Mike Awesome

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Mike Awesome
Awesome in December 1999
Birth nameMichael Lee Alfonso
Born(1965-01-24)January 24, 1965
Tampa, Florida, U.S.[1]
DiedFebruary 17, 2007(2007-02-17) (aged 42)[1]
Tampa, Florida, U.S.[1]
Cause of deathSuicide by hanging
Spouse(s)
Delisa Diann Bowers
​
(m. 1991)​
Children2
FamilyHorace Hogan (cousin)[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Captain Awesome
The Gladiator[1]
Mike Awesome[1]
The Pro
Fat Chick Thriller
That 70's Guy
Billed height6 ft 6 in (198 cm)[3]
Billed weight292 lb (132 kg)[3]
Trained bySteve Keirn[1]
DebutFebruary 26, 1989[1]
RetiredFebruary 26, 2006[1]

Michael Lee Alfonso (January 24, 1965 – February 17, 2007) was an American

professional wrestling promotions Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/E) under the ring name Mike Awesome and for his appearances in Japan with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling as The Gladiator.[1][4]

Alfonso achieved the biggest success of his career in FMW as The Gladiator, where he became a three-time

W*ING Kanemura to unify the title with the Independent Heavyweight Championship at the 1996 Year End Spectacular. He would then tour with ECW, where he became a two-time World Heavyweight Champion. He was a member of two separate stables Team Canada
in both FMW and WCW.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1989–1990)

Alfonso was trained to wrestle by

Dennis Knight (Mideon, Phineas Godwin) and "Big" Al Green before making his debut.[4] Alfonso competed in Florida Championship Wrestling, USWA, NWA and World Championship Wrestling, before making his way to FMW in Japan.[6]

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling

Initial years (1990–1992)

Alfonso moved on to

tag team tournament on January 6, 1991, where the duo lost their first match in the tournament against Onita and Sambo Asako. Pogo and Gladiator made to the semi-final, where they beat Grigory Verichev
and Boris Gogichashivili and then defeated Onita and Asako in the final on January 15 to win the tournament. The success of the tournament led Alfonso to work full-time with FMW.

In the summer of 1991, Gladiator would form a villainous alliance with

Street Fight Tag Team Tournament
, where they qualified for the semi-final against Tarzan Goto and Big Titan, which they lost.

Team Canada and W*ING Alliance (1993–1995)

In 1993, Gladiator formed the first villainous faction in FMW called Team Canada with Ricky Fuji, Big Titan, Horace Boulder, Dr. Luther and Dr. Hannibal after The Sheik and Sabu turned fan favorites and formed an alliance with Atsushi Onita. At 4th Anniversary Show, the team of Gladiator, Ricky Fuji and Big Titan defeated Katsuji Ueda, The Great Punk and Tarzan Goto in a Captain's Fall Losing Captain Leaves Town No Rope Barbed Wire Tornado Street Fight Deathmatch, which Team Canada won. The group strengthened its dominance after Mr. Pogo returned to FMW in the summer of 1993 and took over as the leader of the group. Gladiator and Titan were defeated by Sambo Asako and Mr. Gannosuke at Summer Spectacular. The team of Gladiator, Titan and Fuji gained more success by defeating Asako, Katsuji Ueda and Grigory Verichev in a street fight at Year End Spectacular.

The following year, Gladiator and Titan participated in a

double-elimination tournament for the newly created Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship, in which they defeated Hideki Hosaka and Hisakatsu Oya in the quarter-final, Jinsei Shinzaki and Masaru Toi in the semi-final and Mr. Gannosuke and Tarzan Goto in the final to succeed in their block and then defeated Atsushi Onita and Katsutoshi Niiyama in the tournament final on January 18, 1994, to win the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship, marking Alfonso's first title in FMW.[7] They successfully defended the title against Atsushi Onita and Sambo Asako in a street fight on March 29 and then lost the title to Mr. Pogo and Hisakatsu Oya in their second title defense on April 21. The title loss created dissension between Titan and Gladiator. At 5th Anniversary Show, Gladiator, Titan and Fuji took on Fuyuki-Gun in a match, where Gladiator and Titan had a miscommunication with each other but fortunately still managed to win their match. However, Gladiator abandoned his partners after the match to quietly join Team Canada. As a result, Gladiator began feuding with Titan and defeated him in their first singles match against each other on July 31. Gladiator won a rematch at Summer Spectacular
, before finally losing to Titan on September 7 to end the rivalry.

