Michael Ayers was a referee in the first four reboot era seasons BattleBots, last appearing in World Championship IV. He also served as senior vice-president for BattleBots for a number of years[1], and was an on-camera interviewer during the untelevised 2009 Championships.[2]
Much like fellow referees, his role within the show included but were not limited to ensuring a competing team were abiding by the rules, counting down immobile robots, calling a pause in the fight if unsticks were necessary between bots, and calling the end of the fight.
Like fellow referee John Remar, Michael Ayers became known within the BattleBots community for his insistence on seeing movement from teams before threatening a count-out. He would occasionally jest with teams while remaining impartial, notably telling Razorback builder Zack Bieber that he would have to count him out if Bronco did not push his bot back on its wheels, safe in the knowledge that Razorback had become stuck in what Chris Rose called "a million-to-one" position.
Michael Ayers counts Razorback out during World Championship II.
Michael Ayers was absent for the 2020 season of BattleBots, though the referee roles were fulfilled by John Remar and David Sanfilippo.
On July 29 2021, it was announced that Michael Ayers had sadly passed away, with tributes led by referees John Remar and David Sanfilippo as well as an array of BattleBots competitors, crew and fans.[3]
Outside BattleBots[]
A University of Akron graduate and Vietnam War veteran, Michael Ayers held more than three decades of sales and sales management experience, joining internet domain name hosting business TABNet in 1997.
In 2004, he worked with two of TABNet's founders to launch ScanAlert which was purchased by McAfee four years later for $51 million. This led to the business development role he held during his time with BattleBots. He also worked as a stand-up comedian and dog rescuer in his spare time.