Last Man Standing OOC :: 2x Mark Person of the Year :: Jon Katz

w/ the co-winner in 2004 and winner in 2005 of The Mark Award for Person of the Year Jon Katz, handler of Craig Miles and Mike Randalls, co-owner of New Frontier Wrestling

Russel Harder: So where are you living these days?

Jon Katz: Is this for the interview?

RH: Yeah, I'm going to start off the beaten path and then vier into eWrestling and writing. California, right?

JK: I'm living with 3 Sherpas and a communist llama on the top of Mt. Washington.

RH: When I said vier, I didn't mean to the top of Mt. Washington.

JK: Hey, you asked!

RH: I just wasn't aware that you where leaning towards communism.

JK: Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not, that's the llama. I also don't want to receive any hate mail.

RH: Ah, right. Though how can the man of the year for 2004 and 2005 get hate mail, especially since he's so popular amongst a select group of people on the internet.

JK: Read the last 7 words please. On a side note, I didn't have a baby with Devin or Renner. That was completely yourself, and I'm still shocked a Canadian would start rumors like that.

RH: Lord knows that'd at least be an entertaining love child with unfortunate hair, and a pension for Mega Man and juice boxes.

JK: We'd see the first battle rap ever created for Kool-Aid vs. Hawaiian Punch.

RH: I enjoyed the two nights of Wrestlebowl 2, by the way. Craig Miles and Eddie Mayfield, how long had that been planned in advance?

JK: . . . before Season 2 started. (laughter) Around 4 weeks into the angle. . . I had an epiphany of how it should end. After every handler hated the cage exploding during the Season 1 All-Star Week, it just made sense. Well, not every handler. . . A lot of people were confused. . . we were pretty sure that everything would lead to Miles vs. Mayfield I Quit, Miles' stake in NFW on the line. We just didn't know the ending until a few weeks into writing it. People's reactions, as well as the thought of what would nobody see coming just made it seem like a good thing to do. When the fWo started fading, I just expanded the logistics of how everything tied together. . . and why Miles would do what he did. The unfortunate part is not telling the fWo half, 'cause there's a lot that was to be done with Deacon and Miles dealing with severe consequences.

RH: So there was planned story crossover between Miles/Mayfield and Miles/Deacon? Or just Miles mindset through this whole time?

JK: Well, the stories were inter-related already. After the riots for fWo, there were a lot of possibilities out there. Nothing was ever set in concrete, but what if Miles had to explain to everyone that Silver Fox had originally ok'd the angle before getting kidnapped? Or he could've explained it if certain people died like planned. Mayfield was never coming to fWo, but with Miles destroying the locker room and political structure. . . there was definitely a lot of writing material, and backlash from people like Rana Venenosa.

RH: Right. Can you say anything more about the fWo plans that never came to fruition? Or is that something that you'd rather keep quiet and close to the vest, since the fWo could inevitably come back.

JK: I can talk about Miles, ideas that I had that obviously aren't going to happen. . . but there's things that would be in bad faith, if I talked about.

"I'd rather see Randalls win the match, but Miles rule the world."

RH: Quite true, understood. Back to NFW, and Wrestlebowl 2. The two shows got quite a nice reaction, and NFW 3.0 is looking just as strong as some of the other top feds in the hobby, at the moment. This is even before the first show of the new NFW is posted, as well.

JK: Thanks, I'm excited for 3.0 and relieved 2.0 even finished. (laughter)

RH: Speaking of which, do you think the pace of Season 2 negatively affected those final shows? Or has time between shows become common place enough in the hobby, or at least in NFW? The credits of the shows certainly show how much writing you'd put into the fed by the end, to produce the shows in any amount of time.

JK: Well. . . NFW hasn't had luck with matchwriting 'cause people were always RPing a bunch. Also, 2.0's pace wasn't helped by its continual turnover and general flaking by people from the fWo/tSC parts of the world that were losing their steam. The playoffs were delayed because I moved across the country, got a new job. But McNichols was always timely with the East, so if we had enough people from the West jumping in and saying they'd help. . . it would've been a lot quicker this season. Unfortunately, most of them were pretty f'n busy. . . and others were hard to get in touch with. As for Wrestlebowl 2. . . 'cause we had an off-season following, I didn't really care about the time it took to post. 3.0 will be majorly different. I'm not even scheduling Crash's without having enough people signed up to write a match. Otherwise, the fed can expect to see alot of short-form results.

RH: Still planning on running a two show format?