In October, Gladiator joined the new

fireball
on Yukihiro Kanemura after Pogo and Kanemura lost their match, which led Gladiator, Boulder and Hisakatsu Oya to follow Pogo and join Lethal Weapon.

Longest reigning world champion (1995–1997)

The retirement of Atsushi Onita led FMW to change its direction from

The Headhunters in a match for the inaugural World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
.

On May 27, Gladiator defeated Super Leather to win his second Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship. Gladiator successfully defended the title against Leather in a rematch on September 1. On September 15, Gladiator and Horace Boulder turned on Ricky Fuji during a match against

W*ING Kanemura after Kanemura successfully defended the Independent Heavyweight Championship against Hisakatsu Oya and Gladiator challenged Kanemura to a title unification match for both Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship and the Independent Heavyweight Championship at Year End Spectacular, which Gladiator won and unified both titles to become the first-ever FMW Double Champion. Gladiator successfully defended his Double Championship against Masato Tanaka on February 18, 1997. Gladiator would then resume his feud with the returning Atsushi Onita as the team of Gladiator, Terry Funk and Cactus Jack was defeated by Atsushi Onita, Masato Tanaka and W*ING Kanemura at 8th Anniversary Show
on April 29. The following day, on April 30, Gladiator surpassed Atsushi Onita's fourth reign of 337 days to become the longest reigning Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion by having reigned for 338 days at that point.

On August 5, Hisakatsu Oya, Mr. Gannosuke and The Gladiator defeated Fuyuki-Gun at a Fuyuki Army show to win the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to the team of Hayabusa, Koji Nakagawa and Masato Tanaka on August 31. At Kawasaki Legend: Fall Spectacular, Gladiator lost the Double Championship to Masato Tanaka, thus ending his Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship reign at 489 days and his Independent Heavyweight Championship reign at 291 days, making him the longest reigning Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and the longest reigning Independent Heavyweight Champion.

ZEN and departure (1997–1998)

Main article: ZEN

Following

Hido turned on Atsushi Onita and left the group and they would form Team No Respect
in 1998.

In March, Gladiator participated in a

tournament to determine the #1 contender for the Double Championship at 9th Anniversary Show. He defeated Hisakatsu Oya in the quarter-final and Yukihiro Kanemura in the semi-final to become the runner-up of the tournament as he lost to Hayabusa in the final. At FMW's first pay-per-view event FMW 9th Anniversary Show, Gladiator teamed with ZEN teammate Tetsuhiro Kuroda to take on TNR members Super Leather and Horace Boulder in a losing effort. Later at the event, Atsushi Onita lost a match to TNR member Kodo Fuyuki, which forced Onita to end ZEN. Gladiator became a free agent after ZEN's dissolution on May 5. Gladiator's last pay-per-view appearance in FMW was at the Welcome to the Darkside pay-per-view on August 22, where he defeated Naohiko Yamazaki, Yoshinori Sasaki and Mr. Pogo #2 in a gauntlet match. On August 26, Gladiator wrestled his last FMW match, in which he defeated longtime rival Super Leather. Alfonso injured his knee during the match and went on a hiatus, during which he returned to United States and toured with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for the rest of the year. He left the company due to disagreement over Kodo Fuyuki's style of booking
.

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1998–1999)

Alfonso wrestled as The Gladiator for a brief period in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1998 and 1999.[8]

Eastern/Extreme Championship Wrestling (1993–1994, 1997, 1998, 1999–2000)

In 1993, Alfonso appeared in NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) for a short period (as "Awesome" Mike Awesome), he was convinced to do so by Sabu, whom he befriended during their time in Japan. After Sabu started working for ECW, he returned to Japan and told Michael about the promotion and how he should work there. Although he was initially hesitant, citing a lack of interest, Sabu managed to talk Alfonso into it, who used his frequent-flier miles to go to Philadelphia and wrestle a match for ECW.[9]

On February 5, 1994, at ECW's event,

J.T. Smith when he performed a high-risk dive to the outside of the ring. Smith's back was folded backwards against the guard rail during the impact. This spot appeared in many ECW highlight reels including the intro to a variety of their television programs for years to come (according to ECW announcer Joey Styles
his own reaction to the spot inspired his "Oh my God" catchphrase).

