DALE PIERCE: When did you start wrestling and where?

KING MILO: I started wrestling in Tucson, Aarizona in January of 1997 as Milo Spicolli. I had just turned 17 the previous July and lied about my age. Somebody didn't show up, so I went into the ring with literally 10 minutes of training and in someone else's gear. It was scary. I wrestled Section 8 (Ron Sutherland) in my first match. I don't think it lasted a minute. He gave me one free shot, and I ran up and forearmed him in the back of the head. He then squashed me, including giving me an elbow of the top. After the match, people where impressed on how I took the elbow. I'm pretty sure it was because I didn't die.

DP: As someone working exclusively for indys, I assume you found some drawbacks. What were some of them?

KM: The money is one. I used to have this whole complex about wrestling being a performance art and about how it didn't matter what I got paid, as long as it was good art. That sure was dumb, because I was broke all of the time. I have had some good payoffs, though. I'd also say the entire partying scene can be a drawback when it gets out of control. It's also hard on relationships. Rats can be very tempting, if you know what I mean. The biggest is the daily pain you go through for the rest of your life. Once you've become a wrestler, nothing is the same anymore physically. Look at the Dynamite Kid, he's wheelchair bound and in his 40s.

DP: You also took some bad injuries.

KM: Yeah, I hurt my knee like 3 1/2 - 4 months in and took 1 1/2 month off to let it heal. I was a manager during that time, complete with cane to put over the injury. I came back for a nice run but ended up needing a scope after an injury at a Halloween show in 1997. I came back in December, and it was way too soon. I did well though, until April of 1998 when I injured my back and was supposed to take 20 weeks off. I took eight. I wasn't supposed to start to train until after eight, but I never stopped training. I just altered my plan a bit to take some pressure off my back.

I came back and went into a hot light heavyweight program but ended up hurting my back again and my neck three months later. I was told to do the WHOLE 20 weeks of rehab that time, and I did. I was going to comeback in early 1999, but by that time, the politics were too heavy.

Besides those three, I've broken or bruised all of my ribs, have a pointer in my hip, broken all my fingers and knuckles, had a staph infection in my left biceps, and suffered 24 concussions (11 in the ring). Yes, I do have brain damage from it, it something like 4.4%.

DP: Knowing what you know now, would you do it over again?

KM: I couldn't take any of it back, even though I feel 30 years older when I wake up in the morning. I mean, how many people in the world get to actually live out their dream, especially when you're young?

DP: Do you still plan to wrestle later down the road? Aren't you focusing on a T-shirt business or something now?

KM: I thought about doing one more match with my old tag team partner from the original (circa 1997) Triple X, Tiger Smith. I know he'd protect me. I just don't think I'm up to it.

Right now I'm focusing on Web and graphic design with the Fuchinkan crew. I'm the director (or co-director, depending on how I feel that day) of a co-operative of designers that do several different media projects, everything from Web sites to T-shirts. You can check us out at http://www.fuchinkan.com. The content on the site is pretty old (from June) but that's because we're in the middle of a total redesign. We've had a lot of projects this year, and it's a lot less stressful than the wrestling business. That's probably due to environment. Even though I'm punk rock through and through, a lot of people say we look like a bunch of bums, and our office looks like a bunch of hippies live there. I guess it doesn't matter, because we know how to dress when we go out to meetings, and we put out quality product.

DP: You started out with a guy named Ron Sutherland in Tucson and thought he was a pretty reliable promoter at the start, then you had a falling out. What happened?

KM: I don't know if I really thought that Ron was reliable when I started. I always took him for a "carnie-like" promoter. The first time I talked to him was in December of 1996. After one of his shows at this coffee house/under 18 nightclub, I called him up and asked for an announcing gig. I was all scared of the biz back then, and I knew I knew all this stuff, but I was too shy to communicate it. Nothing came of that conversation, but I did get a feel for what he was like.

