[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"
[9.0] "Mike Awesome is one of the best big men that you will ever see in professional wrestling, could do anything despite being a big guy, his feud with Masato Tanaka is that of legends, one of the all time greatest rivalries. He was powerful, agile, quick, tough, entertaining and charismatic, the less said about his WCW days the better. So sad he's no longer here with us, R.I.P. Mike Awesome"
[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 My kind of wrestler. Zero psychology just does crazy shit constantly until he can't anymore. A warrior, a brute, a gladiator eehose also unbelievably graceful and technically talented"
[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."
[10.0] "The perfect North American Wrestler, 6'6, Amazingly athletic with his springboard dives to the outside, being the perfect bully wrestler to anyone he faced. His powerbomb variations were freaking incredible, I never saw anyone do a backwards top rope powerbomb until I saw a Mike Awesome match, his matches with Tanaka are legendary of course, but his match with Spike Dudley and his FMW matches were also class. I'm sad his later career was just terrible (which wasn't his fault, dude just wanted to get paid for his family.) but it really sucks they didn't just let him be Mike Awesome in WCW & WWF but he left the wrestling world on a high with that All Timer match with Masato Tanaka at One Night Stand 2005. Mike was and always will be F*cking Awesome."
[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."
[8.0] "Assets: Had the physical gifts that any promotion would crave. Was exceptionally agile for heavyweight wrestler and wasn't afraid of the rough stuff. Capably served as a main eventer for national leagues on both sides of the Pacific. - - - Flaws: His time in the major leagues was marred by bad gimmicks and backstage politics. Didn't have the greatest entertainment skills. Sadly, the hardcore style he was renown for was a factor in his early passing. - - - Career Potential: Exceptional national league main eventer."
[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."
[6.0] "Ich habe leider nicht ganz so viel von ihm gesehen, aber das was ich gesehen habe, hat mich überzeugt. Guter Körper, gutes Moveset, auch leider viel zu früh verstorben."
[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] "Was für ein Powerpaket! Kaum ein anderer Big Man konnte solche Moves zeigen! Sah auch gut aus, und trotz Diabetes solch einen Körper zu haben verdient Respekt. In seinem letzten Match beim originalen ECW One Night Stand hat er's ja auch nochmal allen gezeigt, was sie an ihm verloren hatten, gegen seinen langjährigen Rivalen Tanaka. Wurde in der WWE zuvor jawohl richtig hart begraben wie fast alle WCWler und ECWler, um den WWF-Eigengewächsen nicht das Spotlight zu klauen. Seine WCW-Zeit lässt sich kaum bewerten, da er nichtmal 1 Jahr dort war, und das ausgerechnet im Chaosjahr 2000. Bei Team Canada ging's dann wieder bergauf, aber die WCW war dann ja leider Geschichte. 1 Punkt ziehe ich ab, da das Mic-Work noch ausbaufähig war."
[5.0] "Mike Awesome war ein langweiliger Worker. Wirklich. Kein Character, kein Charisma. Im Ring solide bis gut, aber meiner Meinung nach niemals überragend. Ist einfach nicht mein Fall."
[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."
[6.0] "Ich fand ihn immer recht langweili. Als Big Man ok, auch ein paar gute Moves, gab aber auch andere Big Man die gut waren, deshalb nichts besonderes. In der ECW gute Kämpfe gegen Tanaka gehabt, aber sonst? Ausstrahlung hatte er wenig,"
[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."
[9.0] "Der wohl spektakulärste Big Man aller Zeiten, cooler Look, Austrahlung, nur am Mic eher schwach. Sein Pfad der Zerstörung bei ECW und FMW war einfach nur genial, in der WCW schlecht gebookt, außer vielleicht der Triple Cage-Spot mit Kanyon und der Tag Team Run mit Storm."