Alfonso performing a dive at an ECW show at Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York, 1999

Awesome returned to ECW in January 1997 at House Party, defeating Balls Mahoney. At Crossing the Line Again the following month, he lost to Louie Spicolli, departing ECW once more thereafter.

In July 1998, Awesome began appearing for ECW again and continued his feud with Masato Tanaka in the United States. Awesome began in ECW by losing to Tanaka on an episode ECW's weekly Hardcore TV. However, following the match, he delivered an Awesome Bomb to Tanaka over the top rope through a table set up on the outside. Awesome lost to Tanaka again at the August Heat Wave pay-per-view event. In September 1998 at UltraClash, Awesome tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a bout with Balls Mahoney; he did not wrestle again until September 1999.

Almost immediately upon arriving in ECW for his third stint in September 1999, he shocked the wrestling world by winning the

Taz and nemesis Masato Tanaka in a three-way dance, which was signed on the spot. Awesome continued to be a major factor in ECW early in 2000, including teaming with Raven to beat Tanaka and Tommy Dreamer for the ECW World Tag Team Championship.[7]
He gained a new manager, Judge Jeff Jones, who managed Awesome to the top of winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship twice in 1999.

World Championship Wrestling (2000–2001)

On April 10, 2000, Awesome made a surprise appearance on

The New Blood by attacking Kevin Nash—while still reigning as ECW World Heavyweight Champion.[10] Awesome's friend Lance Storm has said that he had refused to sign a new contract with ECW until Paul Heyman paid him overdue wages.[11]

Due to concerns over legal issues WCW refrained from having Awesome appear on their television shows with the ECW belt. Eventually, a compromise was reached. Awesome (a WCW employee and ECW champion) appeared a few days later at an ECW event in Indianapolis, Indiana, accompanied by WCW's head of security,

shoot interview released by Highspots in 2005, Awesome expressed that he would have rather faced off with his former ECW and WWE colleague Rhyno and suggested that they could have put on a more entertaining match regardless of the circumstances and the manner in which he had left ECW.[14]

Now with WCW, Awesome continued to be a major factor with the New Blood for the next month, teaming with Billy Kidman occasionally to aid him in his feud with Hulk Hogan. Awesome also engaged in an on-and-off feud with Kevin Nash, as well as feuding with Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon. In May 2000, Awesome threw Kanyon off the top of the first level of a triple cage onto the entrance ramp, which started his "Career Killer" gimmick.

After

Bash at the Beach in July 2000, his gimmick was tweaked, with him becoming infatuated with heavyset women and calling himself "The Fat Chick Thriller" and feuded with Scott Steiner and Lance Storm for the WCW United States Championship.[10]

On the September 6, 2000, edition of Thunder, Awesome's gimmick was changed to "That '70s Guy" (a reference to the TV series

interview segment. He was additionally given a bus that resembled the one featured on The Partridge Family to drive into arenas as part of his entrance.[10][15] During this time, he had a feud with Vampiro, which resulted in brawls between Awesome and Vampiro's allies, the rap duo Insane Clown Posse (Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope). Awesome battled both ICP members in a handicap match on an episode of Nitro, during which he hit Shaggy with a powerbomb on the roof of the bus that caused Shaggy to fall to the concrete floor below.[16]

On the January 3, 2001, edition of Thunder, Awesome dropped the 1970s gimmick in favor of a "Canadian Career Killer" gimmick and joined WCW's

The Filthy Animals led to Awesome challenging Billy Kidman to a Hair-vs-Hair match, on January 15, however before the bout could take place, Team Canada attacked Kidman backstage, leaving him unable to compete. Kidman's bald stablemate Konnan replaced him and got the win, giving the Animals the right to cut off Awesome's longtime mullet.[10] Awesome then faded into the background, mostly helping Storm in his battles against Ernest "The Cat" Miller. On the final Nitro on March 26, 2001, Awesome and Storm were defeated by Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire in a WCW World Tag Team Championship
match.