A year latter, I was doing a wrestling fanzine. We covered WWF, WCW, ECW, and Northern indys. There was no coverage of Middle or Western America. So I heard that Ron had started up again at Tucson Greyhound Park. Since I had grown a lot more comfortable with talking to people both in and about the business, I decided to give Ron a call and blow smoke up his ass about how I would cover one of his shows in my sheet. The whole idea was to get access to the locker room, so I could talk to the other boys about what was up in the other 1/3 of the country and have Western, or at least Southwestern news, in the sheet, and to get some connections.

Well, when I got to the dog track, a carload of guys from California had no-showed. I was mad because I knew I definitely wanted to talk to some guys from Cali for my fanzine. I walked up to Ron, and went to say hi, when he pulled me aside from the group he was talking to and asked me if I wanted to work that night. I really don't know what he was thinking. I thought he had some plan to get me, a guy who runs a sheet, in the ring so he could beat the $-!- out of me.

He could tell I was going to say no, and then he said we'll pay you, you can go in the back and talk to the boys for your sheet, and if you do good, we'll let you come to school for free and make our programs and fliers. I finally said okay. That's how I got involved with Ron and started in the business.

After my first match I changed my name to King Milo. It was supposed to be a take off of the Moondogs but eventually became a Jerry Lawler rip-off. After my second match, I asked Ron if I could start commentating. I figured, I'll never get good at this wrestling stuff (or I'll just be a job guy), but everyone says I have a good voice, so I'll try anything in this business I can. That's where the King Milo gimmick really came into it's own. It was a ridiculous gimmick, too, but it seems to be the most memorable, probably because I kept the "King" surname after I dropped the gimmick.

After commentating a few shows, Ron and Navajo Warrior (well, Navajo Kid then), who were the bookers at the time, decided to build a stable around me and make me part-time announcer, part-time manager, part-time wrestler. I was just trying to figure out which part of what was going to fit in to where. I was run ragged between all three jobs, and somewhere in there, Ron started running down all the formats for the shows with me over the phone. My job was to take notes and type up the format. Then I had to get it printed up before the show. I had a lot of responsibility, and I wasn't even three months into the biz.

I eventually pulled a bunch of crap in my knee and had to be out a month and a half for rehab. I was kind of glad though, it meant I got a little time off. By this time, Ron and I were talking a lot about storylines, and I was pitching ideas to him, a lot of which he used. The week after my injury, Navajo quit being co-booker with Ron, and Ron made me "Assistant Booker." A week later I decided not to wrestle again. Then the territory really heated up. Navajo and Ron had done a great job before me, and Ron and I just took it to the next level. We drew some great crowds. We did a lot of interesting things. It was fun. Wrestling always is when it's hot.

Somehow in the middle of all this, I started running all the basic drills (rolling, back bumps, front flips, arm drags, etc.) at his "school" (the ring in his backyard.) I figured I knew how to do all that stuff, and it was good exercise. Then I just got deeper and deeper in the school. I started sparring with the guys off and on, and teaching them other moves I knew. Then Ron started showing me new moves. Then I started trying new moves I saw on tape that I thought I could do. Then I started going back to the gym. Before I knew it, I was training all over again. So dumbass me decides to start working again. The hot period continued on, even tough we lost the dog track in July of 1997. Then things started to go bad. We lost a sponsor and our advertising budget with it. Ron tried new things that didn't work. I tried to stick with the stories and characters that brought us to the dance, but after a while, with no fliers or commercials or hype at all, even people who like those/them quit coming. There was a big uproar, and I left in late July, came back on Halloween after enrolling in college, tore up my knee again, got off all the gas I had been on since I came back in May of 1997, and eventually came back in late December.

When I came back in December, I didn't want to book, even though I was asked. I ended up no-showing the next show (January) over a little dispute with Ron. It was my only no-show ever, except for one announcing gig that I'll explain later. I came back and everything was cool. He still wanted me to help on creative, and I pitched ideas about me and some of the guys I was close to or familiar with. I sat in on the meetings and told Ron what I thought of the angles. This whole time I was still announcing too. I think I did that just to have fun.