JK: Nope, we're expanding the concept of ESEN and NFW working together through different media markets. To help integrate your typical skilled fWo/tSC/angle writer, we'll be doing House Shows that are reported by NFW: The Brawl, a radio show/web presence that's hosted by Hellmachine, a former NFW tag team. Their creator Jon Morris first created the concept back in 2000-2001, but it was only on the radio. As far as television goes, we'll only be doing CRASH TV's as our 'normal' TV show, while adding in SUPERCrash's and PPV's.

I'm sorry I'm not mentioning ACW or LoC as an angle reference, but I wrote a little bit more for fWo and tSC so its just easier for me to remember.

RH: I understand what you're saying. It's like if you where going to reference roleplaying, you'd bring up the FW side of things before PTC. It's just more a home base, a familiar shorthand, as opposed to a slight.

JK: Exactly.

RH: Would you ever look to handle in a PRIME or within a PTC competition (ecspecially now that they're open to everyone)?

JK: If Hoyt Williams were champion and Al wouldn't get offended with a man wearing a Johnny Cash mask. . . it could've happened. Actually, I just did the IG33 Trash Talk competition. Mainly to make sure Seth was kept grounded and beaten like a mangy dog. I'm hoping Hunchblack wins, so I can write an NFW highlight with Miles helping him Rocket Launcher Senton Silver for the win.

RH: How powerful a weapon is controversy to even an eW character, in your opinion? And I mean just as much in-character, if not more, then anything that happens OOC. I ask this because you've seemed kind of surprised of the popularity of Craig Miles. I character that seems to thrive off controversial happenings.

JK: I don't think controversy helps anyone unless other people in the fed are selling it. I guess that COULD be used OOC as well, but that's just a mean fed. (laughter) Craig Miles' popularity. . . or the ten people that read him (thanks guys!) has always been built on who he's railing against. Deacon and Miles' build-up was loosely based on Jerry Lawler fighting for a motorcycle jacket as one of his all-time greatest Memphis era feuds. But everything that got built around that was from all the other handlers wanting to get involved, or just figuring out how to make the Internet Title entertaining. The Heel Academy was born out of RJ wanting Bowman to 'learn' being a heel and me randomly writing it out. My goal in the fWo during the beginning was to get involved from the lowest-tier to the highest-tier. I don't even know why Miles should've held the Internet Title, in hindsight. . . that would've been the greatest part of his run. But there were alot of handlers that through their names in the hat, so Miles' popularity should be attributed to people like Don, Renner, Ford, Pants that put over Miles as a certain character. Even Jeff was cool enough to not job me. . .and that was all after Deacon without main eventing anything.

RH: Right, everyone wants a fun writing enviornment. Do you have an idea of how many characters are 'part' of The Heel Academy? I know I even got Alias involved, because I loved the idea.

JK: How many? (laughter) . . . I'd say there's 50 students, but very few Masters.

RH: You've gotta have the three Masters written down and posted to your desk, no?

JK: Well, there's Miles and Mayfield. . . I'm sure they'd give one to Randalls out of complete fear, but find some loophole to ban him.

RH: Rana?

JK: I could see Guns having one. . . Rana is still a student. Of course, Rana was the focus of my plan. . . until the riots. I wanted to run a Round-Robin tournament that led to a Countdown Zero, Miles or Flyer walking out World Champion. Of course. . . things kinda didn't get past those riots. (laughter)

RH: Those riots. Where they an unplanned thing (coming up not that far in advance, I mean), designed to give the fed a storylined break that just became longer then expected?

JK: Oh, they were planned. Too many handlers had that confused response that led to NFW West's same sluggishness.

RH: Was it the lack of communication, around what was planned out after either of the riots?

JK: Some people think too much about what they're supposed to write in angle feds. . .

RH: They just forget to riff.

JK: Of course, a lot of people had real-life to deal with. If Travis had time to actively run the fed, people would join quickly. . . but I know how hard staying active is and the consequences of not having enough people in tune with your brain to write what you want.

RH: Do you have a favorite character of your own, at this point? You seem to be writing more Miles then Randalls these days, but that could be an off-shot of the stories that've snowballed with him in the center.

JK: Well, Randalls' locker room was pretty active during Night 2. <.< To answer the actual question, I'd rather see Randalls win the match, but Miles rule the world.

RH: I like how that sounds. Who are the people that've affected your growth most as a handler and fed head?

JK: Chad Merritt, Stephen Thomas, Jamar Nicholas, Gregg Gethard, Pete Russo and myself may be looked back on as the Sinister Six. My favorite writer of all-time will always be Jamar, followed by CS. I think those three are who I look at when constructing stories for a fed. Any NFW handler has made me a better fed head, and somehow I've been lucky to get a lot of good ones.

