you it gets difficult at times.
7- Is it difficult to keep track of everything going on when it’s like tag team action or basically any match with more than two people?
JB: Sometimes it can be difficult. You just have to control it as much as possible. You can’t always see everything. It can be difficult especially when you have like a ten man tag team match. The main thing is just being there for the three count or the submission finish. It all becomes lucha at one time.
8- Do guys that have manager’s accompany them to the ring make things more difficult for you?
JB: It can especially when you have good managers that know how to take the opportunity at a good time. You give em a few seconds and whether you can prove it or not you know they’ve done something. The more sneakier the manager the harder it is to work with. They can make you look like a fool at times. You give them a two second warning and who knows what they do in those two seconds.
9- I know a lot of wrestlers don’t respect all the calls that you make, does that make is hard to be a ref?
JB: Oh yes.
10- How does it feel when the crowd boos you or yells things due to a call you’ve made?
JB: It depends on the crowd, I’ve actually had a show in Vegas where there was a bad call and I got booed out by a lot of fans there was like 7500 hundred there so a few of them. I was doing a show at EWF once and it was Sky VS Taylor and I got booed out of the building. I was probably the most hated person there that day.
11- Have you ever been bias in calling a match, or ever favored one opponent over the other?
JB: No but I am good friends with TJ Perkins so I always enjoy doing those matches but when I do I am unbiased about that. I gotta be impartial and call it down the line.
12. What’s the worst thing that a wrestler has ever done to you?
JB: I’ve been super kicked and high kicked at the same time. Actually when I first started my career off Jarek Matthews hit me with a chair and there was a black widow on the chair. It was the first time I’d gotten hit in the head so I wasn’t feeling too great and there was a black widow on the chair right above my head the other ref actually had to come pull me out and what’s funny is that the black widow was so big, and I kid you not, the camera angle from 30 ft away could see the black widow on the camera so it was the worst thing I’ve ever done.
13- In those times when you do get knocked out, when you start coming to do you really know what’s going on, do you really know where you are?
JB: It just depends on the blow, sometimes you’re vision is blurry and other times you’re just kinda shook up and gotta shake it off. It just depends on what happens to you. Sometimes it’s your neck that gets hurt, sometimes it’s your head you never know. Most times you make a conscious decision but you get dazed for sure.
14- How do you like refereeing matches between female CA Wrestlers?
JB: It’s different but I enjoy it. Especially when you have two ladies like today. Hudson Envy whose an up and comer and Candice LeRae who set the bar here in socal for Womens Wrestling. They put this kind of performance out and it’s enjoyable. Sometimes it’s not the prettiest thing in the world even though they’re pretty in the ring. I don’t mind, I’ve seen some of the toughest things. Amanda and Thunder kitty had many matches that were brutal. I’ve actually had a death match between the two of them. I’ve actually had some pretty technical ones too. The one tonight reminds me of the match I had with Candice winning the AWS title back from Christina Von Eerie the swinging neck breaker from the top of the cage onto thumbtacks. Women are tough.
15- Do you have a favorite type of match to officiate?
JB: I like something that pushes the wrestlers to their limits. It could be an iron man match, two of three falls match, or something like a steel cage. Something where you know a wrestler is pushed to their limits. At the end they’ve given their all with nothing left to give. Even the loser, unfortunately there has to be a loser but the effort that they give there is amazing.
16- What’s the weirdest match stipulation you’ve ever had to officiate?
JB: When I started with EWF in 2005 I had a country jamboree match and it was, the refs there was some outside then a main ref that made the count but you made the count from outside and it was a five count that was made by slapping the mat but you had to have the opponent completely still and grounded before it started…Yeah that’s the first and only time I’ll ref a match like that. If I get asked to do it again I’ll probably give it to someone else
(laughter)
17- I know that you’ve recently been in a match yourself, what was that experience like?
JB: I had two in less than a year. Last December I was in a tag match me and my good friend so cal crazy. We were called team tacos we were against the santinos. I pulled a victory over Tito Escondido thank you. It was different going from a referee into wrestling it’s a total different atmosphere but I did enjoy. I give credit to my team and everyone involved in the match. They took care of me. Of course I had one here at AWS a couple months back. I defended my belt, if you don’t know me I have my own wrestling belt and I defended it. So on record I’m the first ref to ever defend a referee belt in a wrestling match. In the end it was against Ruben Iglesias he put up a good fight. I was a second to Tito Escondido it was one of those if you can’t beat em join em type things. Tito was my bodyguard he was there to have my back. I actually was a heel. In the end Ruben thought he had it by DQ but I used my referee authority to reverse the decision and put myself as the winner so that’s the perks of being a ref you can make decisions like that.