Anyway, after I hurt my back the first time, I had dropped to 176 pounds and was looking mean, but I was still small. I'm only 5'10 1/2", and in 1997 I had gotten up to 280 pounds (I had a lot of muscle, but I was fat, too.) Ron was still bugging me to book, so I said I would take the light heavyweight division, if he would let me create one. There were a lot of small guys coming out of Ron's school, and I figured I'd try them out. It was fun and well booked until Ron and I had another falling out in Fall of 1998. I decided, "screw it," and walked out on Ron one night after a show fell to pieces and everyone started going into business for himself or herself and shooting on people.

I hurt my back at that show. I did my rehab and was told I might need surgery, so in early 1999 (instead of coming back) I decided to take a year-long hiatus instead. I ended up graduating college with a two-year degree and started making Web sites as and independent contractor. It grew into a two-year hiatus, and then in March of 2000, I got into a real fight and got a concussion. When I stumbled around that night to unfold my futon, I fell though the frame and re-injured my back again and banged my already concussed head. I did the rehab again, but my back was never the same. It still hurts to this day, and I have to workout totally differently now. I ended up getting three more concussions at the end of that year (due to unnecessary real fights) and ended up with Post Concussion Syndrome. It sucked. My doctor pretty much told me to throw in the towel, or start working with a helmet on after that. I retired. It was the smart thing to do.

Then a guy named Greg Harris opened up the Wild West Xtreme wrestling office here in Tucson in mid-2001 with Ron. I made the call to Ron asking for work as announcer. He wanted me to help with creative too. He told me to call Greg. So I did, and Greg had seen old videos of me. Greg hired me right on the spot. I told him that Ron said something about me being on the creative team. Greg said that they had talked about it, and explained to me that he was the head writer. He said Ron had booked/written the first show, and he was going to go with that for now, because he wanted to get a feel for the crowd. Greg said that he was going to write the shows after that, with Ron's help and mine. I said I would work on creative as long as I worked under him as "Assistant Booker" and not Ron. We agreed to a deal and I was in.

Greg and I talked several times before the show, and finally met at the show. We clicked. A bunch of guys no-showed, so between Ron, Greg, and myself we booked the show right before bell time. I wished the show could've been better, but it was better than I thought it was going to be. Everybody got the right heat. The boys weren't hot-dogging as much. Everything was running about as smoothly as it could, considering the chaos, except for one thing--Ron. I really thought he had lost his mind. He had always come off as a carnie and tried to work people, but this time it was like he was on his own planet, even with the boys. The whole show was full of him stealing my mic and cutting promos about himself. It was like a commercial for Section 8 (Ron's ring name). It got so bad I duck taped the mic to my hand, on orders from Greg.

Afterwards, I watched the show and said Wow, all these young kids are out here busting their asses and getting huge pops, and Ron's been promo-ing his main event all night, and the crowd is almost dead for it, only cheering when I cue them on the mic. There's something wrong here. I talked to Greg that night at the crew party, and he told me there was a money fiasco between him and Ron. I felt sorry about getting paid for that show after all that happened, but like anybody in the biz who wants to get paid, I demanded my part up front, and the rest immediately after the show, which I got.

Anyway, Greg and I talked about the pluses and the minuses of the show. The one thing we knew at that point is that Ron wasn't a main event draw anymore (I knew that in 1998, but anyway. . . .) We knew it would be trouble to have him step down. We decided on a three-month storyline that would completely change the face of Tucson wrestling. We wanted to move some of the guys that had been here a while down the card and move some of the new guys, and the guys who hadn't got a chance yet, up; along with mixing in some big name talent. We approached Ron with several different ideas, a lot of them we were ready to go with, and he didn't like any of them. He thought the best way to do this storyline was to do the "Old School vs. New School" thing. He wanted the "Old Schoolers" to be bad-ass heels with me as their mouthpiece going against the young, hungry babyfaces. The only thing was that the faces never seemed to get over in his storyline. Since the worker Greg and I wanted to build around was the leader of the babyface team in Ron's storyline, we didn't like this idea either.

