Mike Awesome

[10.0] "My favorite Wrestler ever. Mike Awesome had the look and seeing a 295 pound guy do slingshots and Tope's was amazing. Any match with him and Masato Tanaka is going to be a good one. He gave out some of the gnarliest chair shots in the day. The Awesome Splash and that diving back Elbow he would do were picture perfect. Never forget though, don't commit suicide. 988 is the US suicide prevention hotline."

[8.0] "Absolute monster. A near 300-pound man that moved like a cruiserweight. To say that he was ahead of his time would be a massive understatement."

[8.0] "The most "HELL YEAH" wrestler of all time when he was allowed to do what he does best, which is just kick so much ass. He had such a unique charisma to him that he didn't need to talk a lot, but just enough. Also, big man doing things a big man shouldn't is always fun, and Mike Awesome is one of the best to ever do that."

[8.0] "9/10 from me, Accomplishments - 8, Charisma/Character Work - 6.5, Cultural Significance - 7, In-Ring Skills - 9, Longevity - 9.5 & Move-Set = 9.5 = 8.3 rounded down to 8/10."

[9.0] "One of the very best big men in professional wrestling history who doesn't get enough recognition for his work. Think about it, the guy was 6'4 and he moved around like a cruiserweight. Top talent who was at the right place, just wrong time (still had amazing matches that age very well.) If you put Mike Awesome in today's world of wrestling, he'd be a star. No doubt about it."

[8.0] "Guy who had the look and was good in the ring. Athletic big man who could move and wrestle so put on some classics. Was amazing during his time in ECW. Neither WWE or WCW used him like Heyman did."

[7.0] "Mike Pretty Damn Good. I love "the Fat Chick Thriller" Mike Awesome. A fantastic talent in the ring, Mike Awesome is probably best known for his matches with Masato Tanaka, of which I've seen a couple and as for the standard of ECW, these really stand out as the promotion's best. I can't comment much on his time in FMW because I haven't really watched much of it apart from his matches with Tanaka & Hayabusa. Though he was misused in WCW, I can't help but really enjoy the fat chick thriller or the "Just Two Sweeett" promo. They also gave him like this 70s talk show esque segment which is hilarious. Team Canada is where WCW started to properly take heed in what they had with Mr. Awesome but by then the company was circling the drain."

[6.0] "Mike... okay. Never been too impressed by him although I might not have seen enough of his repertoire. Sure he's got some better stuff out there, however from what I've seen I can't really justify more than satisfactory"

[10.0] "If you were 13 and were making a wrestler, you'd make Mike Awesome. Guy should've been world champion everywhere he went."

[8.0] "A man ahead of his time, a freakshow athlete, akin to a Brock Lesnar, not the best Mic Worker, but he had a natural prescence, he was truly great in ECW, and horribly misused in WCW and WWE. A man that truly deserved Better."

[10.0] "If I could build a wrestler from the ground up; he would have a mullet, do crazy powerbombs, be shouty promo, fly over the top rope, chair shot dudes in the head as recklessly as humanly possible, and be so awesome that his name is Awesome. HOLY SHIT HE EXISTS, IT'S MIKE AWESOME. I still stand by that Mike Awesome is the perfect prototype of a North American wrestler. He lived up to his name more than "name failson right here", because he was Awesome. Did he have the best psychology? Yes, actually. Did he have an all-star look? Yes. Could he cut a promo? WHO CARES? This dude got fucked over by McMahon-ism propaganda that some New York dude fell into. Mike was at his best beating the snot out of small dudes and Kenta Kobashi. Him vs. Spike Dudley, Mikey Whipwreck, and of course his great rival Masato Tanaka. People will go on and on about the Tanaka matches but that's cause their made for monkey brained cavemen like myself who want to see unbelievable violence and not bullshit Gracie Family boring ass MMA. I wanna see motherfuckers dropping dudes on their head and take an unbelievable amount of brain damage, I can't get enough of that shit. And finally, the One Night Stand 2005 Match, There's not a lot wrestlers who have that perfect final match, but having the greatest match of all time as your last match? That's Awesome."

[10.0] "Mike Awesome is severely underrated. To keep things short, he was basically the Brock Lesnar of ECW. He was an absolute beast, a great worker, and far more athletic for his size than he had any right being. Hope he's resting easy, Mike never got the credit he deserved."