In an shoot interview released by Highspots in 2003, Awesome said that the infamous incident between

Michael Bollea (Horace Hogan, who also left WCW following the incident), Awesome suggested that Russo may have thought that he was just "too close of kin" to Hulk Hogan and decided to take it out on him.[17]

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1996, 2001–2002)

He first made a appearance in WWF as a jobber on December 12, 1996, losing to Justin Credible who was known then as Aldo Montoya in a dark match for WWF Superstars of Wrestling.[18]

After the March 2001 purchase of WCW by the

Gored Test against a wall and pinned him he stood celebrating his new title only to be attacked by Awesome wielding a metal pipe. He then powerbombed Rhyno onto a ladder and pinned him, becoming champion himself due to the 24/7 rule.[19][20] Awesome was the first "Invader" to gain gold in the WWF, stealing away with the Hardcore belt before any WWF wrestlers could catch him.[10] Awesome's hardcore reign came to an end a few weeks later on the July 12 edition of SmackDown! when he was pinned by Jeff Hardy, thanks to distraction from Edge.[20]
Awesome defeated Edge on the July 16 episode of Raw.[21]

The feud continued when Edge introduced his tag team partner

b-shows
, before being sidelined with an injury in November 2001.

Awesome returned to the

Velocity where he was defeated by Tajiri.[23] Awesome was a mainstay on Velocity, SmackDown!'s tertiary show, for the next few months jobbing to wrestlers such as Faarooq, Bull Buchanan, Mark Henry and Funaki.[23]

Awesome was released from the WWE on September 27, 2002, along with Shawn Stasiak and Horace Hogan. Awesome was quoted saying, "Being in the WWE (formerly the WWF) sucked. I hated it. You had to kiss everybody's ass... You had to be on your political toes all the time. You would not believe the backstage politics. You were getting stabbed in the back constantly. I was so happy when I was told I was gone".[24]

Later Career (2002–2006)

From 2002 to 2006, Awesome competed on the independent circuit in the United States and Japan where he returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling as "The Gladiator" once again.[25] On the independent circuit, he had a short stint with Major League Wrestling (MLW) where he won the MLW World Heavyweight Championship from Satoshi Kojima, only to lose it ten minutes later to Steve Corino[10] (Kojima's employers, AJPW would not allow him to drop the title to an employee of a rival company Zero-1).[26]

He worked for Pro Wrestling Noah from 2004 to 2005.

In February 2006, after 17 years in the ring, Awesome announced his retirement from wrestling, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and adding that he felt underpaid for his work at the One Night Stand event and that he would only return to the ring "if the money was right".

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)

In April 2003, Awesome debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He wrestled several matches for the promotion before leaving in May 2003.[1] His TNA in-ring debut was on April 16, 2003, where Awesome defeated Perry Saturn by DQ when The Sandman and New Jack interfered. On April 23, Awesome teamed with Brian Lee and Slash in a losing effort against Perry Saturn, New Jack and The Sandman. On May 14, Awesome competed in his final TNA match where he lost to Mike Sanders in a Tables Match.

Return to WWE (2005)

Awesome made an appearance at WWE's (formerly the WWF) ECW One Night Stand reunion pay-per-view on June 12, 2005, defeating Masato Tanaka.[27] The crowd greeted Awesome with jeers at the beginning of the match, and commentator Joey Styles made frequent references to Awesome's leaving of ECW for WCW and during the match, Styles infamously said, "And it's a shame he didn't succeed in taking his own life", but by the end the crowd were chanting "this match rules!" and gave both men a standing ovation.[10]

Other media

Alfonso appeared in at least four wrestling video games including ECW Hardcore Revolution, WCW Backstage Assault, Virtual Pro Wrestling 2: Ōdō Keishō, and Fire Pro Wrestling Returns. The ECW toy series manufactured by Original San Francisco Toymakers released a Mike Awesome action figure in 2000. A WCW action figure of Awesome was released by Toy Biz in 2001.

Personal life

Alfonso attended King High School in Tampa, Florida and trained at Stan's Gym, an old school muscle gym, on 56th Street. On May 11, 1991, he married his high school sweetheart Delisa Diann Bowers in Hillsborough, Florida.[28] They had two children together; son Casey (born 1996) and daughter Carissa (born 2000). Alfonso was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed fishing and trail bike riding with friends and his son.[29] He enjoyed mountain biking and would ride frequently at Alafia River State Park in Florida, close to his Tampa home.