This went on for a month, with different "big names" and ideas thrown to Ron, but he wouldn't budge. He wanted HIS storyline. After awhile it felt like Greg and I were just pitching, like we we're "Assistant Bookers" to Ron! It was a totally different situation then the three of us had agreed on when I was brought on. I even offered to buy out Ron's part of the office and bring him on as mine and Greg's "Assistant Booker" at one point, just to settle the dispute.

Sometime, during all this mess, I was also made "Head of Talent Relations." There were problems when I took over the job, and I realized we didn't have as many people booked on the next show as we thought we did. Then there was more mix-ups because of a show in Yuma, and there ended up being a big miscommunication between Greg, me, and Ron. Ron got super pissed at me and bitched me out for an hour. I called Greg and told him what just happened. Greg was really mad that Ron yelled at me, because I was Greg's "Assistant Booker" and not Ron's, and I guess he had made that clear to Ron. Greg asked me not to quit, because he really wanted me to be part of this. Greg and I had become good friends, but I had to tell him it was me or Ron, and that I would buy out Ron's part of the office. Ron could still be on the creative team, and I would take on the extra responsibility, but this just had to end. I told him if Ron wouldn't take the offer I would still announce, and that Dumptruck Dawson was more than qualified to take over my other positions. Greg, instead, decided it was time to fold. Ron had just gotten to be too much for him. We talked about restarting later, but we just had a bad taste in our mouths.

So we decided to fold on September 11, 2001, the next day. Of course the world went to hell that day, but we finished up business, and Greg told Ron that he was folding his part of the office. Ron had the balls to call me later that day and left a message blaming me for "killing wrestling in Tucson." Yep, on September 11th. I was scheduled to announce in Yuma for John Luv later that weekend, but no-showed that because Ron was doing the show. Threats had gotten back to me that he was going to do something, and I didn't want any part of it. As far as I'm concerned, my creative relationship ended with Ron when WWX folded. I haven't talked to him since. I heard he got fired from his job and got a paper route with his dad.

DP: You also had some good matches, though, right? What were some of them?

KM: My most memorable singles match was with Tiger Smith in 1998 right when I started the light heavyweight division. Three shows after this show, Tiger was winning the CCW Heavyweight Title. It was his first run in Tucson as a heavyweight champ. Five shows after this show, I was winning the new light heavyweight strap. I wanted to put him over, but he decided it should be count out instead of pin. I kind of wanted to put him over clean, but I understand his logic. He was trying to protect me. There was a hell of an angle that went with it too.

I had a series with Morgan Watts too. Some of those matches were good as well.

There were a lot of guys I liked working with, too: Big Daddy AWOL/"Skull Krusher" Bill Bowden, Dumptruck Dawson, the Death Dealer, B.J. Darden, and Border Patrol (the Klansman), just to name a few.

I also have had a lot of memorable tag matches with Tiger as the original Triple X. Tiger and I just had a synergy with each other. I couldn't even pick one match as my favorite.

DP: What made you want to get into wrestling, anyway?

KM: I've been watching wrestling since I was two years old. I loved how Ric Flair popped a crowd. Okay, I guess the best answer other than that is at one point or another I've either wanted to have my own talk show, act, be in athletics, be in a band, and/or run my own business. Wrestling just seemed to put all of that together for me.

DP: What happened when you found out it wasn't as glamorous as it seemed? Was it a delusion?

KM: Never was a delusion. The first time you take any kind of blow in the ring, you know it's a lot more real than it seems. Just being out there looks way easier than it really is. My friend Jason was learning how to ref for a while back in the original dog track days, and he blew out one of his knees.