[5.0] "Wrestlers like this, with their ups and downs basically need the math treatment in order to come to a somewhat conclusive answer. Starting as enhancement talent who was an obvious Hogan fan, he did fine (5). In Japan as "Gladiator", he was like a duck to water and I can't really poke holes in his tenure there (8.25). ECW was essentially him murdering Masato Tanaka and little more... though lets be real, s#its badass ain't it? (8.25). In WCW everything kinda fell apart, especially once Vince Russo came in (2). His involvement with Team Canada seemed to reinvigorate him a bit though (5). His WWF run was botched to a fuuu... (2). We are left with a score right in the middle."

[8.0] "Mike was the best thing about ECW for the longest time, IMO. Everything he did ruled, and I love going back to watch his stuff. One of my favourite WWE matches is his match from One Night Stand. Mike Fucking Awesome forever."

[10.0] "Mike Awesome is one of the all-time greats in the big man category and possessed so many traits that would impact that genre of a wrestler for years to come. He had the agility. He had the power. He made you stop whatever you were doing at any point in time and just marvel at what he was able to do. It's truly a shame that in terms of accolades, he didn't have the kind of resume across all promotions he worked for that could really speak to the performer that he was because he felt larger than life. Never have I watched a Mike Awesome match and not been blown away."

[8.0] "Mike was far from perfect and a bit dangerous but he was also ahead of his time. Never before had a big man been so athletic and such a highflyer. Most of his best work came in FMW against Tanaka and Hayabusa in my opinion but obviously his ECW work is his most iconic work. His WCW and WWF runs were, well, shit."

[9.0] "Mike Awesome was... fucking awesome, man. It genuinely bothers me to the Nth degree how much his career was outright ruined because of Vince Russo. Most people only talk about his run in WCW, which wasn't even 10% the quality that it should have been. His work in ECW (beyond the controversial end) should be praised, as well as his work in FMW and other Japanese promotions. Underrated, underappreciated, and one of the best of his kind."

[10.0] "My kind of wrestler. Zero psychology just does crazy shit constantly until he can't anymore. A warrior, a brute, a gladiator also unbelievably graceful and technically talented"

[7.0] "Just watch him throw people around in FMW and ECW and pretend that the WCW run did not happen and you will have a very good time with Mike."

[8.0] "Man, fuck Vince Russo for ruining Mike Awesome's career in America. Awesome was a near seven-foot killer and they turned him into an absolute joke. Avoid his WCW stuff at all costs, but his ECW and FMW work is MUST SEE. AWESOME IS HIS NAME, ALL HIS VICTIMS FEEL THE PAIN"

[10.0] "Mike Awesome is one of the most underrated big men I've ever seen. I've seen some of his WCW and FMW stuff and his whole ECW career. Mike Awesome in ECW was the coolest dude I've ever seen. He was strong as hell and had a mean look. Totally believable tough guy that could kick ass. I always loved Mike Awesome if you can't see."

[10.0] "One of the most incredible wrestlers i ever saw. Despite his size, could do everything. the only reason he isn't recognised today as one of the best, it's because of his horrible booking in WCW where he got humiliated again and again. His matches with Masato Tanaka changed the world of professional wrestling"

[6.0] "When Mike Awesome signed with WCW, he effectively pissed off the ECW fan base royally. It was a big deal at the time but once he got to WCW, nobody had their career murdered in such fashion! Dude almost immediately got repackaged into a stupid gimmick and by the time of the WWF buyout he was an afterthought in the big leagues and only the diehard ECW fans cared anymore. He came back for the ECW reunion shows but everything had fallen apart by 2005. Shame his life ended the way it did and he should have gotten many more years of success."

[5.0] "I always feel Mike Awesome flattered to deceive a bit. Physically, he had all the tools but he lacked charisma and was not a very good worker, devoid of psychology and selling, so if he wasn't in there with a great worker, it got a bit rough."

[2.0] "Mike Awesome was an athletic beast. Powerful, Quick, Agile. He also had tons of moves in his repertoire. However, he had absolutely 0 psychology, 0 notion of match-building, was a terrible seller, very reckless and dangerous with his moves and was also an absolute charisma vacuum. He was unable to cut decent promos and could barely emote. This is why he tried so hard to compensate with eye-popping moves."

[8.0] "Mike Awesome is a fantastic powerhouse and probably one of the more underrated wrestlers of his time. His work in both ECW and FMW is fantastic. It's a shame he didn't get a run on a national level federation. His matches with Masato Tanaka were always fantastic. Fitting that the last match of his career, was against him."