Alfonso was the cousin of

WCW under the name Horace Hogan. He is no relation of fellow ECW alumnus Bill Alfonso
, whose real surname is Sierra.

After Awesome's retirement from professional wrestling, he served as a real estate agent in New Tampa, Florida.[29]

Death

On February 17, 2007, a group of Alfonso's friends found him dead after he had hanged himself inside his Tampa home.[30] WWE acknowledged his death on the February 20 broadcast of ECW on Sci-Fi with an "In Memory..." graphic at the opening of the program, and two days later his family received flowers at Serenity Meadows Funeral Home in Riverview, Florida.[29]

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

  1. ^
    Québecor Média
    . Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  2. ISBN 978-1-61321-582-1
    .
  3. ^ a b "Mike Awesome". Onlineworldofwrestling. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  4. ^
    Québecor Média
    . Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  5. ISBN 978-1-41-651312-4
    . p. 127
  6. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Matches « Mike Awesome « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Mike Awesome career highlights". Archived from the original on May 11, 2009.
  8. ^ a b "The Wrestling Gospel Mike Mooneyham 25 February 2007". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  9. ISBN 978-1-41-651312-4
    . p. 128
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Black, Jake (May 2007). "Mike Awesome 1965 - 2007". The Wrestler. London Publishing. pp. 53–55. Volume 15, 2007.
  11. ^ Evers, Lance (February 20, 2007). "Mike Awesome 1965-2007". StormWrestling.
  12. ^ Molinaro, John F. (April 14, 2000). "Tazz wins ECW World title". Slam! Sports. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. ^ Kapur, Bob (August 5, 2001). "Tazz talks: ECW, Tough Enough, WWF". Slam! Wrestling.
  14. ^ Keith, Scott (September 4, 2014). "Highspots Shoot Interview with Mike Awesome". BlogOfDoom.com. Scott Keith's Blog of Doom. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  15. ^ Evers, Lance (February 21, 2007). "Mike Awesome Stories". StormWrestling.
  16. ^ jtclarks (June 3, 2011), ICP vs 70s Guy Mike Awesome WCW, retrieved December 26, 2016
  17. ^ Mike Awesome Shoot Interview. Highspots Media. April 16, 2003.
  18. ^ Cawthon, Graham. "Yearly Results: 1996". TheHistoryOfWWE.com. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  19. ^ "WWF Raw is War – June 25, 2001". Slash-Wrestling. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  20. ^ a b c "Hardcore Championship". wwe.com. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  21. ^ "WWF Raw is War – July 16, 2001". Slash-Wrestling. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  22. Canadian Online Explorer
    . Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  23. ^ a b "WWE matches wrestled by Mike Awesome in 2002". Cagematch.net. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  24. ISBN 1550226614
    .
  25. ^ "Life after WWE". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. August 2003. pp. 32–35. 109.
  26. ^ Martin, Findlay (August 2003), Power Slam, SW Publishing, p. 23, issue 109
  27. Canadian Online Explorer
    . Retrieved September 12, 2007.
  28. ^ "FamilySearch.org". Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  29. ^ a b c "Obituary for Michael Lee Alfonso at Serenity Meadows Memorial Park Funeral Home & Crematory". www.serenitymeadows.com. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  30. ^ Meltzer, Dave (February 19, 2007). "Former ECW champ Mike Awesome passes away". Wrestling Observer. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved February 23, 2007.
  31. World Wrestling Entertainment
    . Retrieved September 29, 2009.
  32. ^ "ECW Tag History". WWE. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  33. ^ FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship official title history at FMW Wrestling
  34. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  35. ^ Hoops, Brian (January 18, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/18): Ivan Koloff defeats Bruno Sammartino for WWWF title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  36. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  37. ^ "World Street-Fight 6-Man Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Archived from the original on April 30, 2003. Retrieved January 25, 2008.
  38. ^ "FMW - January 15, 1991". Cagematch. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  39. ^ "FMW - January 18, 1994". Cagematch. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  40. ^ "FMW Grand Slam - Tag 21". Cagematch. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  41. ^ "FMW Six Man Tag Title Tournament 1997". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  42. ^ Martin, Fin (August 2003). "Major League Wrestling". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. pp. 22–23. 109.
  43. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2000". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  44. ISSN 1083-9593
    .

External links
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