As far as the glamour went, hell I was there when they were cutting the access segments for TV (somehow I got co-producing credits for telling them what to put in the videos and to what music to use.) I saw (but won't admit to sleeping with) all the rats. Glamour, shit, there wasn't any! Hell, the Black Mamba and I used to swill Old Milwaukee out of cans in the back, and Mamba would be butt-ass naked. Glamour, boy that sure wasn't there. I don't really think it's really there in wrestling. Go look at any bands' rider. They get everything from beer, to liquor, to food, to f'ing Flintstone's vitamins, and condoms. It's enough to throw a party for at least 50, if not more. What do wrestlers get in the WWE? Catering. That's it. No free condoms. No free booze. No being left alone to God knows what before the show. There's the glamour of being a wrestler right there for you.

DP: Navajo Warrior is becoming a big name among indys. He has been to Japan and elsewhere. Didn't he get you aside and help give you some added training?

KM: Navajo and I met in 1996 when Ron was running at Gargoyles in '96. He would chat with me before shows and tell me about inside stuff up in NCW in Vegas. Cactus Jack worked there, and I was a mark for him, so I marked out for the promotion (even the bad stuff.) Hell, they had a Cactus Jack vs. Sabu match that was complete mayhem.

In 1997 when I broke in, he was the guy who started smarting me up. You're probably going to hate this, but he was the guy I would get the Observer from and make copies for people when I was Xeroxing formats and stuff. It wasn't about that, though. He smartened me up to the game in Southern Arizona. It was the "wild, wild west" out here. He taught me how to watch my back and how to think in the business. He taught me a lot of new move sets too, and even taught me the Indian Deathlock. I added the bridge chin lock (ala Keiji Mutoh) to it and used it during my matches sometimes. I called it the Milola, a take off of Mutoh's Mutala (which was that move.)

He helped me a lot on the creative side as well. He showed me how to format my ideas into wrestling segments, and how to tell stories with matches. He was brought up real old school, and I like that. That's mainly how I book, but with more of an edge. I think I protect my character's faults a little better as well, but he kills me when it comes to on-the-fly stuff. He knows how to throw something into a show, no matter how little it is, that wasn't planned out until the day of the show. Sometimes it changed the whole direction of booking, in a good way. My strong suite was always turning old angles that I've seen in the last 20 years into new material, with aspects of modern day pop culture. I rely on what the crowd wants to see, and I figure out a good story in that direction and see if they go there. Navajo can tell in the first minute of the first match what the crowd wants to see. Then he's able to change minor things around in the format while the show is going on to please the crowd. It's awesome. Then after we would talk about the show, and we could change directions of storylines and what not. He was an awesome teacher. Ron wasn't that bad either, until he became the total promotion machine, but he did know how to book angles to draw a lot of heat.

Just being around Navajo is a learning experience. He's one of the most genuine people I have ever met in this business, and one of the best minds. He should really be somewhere else doing something, but what do you do with a jack-of-all-trades? Believe me, that guy can do it all at some level. He had his hat in everything, and that's exactly what I wanted to do. Not only was he a great teacher, but at a level of talent all his own, and a good friend.

DP: Did you ever wrestle him?

KM: We wrestled on a lot of cards and sparred a lot, but no. We were in one tag team match together, it was Navajo Kid & the Triple X (heavyweight & tag champs) vs. Section 8, Big Daddy AWOL, and someone else, maybe "The Russian" Ivan Volkoff (or whatever name he using in our town.)

DP: On the current indy scene, are there any wrestlers you respect or think fans would enjoy watching?

KM: On the US scene, I really like Michael Modest. He's old school meat and potatoes. Chris Daniels is a cult hero now, but still worth every bit of your money to watch. The OVW show is good as well. Jim Cornette does a lot with that, and there's a lot of good talent there right now. Damaja, just to name one. The guy who wrestles as The Profit here in Tucson also impresses the hell out of me, and though he's still a little green and doesn't work out in a ring 3-4 times a week practicing, he's still good. If he could get more work out here and devote more of his time to wrestling, he'd probably be on the level of a Rising Son, who I also like. I saw a Nozawa's run through Cali (on video tape) one night at a friend's house, and he's great too. B.J. Payne, who is in OVW and the Mid-South area, is also really good. A Phoenix guy named Chainsaw is also pretty enjoyable to watch and getting better all the time. I'll always love watching Black Mamba matches. There's nothing like a cross between the Sheik and Iceman Parsons. The Ballard Brothers are awesome as well. B. Brian Blair and some of the other vets have had some great matches down in Florida. The New York/Pennsylvania/New Jersey area is so full of talent right now that they're driving to Nashville to get on TV. For the first time in a couple of years, most all of the indys have something to watch on their tapes and be very entertained.