[6.0] "i like him when he have a fued with spike dudley & masato tanaka in ECW but when he move to WCW he is just a jobber for me and it getting worst when he go to wwf, but i start to like him in MLW but MLW that time is so short"

[6.0] "Awesome excelled in the hardcore scene for obvious reasons: big spots and weapons masked a lot of his shortcomings in violence that got him very much over with gross bumps and whatnot. Here's the thing: he kinda sucks beyond that. No mic skills, no real charisma, terrible technical wrestling and god-awful psychology, literally no selling chair shots at some points and doing big spots early. He looks great when paired with a talent who can bump like a boss for him like Tanaka or whomever, usually strong babyfaces, but man, he's just terrible beyond the highlight reel of stuff you can pull out. Check out a Mike Awesome match and only watch the bits where he's not using weapons or doing big spots and he's boring as anything. I've seen most of his Japan work and quite frankly it's basically just that formula over and over again in short matches. Onita and Heyman were smart by having him be booked as a monster in short matches where he could get his shit in and leave. He's a dangerous worker as well given how nasty some of his spots are to his opponents and how reckless he can be at points. Sure, there's a few matches where Awesome is his namesake but if you actually look at his consistent rate of quality, he's got a lot of stuff that nowhere near matches his high points."

[8.0] "Honestly when i was younger Mike Awesome was one of those "i want to strive to be a wrestler like him" kind of guys, being a taller guy who's athletic as hell and when he was on he was ON! now with that being said he did struggle in WCW and the WWF with the booking from both really not "getting" his appeal of "big guy who's willing to throw himself around for cool spots" and as such has soured many people views on him but i do implore those let down by his runs in WCW/WWF to please go watch his ECW and Japan matches (the latter where he went under The Gladiator) to see what his true potential was as a wrestler. With all that being said he did make the awful choice of leaving ECW as their champion but at the same time Heyman wasn't paying his so it's a damned if you do damned if you don't situation and still makes me sad he's no longer with us. Rest easy big man you were Awesome even if some didn't see you that way."

[5.0] "I never really get why people think he was underrated. He was generally underused in big companies (in the states) but i do not think he was this hugely talented guy who was never pushed. Sure, he was athletic for his size and could take part in some good matches but that was about it. In my opinion he never had the it factor which could've made him world champion ( in the states). Im sure he was a nice guy but i dont think he could've been a main eventer (in the states) and it was best for him to stay as a midcarder."

[6.0] "Mike Awesome was so fucking cool but if you've seen one Mike Awesome match you've seen them all. But I really like that match and I really like Mike Awesome"

[6.0] "As fondly as I remember Mike, the thing that I remember best are his matches with Masato Tanaka, and that was mostly on Tanaka. His non-ECW stuff ranged from ok to absolutely terrible. It's likely that he was underused, but even his matches weren't really remarkable."

[9.0] "Absolutely tremendous big man and it's a damn shame no-one outside of MLW took a chance on him after WCW shut and WWE let him go. Yeah, he walked out on ECW with their belt, but when you understand why, you tend to side with Mike."

[4.0] "Well, I've enjoyed him wrestling Masato Tanaka in almost every promotion possible but we all know the great Masato Tanaka actually lead these matches. Let's put it this way "there's nothing awesome about Mike""

[6.0] "Decent wrestler, certainly athletic for his size, but I never saw him as someone extraordinary or highly interesting. He only seemed motivated when he was with Masato Tanaka in the ring and most remember him for the same match that they repeated over and over again."

[8.0] "An excellent brawler with some uncanny agility for a man his size, Awesome lived up to his ring name with great runs in Japan and ECW, but - through seemingly no fault of his own - fared poorly in the top-level US promotions, first being saddled with laughably-bad gimmicks in WCW and then being largely ignored during his WWF run. He did at least get to finally show the WWE audience what he could really do when he returned for a show-stealing bout with Masato Tanaka at the first One Night Stand in 2005. A good talent who could have done so much more, and who we lost in a tragic fashion."

[8.0] "I just learned a lot about this guy. He's an all rounder, very good at his moves with splashes and bombs. His time in Japan was amazing. He is I say the tallest high flyer ever to jump off a turnbuckle. Very fest in the ring and great hardcore wrestler. His gimmick as the 70's Guy was trash. He was a legend in ECW and had great feuds with Masato Tanaka. In WWE he was not used properly maybe because of his age and was more of a low card. Very sad that he killed himself. Underrated performer. Hall of Fame please!"