As far as my tSC/fWo/otherworldly adventures: Renner, Ford, Don, Pants were the biggest forces behind making Miles. You, Pants, Devin actually sold Randalls for what he was supposed to be at different times. . .and Travis for the beers, laughs and key to the Matrix.

Ric Byrne also rocked, as did my Halo teammates, Huph and Kevin. . . .and Warren, the opener of Pandora's Box ironically. Warren should be added to the biggest forces list obviously too, but he had to go and win the World Title without me.

RH: To be followed by Ford going and winning the World Title without you.

JK: Yeah, well. . . it was actually a shame the fWo ended without him getting a chance to run with the title. Of course, he gets to be the last champ. . . or next one if Travis ever returns from his ninja wars.

RH: Damn ninja wars. Hey, I'll always be a big supporter of an fWo comeback. I mean, it was what drew me into the hobby. You came into the hobby through, gasp, Prodigy, right?

JK: Yessir.

RH: How did that come about, running into Merritt and the boys?

JK: They had first started running an interfed of leagues with EN: CSWA, EN: SLWA . . .anyway, I had stopped trying to run one and joined SLWA with "Devastating" Mike Randalls. . . . then I was off-line for awhile and joined CSWA when it was just a stand-a-lone fed, and the rest is drug-addled, hazy memories of summer camps and stalkings.

RH: (laughter) Actually how much do you write under the influence? All-in-all, what is your writing process? How has it differed since those lazy hazy days of summer, and does it differ between shows and RPs?

JK: Shows are completely different beast than RPs. . . and shows end up getting more under-the-influence moments due to the fact they take longer. I think my writing process hasn't changed in awhile. . . if you see me writing an RP, its usually for a match or something I randomly thought up. Shows. . . I think my fully written NFW shows have a certain formula at this point, which is why I'm interested in 3.0 as those won't happen. I think anything I've written before 2001 is probably complete crap to read.

RH: So with 3.0 on the horizon, and a situation being set-up that should take a good amount of work off of your shoulders, are there any plans concerning bringing Miles or Randalls into a new fed? Or any new characters that you'd like to introduce? l

JK: When CSWA or fWo officially close, maybe I'll think about them somewhere else. For now, I'm trying MBE with a new guy. A straight up uber-face for once.

RH: That's crazy talk, from you. Details?

JK: That's why I'm trying it. 'Wild Card' Jeff Hawkins, a wrestling mish-mash of Jericho, RVD with a made-up wrestling lineage similar to the Funks, Windhams, Von Erichs.

RH: It seems like you like to play with that era of wrestling. Though, actually, it's a reoccurring CSWA trait, I think.

JK: Old-school ECW, old-school NWA, WCCW are my favorite times of wrestling.

RH: If fWo was ever the WWE(F), then the CSWA was it's NWA/AWA/etc.

JK: Chad and Steve are from North Carolina, so that's not a shock for them. I'm from Maryland, which is on the border. When Flair cut his hair, I lost my smile.

"When Flair cut his hair, I lost my smile."

RH: What are the pro wrestling influences on you, as a writer in this hobby? There are a lot there, I can imagine.

JK: Obviously, its a little taboo, but Benoit was a lightning spark when I first saw him, Malenko, Eddie together. Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental Title was the first time I liked a WWF match. I don't think I ever recovered from Jake the Snake going titleless there. Cactus Jack, Van Vader for big guys, I'm starting to watch Rey Mysterio/Psychosis matches for NFW 200 lbs. and under. ECW obviously. Well pre-WWF bought ECW.

RH: Right, like you said the old-school, bingo hall, ECW.

JK: Yeah. I'll watch You Tube for random stuff too.

RH: Hear about something from someone, and then go and check it out. The accidental finds are always the funnest to spin things out of. Who's material, in eW now again, are you really digging these days?

JK: Obviously, Nova. (smiles) Chris seems to be one of those weirdos that takes things I do in NFW and just runs with them. Him and Jeff (Yori) really accentuated where the handlers took Season 2. I haven't read outside of NFW at all in a very long time to be honest...so its all I can talk about in that regard.

RH: With Chris and Jeff it seems that, like you said... people that tune into your brain. And so you're saying it'd be useless to ask you who the 2006 Man of the Year should be (since the Mark Awards weren't published this last year)?

JK: Nah, there's plenty of folks that I know are doing stuff. But never count out Lindsay either.

RH: Touche. Person of the Year. She's going to tackle me now. Just jump me.

JK: (laughter)

RH: Final words. Any final stories to tell, things you'd like to plug?

JK: The Light of Biaakazatron burns inside us all.

Interview took place on July 10th, 2007