Mike battled the likes of Spike Dudley, Tracy Smothers and Rey Misterio, Sr. in those days, often teaming with Reckless and Montoya to form the Black T-shirt Squad trio. His travels were chronicled in the pages of The Wrestler; Mike's column "From Bell to Bell" first appeared in the magazine in May, 1998. Outside the BTS, he was the top star of the Future Wrestling Alliance, holding their championship three times during the promotion's lifespan. Looking back at his tenure in the FWA, Mike said: "The FWA played a very important part in my developing career. I learned a lot about the wrestling business from the FWA guys, and they were really committed to making me a star. They put a lot of faith in me, when all the other places I was working viewed me as nothing more than undercard talent."

     Eventually, Mike tired of the grind, and attempted to break from the wrestling business, but was lured back to action by the FWA. In April of 2000, the FWA hired El Hijo del Santo, the most famous Mexican wrestler alive, to draw Mike back from his hiatus, and the stunt worked. The two battled to a time-limit draw in Palo Alto, PA. During his time off, Mike hosted and organized an improvisational comedy show in his hometown. A total of thirteen live shows were held in 2000, and the program was called "Friday Nite Improv." A show with the same name had played at the "Pit Theatre" during Mike's time at PITT. He also wrote, produced and appeared in a direct-to-video work entitled Crusaders, Ltd., which Mike succinctly describes as "a complete and utter flop."

     The following year saw Quackenbush withdraw from the scene as he completed an autobiographical book, Headquarters, which was released in September, 2001. With the book's completion and release, Mike returned to the scene full-force, and toured extensively in support of his new work. It was during this period that Mike tested himself against one of his longtime idols, Eddie Guerrero, in a match held in Massachusetts for the WWA. At the dawn of 2002, Mike re-teamed with Reckless Youth to open Chikara Wrestle Factory, a training facility in Allentown, PA. The BTS and the first batch of CHIKARA trainees ran weekly cards in Allentown until being halted by City Hall, and a much-publicized battle over zoning laws ensued through the summer months. At the end of the legal proceedings in August, Reckless departed the company. Mike remembers this of that era: "This was a real turning point for CHIKARA. From that point on, there was a singular vision for the company, with no need for compromise. There was no one to tell me 'that's crazy,' or 'that's not going to work.'"

    Quackenbush carried on with CHIKARA alone, aided by his proteges in creating a new hybrid form of pro-wrestling. The unique blend of lucha libre elements, American storytelling and exotic characters has always been a favorite of young fans. The CHIKARA company has promoted shows as far west as Chicago, and as far north as Bennington, Vermont. The promotion continues to showcase Mike's proteges as well as his own ideas and innovations for challenging the boundaries of the pro-wrestling performance genre.

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