Mike Samples

XXX: What is your name?

MS: My real name is Mike Samples.

XXX: Why did you decide to wrestle under your real name?

MS: Jerry Jarrett (former wrestler, father of Jeff Jarrett, and former owner of the USWA a.k.a. Memphis Wrestling) told me when I first started that I should just be myself, since there was really only one of me. So I took his advice.

XXX: How much do you weigh and what height are you?

MS: I weigh 270 lbs and I am 6 ft. 2 inches tall.

XXX: What age are you?

MS: I'll be 35 years old, this November 13th.

XXX: When did you start wrestling?

MS: I started training for wrestling in 1989 and started full-time wrestling in 1991.

XXX: What titles have you held?

MS: I have held titles in both the small independent organisations and the USWA. I am currently the heavyweight champ in a small organisation in Evansville Indiana called the HWF (stands for Hardcore Wrestling Federation)

XXX: What partners have you had during your career?

MS: I have teamed with many different people. Ron & Don Harris (Disciples Of Apocalypse in WWF) and I were partners in the USWA, "Nitemare" Danny Davis and I have teamed up a lot. I have been tag partners with Bill "Superstar" Dundee, and the list goes on and on.

XXX: What would you regard as your greatest moments in the squared circle?

MS: One of the greatest moments in the ring was back in 1992 when I was doing the take over of the USWA and I was in the final match for control of the company. I was wrestling the "promoter" 60 year old Eddie Marlin. We were in Nashville Tennessee at the fairgrounds arena, and the place was packed. I went to the ring first and waited (I was the heel). When Eddie Marlin came out, he got a standing ovation and the people were chanting his name, and the place was going wild. I had goose bumps and a lump in my throat. That was the first time that I realised how emotional you can get from a crowd, when things are done right.

XXX: And what would you regard as your worst moments?

MS: There have not been to many "worst moments", the only one that I can really remember is when Flash Flanagan set me on fire, in the ring, in 1993 and blistered my arm from top to bottom.

XXX: Who trained you?

MS: George Weingeroff, the son of the late well-known manager Saul Weingeroff actually started training me. George was the business partner with Randy Savage and Randy's family in the late 1980's here in Lexington, Kentucky. Later, Jerry Jarrett, the late Tojo Yamamoto, and others help to train me. I still learn things now.

XXX: Does your wrestling schedule allow time for a personal life?

MS: I do have a good personal life. I have had a very hectic schedule, in the past. With the USWA, we would usually be on the road 6 nights per week, but now, I build rings and wrestle 2 or three nights per week and spend plenty of time with my family.

XXX: Where is the nicest place wrestling has brought you?

MS: I have wrestled in some very great buildings, in front of many thousands of people, but the "best" place or places, for me really is when I wrestle in one of those small buildings. The buildings that only hold two or three hundred people and they are screaming and yelling and really enjoying themselves. I always want the fans to leave the building and say to themselves that they got more than their money's worth and had the best time ever.

XXX: What are your short-term and long-term goals?

MS: My short-term goals are basically the same as my long-term goals. We are starting to produce television out in Evansville Indiana (HWF) and I am a big part of that. I want to get that going well. I am also trying hard to go to JAPAN and wrestle on a regular basis. I am working on it now, but I have been working on it for a while. I know that if I could get over there, someone would take notice and want to use me all of the time. It is tough to get to Japan, but I am going to keep working on it, until it happens.

XXX: Thanks you very much for your time. You did this interview at short notice and were very helpful to me. So thanks you and Good Luck in your career and I hope you get what you want from wrestling.

MS: Thanks!