DP: What WWE stars do you respect? Have you ever met or worked with any?

KM: Who do I respect in the WWE? Hmmm. . . .

Kurt Angle is at the top of my list, just because he's impressed the hell out of me. Gold medallist, WWE main evener, lightest NCAA Super Heavyweight Champion ever. Hell, you got to respect that. Lance Storm, because he's so damn talented and one of the only guys that I'm 100% sure of who isn't on the gas. Chris Beniot, for a lot of influence and for all the crap he's put up with for the last part of his career. Tommy Dreamer and Ric Flair, who along with Terry Funk will die in the ring. Those are the ones who come right off the top of my head. I actually probably respect all of the people in the WWE a little for some reason or another.

As for who've I met in the WWE, or in the business itself for that fact? Well I've met Navajo who did jobs there. I've worked on a show with Honky Tonk Man and met him. I actually MC'd his part in the show. Don Frye has punched me in the chest both on and off camera and has pushed me down. It all hurt. I was a fool for messing with him on commentary once, and he's never liked me since. I'm a casual friend with Reggie Parks, the guy who used to make the belts for the WWF. He also used to work back in the day. I worked on shows with both Dan Severn and Becky Levi. There's probably more, but that's who comes to mind right now. I've talked over the phone with all kinds of workers all over the place as well, getting stuff for my old sheet or trading tapes like we all used to "back in the day." The whole "you send me your tape, and I'll send you mine thing." I like seeing as much wrestling as I can, so I'm better at writing angles and shows and whatever. Every wrestling show can teach you something you didn't know. Hell, I used to have a "finish book" back in the day. Every finish, angle, or thing I found interesting about every wrestling show I watched, I wrote down.

As far as work with them, only getting roughed up by Don, tagging with Navajo, and being in Severn's corner with Levi once. I didn't want to actually work with any big guys. I don't mind doing little angles with them, like I did with Frye and Severn, but I have the mindset that "if they're not here to work with you and give you the rub, then don't work with them." I don't want to take money out of the promotion's or the guy the "big name" is supposed to be working with's pocket. Everything is a cycle to make money in this business, and I was better at writing the scenario then actually being in it.

DP: Did you ever try to book yourself in the bigger outfits?

KM: I got offers of backstage and creative help for a few other promotions, but my decision to go to college killed a lot of that, and I was young and didn't want the responsibility of another thing on my plate. Also, the travel would've been hell sometimes, and I don't think my time was worth what I was making all together in my life anyway, especially with the student loan cloud looming over your head.

DP: Didn't Dan Severn do a spot or two for you all in Tucson? What was he like?

KM: As I mentioned before, he has come through. He's a very quiet guy with his own opinions on the business. I have different opinions. I respect him, but I don't think we'd ever go out for beers. I don't even know if he actually even drinks. He's a nice enough guy though.

DP: Wasn't his lady shoot fighter, Becky Levi, on some cards?

KM: Yep. She even came to watch us work out once. It was the same session Ron taught me how to blade for a big match that weekend. It grossed her out. After that she never really talked to me much. I think she talked to Ron only because she had to. Again very quiet, but a nice enough person as well.

DP: You both managed and wrestled. Which did you prefer?

KM: Bobby Heenan says: Wrestle like a manger and manage like a wrestler when you're a manager, and I lived by that when I managed. I don't really know how to answers this question, because I enjoyed both so much. There were fewer bumps as a manager, but I also enjoyed the athletics of actually wrestling. I had more fun character-wise as a manger, because I got to be so outlandish. Who in the hell else gets to runs around with a cane and a cardboard Burger King crown, in Dickies overalls, proclaiming to be the King of Tucson? Still to this day, I can't believe that got over. On the other hand, I loved telling a story in the ring with actual wrestling. See, I really think it's a toss up; I was pretty effective and had fun with both.