18- Would you want to do that again or do you prefer refereeing?
JB: Of course. I would do it again. Not full time but it is something different and I do enjoy it. Maybe bring team tacos back one more time. I’m up for it, in Bart’s Lethal lottery you never know what could happen. I’ll throw my hat in again and you never know I could get a match against Terex. I was quivering when I knew I had a chance to go against him or Mikey O’ Shea. Ruben is no slosh himself but I was glad I wasn’t going against one of those monsters.
19- Would you ever try anything like announcing or interviewing?
JB: As you can tell with my voice almost gone my voice isn’t too great. Not so much announcing I might do interviewing. By far I wouldn’t be as good as you interviewing wise but I wouldn’t mind trying it maybe short Q & A here and there.
20- What’s the farthest you’ve ever had to travel for a refereeing gig?
JB: Oregon. I got invited a few times to Florida but nothing ever came out of that. I still actually want to eventually go to Japan one time before I retire I want to do one match there. Ref not wrestle.
21- What are the main promotions we can almost always find you at?
JB: I would say EWF which is my home base since 2005 and AWS since 06 and 07. Those are the main ones but you can see me pretty much everywhere. I do PWG , I work IWL now, LAW, PPP, QPW, and WPW. I was main ref at LCW, APEX Pro. You can pretty much see me everywhere. But my main thing will always be UWC where I started with Candice LeRae
22- Is there a promotion that you would like to referee for?
JB: Japan probably.
23- Now there are times during a show when things get completely out of hand and the wrestlers are just going at it, how do you and the other refs in the back know when to come out and try to contain the situation?
JB: When you feel like the ref that’s in the ring or the fans might be in danger you definitely want to control it. You don’t want them to get hurt. Wrestling itself is a brotherhood you look out for each other with it. Take care of your fellow refs, wrestlers and fans.
24- You’ve been given the nickname “King Justin” due to a Halloween costume that you once wore, how do you like that nickname?
JB: It’s fine. I did something different, with my side burns it worked. I wanted an alter ego that’s why I came out with it. That’s why I have the ref belt at PWG they called me Elvis. They actually cussed me out once cause I cut my hair and if I go back they’ll probably do it again because it’s been cut. Like I said though it stuck with me and I enjoyed it. I’m in the process of making another one which you’ll probably see at the next Halloween show.
25- Now, backstage in the locker room, do you get respect from the guys or is it different because you’re a ref?
JB: I think I get respect from pretty much everybody. when you first come up though you don’t get respect you have to earn it. When I first started a lot of guys didn’t want to work with me but now I have guys requesting me. I always say wrestling is like baseball, if you have a good pitcher and he has a catcher he likes, that catcher will always have a career similar to wrestling. TJ Perkins taught me a lot of things cause he like me reffing his matches so he requested me to ref his matches for awhile and got me exposure and a lot of respect at places.
26- Okay, just for fun…Do you have a funny or entertaining story that’s happened to you at a show before?
JB: Someone stole my dragon ball Z shirt one time which resulted in me doing a video on them. Look it up it’s called Roger Mays for SlamWOW. That was my first video.
27- What can we hope to expect from Justin Borden in the future?
JB: Retirement
(laughter)
JB: Actually you can see me a little less. I’m going back to school to get a second Masters degree. I’m starting that in September. You’ll see me around but probably a little less. Not because I wont get booked but because of my schedule. It’ll always be part of me and I’ll always enjoy it. It’s not that my heart’s not there or I don’t enjoy it, It’s just that I’m getting older and my body gets banged up like wrestlers do though not to that extent. I’ve had injuries but never taken time off except for like 6 days. You’ll still see me around just less often.
28- Do you have advice for anyone that aspires to be a referee?
JB: I would say train to be a referee. I never had any formal training but for new ones I think you need to train. Also don’t take things personal, sometimes people don’t get to ref because people don’t request them. Maybe they aren’t ready for them. Just respect them and respect the wrestlers. Train and be open eared. Even I am open to criticism to this day about certain things, at certain times people aren’t open to that but no ones perfect, we all make mistakes. Rick Knox is the best around but everyone has off days even himself. I have off days. Just understand that too. Be professional as much as you can both inside and outside the ring.
I’d like to thank Justin for taking the time to do this interview and share with us all the inside scoop of being the man in the striped shirt in the middle of the ring. You can see Justin at some upcoming wrestling shows and if you like to know more about him you can follow him at:
https://www.facebook.com/justin.borden.98?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/themainref123
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this interview or check out the site in general. Your appreciation is everything!
