Future looks good for Dumas

She's been a four-time world wrestling champion, written her own book, and has enjoyed success and popularity throughout the world.

But Amy Dumas feels her best days are in front of her.

The 32-year-old Dumas, better known to pro wrestling fans as Lita, is now juggling new careers, making rare independent wrestling appearances and serving as singer and songwriter for the Atlanta-based punk rock band The Luchagors.

Local fans will be able to see the red-headed beauty in both capacities when she opens a United Wrestling Federation show July 19 at Rick Hendrick Jeep Chrysler in North Charleston. She and her band will host an after-party later that evening at The Plex.

'It's cool that the fans will have a chance to come hang,' Dumas said in an interview with The Post and Courier on Thursday night. 'I'm really looking forward to it.'

Last November she left WWE, where she had been a star for the past seven years, to 'get out of the rat race' and put some normalcy back into her life.

'There's no off time. The show must always go on, and you get used to missing your friends' birthdays and not being able to spend holidays with your family. But then I realized that I was missing normal family stuff. I wanted a change.'

And, she emphasizes, the new life agrees with her just fine.

'It's been great. I love it. I love sleeping in my own bed and being at home. Now that I'm here on the other side, I don't know how I made it as long as I did. But I'm glad I did because I was able to have a lot of great experiences and save a lot of money.'

The first phase of her new career came quite by accident. Her punk rock band formed last October when Dumas was doing an autograph signing for a friend who had lung cancer. Her appearance was part of a rock 'n wrestling benefit, and she agreed to do a couple of songs when one of the national acts dropped off the bill. Before she knew it, she says, she was leading a new band.

'I was the only inexperienced person in the band. Everyone else had been in like a million bands,' says Dumas. 'In some ways it was intimidating, but in other ways it gave me confidence and pushed me to become a better musical performer.'

The band has evolved since then. Dumas takes her new role quite seriously, and has been busy taking vocal lessons and honing her songwriting skills. She says there are some similarities to wrestling.

'It's the same performance aspect, but it's different as well. You're firing the same brain cells, but in a different way. It's also fun starting over doing something and not knowing where it's going to end up. It's not having the cushion of WWE promoting your stuff, but it's seeing where you go on your own.'

Dumas, whose exposure to the high-flying luchadore style sparked her interest in wrestling and did much of her early mat training in Mexico, is looking forward to a gig with her band at a 15th anniversary AAA wrestling show July 15 in Mexico City. 'We're really looking forward to that,' says Dumas, who speaks Spanish fluently.

Dumas also hosts her own one-hour punk radio show on Sunday nights in the Atlanta area. The genesis for the show came about when the disc changer in Dumas' car broke. Flipping through radio channels, she noticed there were nothing on that she particularly liked. She went straight home and e-mailed a new station that she was listening to. Dumas pitched her idea, and management immediately embraced it.

'I thought it would be awesome if there was a punk show and I did it,' says Dumas, who comes up with a play list every week. 'It's fun because, like the music and wrestling, the radio is live. You mess it up, and everybody knows. It's more of all of the same of winging it.'

Dumas, whose view of wrestling is now better from her rear-view mirror, says she has moved on and rarely watches wrestling shows anymore.

'I've been kind of phasing it out, because it's not that much of my life anymore. And that's not in a negative way. That's just kind of where I'm at.'

The original Rock and Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, will compete in the inaugural Rock and Roll Express Tag-Team Tournament on the UWF show July 19 at Rick Hendrick Jeep Chrysler in North Charleston. First-round matches include The Naturals vs. The Extreme Horsemen (winners meet Rick and Scott Steiner, with losers going into losers bracket); Diamonds in the Rough vs. The Rock and Roll Express (winners meet Too Cool, losers go into losers bracket); Christian York and Joey Matthews vs. The Old School Empire; and LAX vs. Team Macktion. Also featured will be a three-way match with AJ Styles, Petey Williams and Jay Lethal, and special appearances by Amy Dumas and Daffney. Admission to the after-party at The Plex is free with a ticket to the UWF event. Admission without a ticket is $10. Tickets are on sale at Rick Hendrick Jeep/Chrysler and online at www.uwfusa.com.

Reach Mike Mooneyham at 937-5517 or mooneyham@postandcourier.com. For wrestling updates during the week, call The Post and Courier Info Line at 937-6000, ext. 3090.