DP: Didn't you run a fan sheet at one time? Is it still around, or do you plan to do it again?

KM: No, it went out of print when I broke into the business. I am going to be starting a new wrestling Web site, which will be hosted on the fuchinkan.com business site, based off my old indy hot line in New York. Fuchinkan.com's Wrestling Underground. Check for it at fuchinkan.com soon.

DP: Do you have a Web page?

KM: Okay, my business is at http://www.fuchinkan.com. The official Milo Watson Web site, to be up (hopefully) in March of 2003, will be at http://www.fuchinkan.com/milo. The aforementioned indy-based wrestling site will open some time next year. I also have written a few articles under my real name (Lewis Feinman) over at http://www.wrestlingprofessor.com. There's the low down on me on the Web.

DP: As an indy guy who learned the hard way about a lot of drawbacks, what advice would you give other new wrestlers to avoid these problems?

KM: RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN! THROW OUT EVERY SORT OF MEDIA YOU HAVE, AND GO LIVE IN A SHACK IN THE WILDERNESS LIKE THE UNABOMBER! DO NOT--I REPEAT DO NOT--GET BIT BY THIS BUG! THERE IS NO CURE FOR IT!

Seriously, try hard, don't give up, and play to your strong suits. Don't do dumb shit just because you can. Trust only those that would fight for you. Oh yeah, and "it's not what you make, it's what you save." Live by that one.

DP: Do you want to say anything about steroid abuse? How do you feel about it? Is it a problem with indys?

KM: It's somewhat of a problem in the indys. There's a lot to say about the subject, but my advice is don't do it at all. That's from experience. Workout, get your vitamins, learn your craft, and eventually you'll either become a really good wrestler, the size you want to be, or both. It just takes a lot of dedication.

DP: Do you have a Web page or a place where fans can reach you?

KM: For right now, you can send e-mail to milo@fuchinkan.com. Easier access to me will be available when the official site is finished. We're working on it right now.

DP: Weren't you considering trying to run in Tucson, Arizona, or do you think the town has been burned too badly?

KM: I tried to get some things going, but they never panned out. It was mainly due to investors and faulty business plans. I do have plans to start running sometime in 2003 hopefully, and I'm working on that business plan as well. I'm also trying to get people from the business that want to contribute their time to get together and do a "Superstar" Billy Graham Benefit Show up in Phoenix, Arizona. I want to make it feel like it's some sort of event for the workers, and give everyone a chance to help out Billy. He inspired me to grab a microphone. Anyone who's interested can contact me at the aforementioned e-mail address (milo@fuchinkan.com) if you want to help out. We still need more experienced workers, managers. . . hell, if you're in the business, show up, we'll put you to work in some way.

DP: How do you feel about backyard wrestlers? A training ground or a dangerous trend?

KM: Dangerous, dangerous trend. I can teach a monkey to hit someone with a chair (I think Mike Modest or Chris Daniels said that once) and that is the truth. If that's all they were doing, that would be fine, but I see everything from piledrivers to neckbreakers to people flying off the roofs of houses into broken glass and barbed wire.

Don't get me wrong, everyone backyard wrestles as a kid, and 90% of kids just do holds like headlocks and figure fours. This extreme backyard bull crap isn't that. It's kids thinking that it's cool to do all this stuff for a pop from their neighbors. Most of those guys don't even make money either. It's just stupid to me. I've had my fair share of bumps, bruises, and injuries, and at least I got paid.

DP: Closing comments?

KM: Just thanks a lot for dusting my name off and putting me back in the know. I'm still out here waiting and weighing my options on what to do next in the business. That was a lot of good research and it brought up a lot of old memories. Oh yeah, and hi to that special girl in my life, you know who you are. Anyway, thanks a lot! Also, thank you Dale for taking the time to do an interview with me. It means a lot.