In the Defense of Mike Awesome

Posted By KV

Monster heel. The phrase invokes drama. It seems easy to pull off. Mix one top baby face with one part unstoppable juggernaut, and two parts physically daunting frame. Dash with chair shots and crushed allies. Season with promos. Tease till it comes to a full boil and rake in the cash. Easy! Sometimes its not that easy. This time its hardcore as we go in the defense of Mike Awesome.

Ah. What could of been. To think of such abominations like Giant Gonzales, Zeus, Psycho Sid Justice, and the recent Great Khali, its obvious that the monster heel genre is hit or miss to say the least. Even one time superstars of this category end up as shells of what they once were; Vader, Yokozuna anybody? Its 1999. WWF is back on top, WCW is on its way down. Way down. And ECW is growing at a rapid rate. Too fast in the case of hindsight. ECW is home to the next big thing. No, not you Brock. You just keep drinking your Coors and jumping on your wife ya classy fella. And no not you Taz, we are not here to push a towel sale at J.C. Penny's. Its our mullet clad super heavyweight Mike Awesome. Awesome had a bright future in the land of extreme. After making a quick impact with Masato Tanaka in truly awing matches, Awesome looked like he could do much more than fill the spots of departing ECW talent. Raven, The Sandman, Bam Bam Bigelo, Terry Funk, and the Dudleys have all left for greener pastures and greener wallets. Awesome was big enough and talented enough to fill thier shoes. And ECW did this right.

Lets switch gears for a moment. By the second quarter of 2000 WCW and ECW were experiencing financial problems. WCW was shrinking. ECW was growing but did not have the liquid assets to fuel its expansion. In ECW stars were working with contracts that they considered null and void once the paychecks started to bounce. Awesome as ECW Champion was one of those people. WCW was floundering. They attempted to rebrand themselves from top to bottom. They hired Vince Russo, the man behind WWF's Attitude. They sunk money in to new logos, new sets, and new superstars. WCW open the Turner checkbook with the golden hope of seeing an ECW Championship in the trash. Hey they did it before. One federal injunction later, Mike Awesome would make a less than stellar debut on Nitro. The only thing around his waist was a fanny pack. Although WCW noted him as being ECW Champion, he did not have the belt and people didn't buy in to it. It just seemed like WCW was again misinformed. It would take a most unusual situation to resolve the dispute.

WCW looked foolish. Awesome was about to follow suite, a leisure suite. Awesome was pushed for a few months as a ultra violent heavyweight that flied like a cuiserweight. By this point the only people left watching WCW were "smart" fans. Everybody learned of Mike Awesome's dishonor of ECW, and WCW's shady business practices. Fans did not respect Awesome, nor did his coworkers. A monster heel requires top baby face jobs, and in a paranoid dying WCW, this wasn't happening. The top spot wasn't Awesome's to have.

Enter the gimmick. As "That 70's Guy" Awesome was reduced to jobbing to the Insane Clown Posse (2 guys does not make a posse). He wore a leisure suite to the ring and danced about as gracefully as Steven Hawking. From there he was billed as the "Fatchick Thriller." Rather than going toe to toe with super heavyweights, he was going mouth to mouth with super heavyweights of the female variety. Running Awesomebombs were replaced by running fat jokes. Instead of planting guys through tables, he was planting kisses on those Minnesota sweat hogs Rick Rude warned us about. Finally Awesome, the Tampa, Florida native, was exported to Canada. Joining Team Canada with Lance Storm, Elix Skipper, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Yea, that's right. Duggan. Canadian. Ouch. Its not as if Awesome was holding any titles in these glory days or competing against top talent. The Main Event rotation was DDP, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Booker. T, Jeff Jarrett, and Sting. Hmmm....seem familiar?

At one time Awesome was poised to be a revolutionary force in wrestling. Its obvious that the passion in him died. Weather it was the bounced checks in ECW, or being called a Judas, the less than supportive WCW front office and locker room, or the gimmicks from hell, Awesome frog splashed from grace. At the age of 42 Mike Alfonso passed away as a result of an apparent suicide by hanging. However, Awesome would make his own defense. In 2005 Awesome returned to the ring and accomplished an unbelievable feat. At the very first ECW One Night Stand, Awesome stole the show. This is what could have been. RIP Mike.