[5.0] "Mike Awesome was an average talent, who got carried to a great match by Masato Tanaka, one they'd repeat so often that people thought Awesome was better than he actually was. And once Awesome wasn't wrestling Tanaka, it was painfully clear as to who was carrying the load in their matches."

[9.0] "Mike Awesome had a terrific career in Japan and ECW, winning multiple top championships. His reigns with the ECW World Championship were excellent in that while he was utterly dominant, the effect was more that someone like Kid Kash could lose in 3 minutes and still come out looking better than he went in. Matches with Masato Tanaka are justifiably legendary. His WCW was frequently cringeworthy and his WWF tenure was forgettable too but if you go back and watch some of his Invasion era matches (losing the hardcore title to Jeff Hardy, teaming with Lance Storm against Edge & Christian) they were very solid lower/mid-card matches for the period. Following his WWF release, he returned to Japan, briefly won the underrated MLW World Championship and had another classic with Masato Tanaka at ECW One Night Stand. His life had a tragic end and his career went downhill for a variety of reasons after ECW but his ability was tremendous and his legacy survives on the WWE Network."

[8.0] "Mike Awesome had a decent career but it felt underneath his talent. This guy got an unique combination of size and in-ring skills, making him one of the most athletic and threatening wrestler at the time. But he never really took off ECW, being mid-carder here and low-carder there. With just a bit more charisma, he could've been the next Kevin Nash. Great run in ECW though."

[6.0] "While its commendable that Mike would fly more often a lot of guys of his size, its also kind of upsetting that his career took the kind of turns it did, specifically the one that landed him in WCW. He had a hell of a powerbomb and a great feud with Tanaka that spanned several companies but otherwise he wasn't too different from others his size and couldn't exactly draw. He never had that 'It' factor that a lot of others had."

[8.0] "For a guy of his size he was insanely fast and extremely athletic. His matches especially with Tanaka were all brutal with sickening bumps and insane spots. Some of his moves looked a bit dangerous and he had a tendency to throw disgusting chairshots, but he was willing to take the big bumps as well as dish them out. He was absolutely awesome :D"

[10.0] "The mans wars with Tanaka is the stuff of legend, and Mike Awesome is possibly one of the best super heavyweights of all time in terms of ring work, Awesome could work, and work Awesome he did."

[9.0] "An excellent in-ring performer. Should've been a big star in WCW's later days. Granted, he couldn't talk, but paired with a good manager, I believe he could've been a monster and legit main event contender. His initial appearances in WCW as the "Career Killer" were promising, but WCW being WCW, they saddled him with the "Fat Chick Thriller" and "That 70s Guy" gimmicks, both of which were so cringe-worthy that turning him into a fake Canadian seemed like a huge improvement by comparison. Then, like 95% of WCW guys, he got completely buried and forgotten in the Invasion angle. A real shame."

[7.0] "My personal favorite member of the Hogan wrestling family. Aptly nicknamed the "300 LB. Luchador" in ECW because of his ability, as a large man, to take flight with ease, Awesome's greatest success was arguably in Japan as a part of Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (the ECW of Japan. ) After experiencing such incredible highs in those two companies, he was regrettably shortchanged in his tenure in WCW and given no chance whatsoever in the WWF. Sadly, he took his own life in 2007. There will never be another one like him. He was just that Awesome."

[10.0] "Great big man so quick on his feet for his size, i know he's mostly remembered for his ECW work and WCW work but i always enjoyed him more as The Gladiator in FMW and other Japanese organizations."

[10.0] "easily 1 of the most overlooked and underrated "big men" from the last 20 years. He had the look that Vince McMahon would have wanted & the gritty presence that was liked during the attitude era, but most importantly, this guy was a total package in terms of a powerhouse wrestler, combining amateur-wrestling style suplexes, lariats and powerbombs with suicide dives and springboards. What is really unfortunate though, is that few promoters knew how to use him effectively. WWF didn't know what to do with him, WCW gave him terrible gimmicks & All Japan basically made him a tag team wrestler who occasionally challenged for the triple crown and never won it - but it was FMW & Paul Heyman's ECW who really made him shine, and made him memorable, and even in his last match at ECW One Night Stand, he showed that he still had it."