[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] "Mike Awesome war ein grossartiger Powerhouse, das beindruckende an ihm war das er trotz seiner grösse sehr schnell war und zeigte sogar Moves wie Splashes oder auch Suicide Dives. Während seiner FMW-ECW Zeit zeigte er auch eine Serie von hervorragende Matches gegen Masato Tanaka die man unbedingt gesehen haben sollte. Was ich schade finde ist aber das er in der WWF und insbesondere in der WCW nicht den grossen Erfolg bekam den er verdiente, aus ihm hätte man viel mehr machen können den so ein Powerhouse sieht man heutzutage selten."
[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."
[9.0] "Unglaublich unter seinem Wert verkauft. War Heavyweighttitlewürdig. Viele Liegen haben es verstanden, außer die WWE. Schade, denn Awesome, war in der Tat awesome."
[9.0] "Einer meiner Favoriten unter den Big Men. Guter Look, starkes Auftreten als Powerhouse und dann auch noch sehr agil, nur leider nicht sehr charismatisch. Schade, dass es in der WWE oder WCW zu nichts Nennenswertem gereicht hat, ebenso auch dass er trotz seines Todes irgendwie in Vergessenheit zu geraten scheint. Wahrscheinlich weil es wohl weder bei den Mainstream Ligen noch bei den Indies eine große Lobby für ihn gab oder gibt."
[8.0] "Klasse Powerhouse in der ECW und kurz in der WWF. Leider fehlte ihm das gewisse etwas am Mic, um einen grossen Titel in der WWF / WCW erhalten zu können. Leider viel zu früh von uns gegangen wegen privaten Problemen. Für 8 Punkte reicht es, aber es fehlt etwas am Gesamtpacket. 8 Punkte. † RIP Mike Awesome"
[9.0] "Wie kann man solch ein Powerhouse, der durchaus "High Flying Talente" besitzt in der WWF, sowie WCW denn so verhunzen wirklich? War in der alten ECW, sowie in FMW wirklich ein außerordentlich talentierter Wrestler. Ds war er zwar auch in der WWF sowie ECW, aber das Booking wollte ja nicht mitmachen."
[8.0] "Mike Awesome war ein verdammt harter Hund. Sein erstes Match dass ich von ihm gesehen haben war beim ECW One Night Stand. Als er Tanaka da übers Seil geworfen hat und selber auch drüber gesprungen ist, hat mich von Anfang an überzeugt. Die Folgematches die ich von ihm gesehen habe waren allesamt zumindest ok, 8 Punkte"
[10.0] "Wohl der einzige Powerhouse, der ein Top Rope Splash auf einen Gegner in einer Meter entfernten Zuschauermenge gebracht hat... Für mich einer der beste Powerhouse aller Zeiten! He's awesome!"
[8.0] "Ein Powerhouse wie gemacht für die ECW. Unglaubliche Technik für einen Mann seiner Gewichtsklasse. War sicher ein Aushängeschild für die ECW und WCW."
[10.0] "Mike Awesome was AWESOME! Atemberaubend, was er für seine Größe/Gewicht für Moves ausführen konnte! Seine Matches gegen Masato Tanaka sind zudem bis heute legendär."
[10.0] "Sein Name war gleichzeitig wohl auch sein Thema. Wohl einer der größten Heels aller Zeiten! Hatte ein unglaubliches Move Arsenal drauf und konnte sich bewegen wie kein zweiter, und das auch noch sehr geschickt. Konnte jede Aktion wunderbar verkaufen und ist wohl eine wahre Ikone dieses Sports! R. I. P."
[8.0] "Für seine größe war er unglaublich beweglich und zeigte super Aktionen die man vorher von so einen Bigman nicht allzu oft gesehen hat. R. I. P."
[8.0] "Ein erstklassiger BigMan, der trotz seiner Masse klasse Aktionen gezeigt hat und sehr bewegliich war. Seine Matches gegen Tanaka sind absolute Spitze und muß man einfach gesehen haben. Nur in den großen Ligen war er leider nicht erfolgreich."
[8.0] "Sensationell waren seine Schlachten mit Masato Tanaka! In der ECW wurde er durch seine beiden Titelgewinne richtig bekannt, später in der WCW und WWF leider nur noch Midcard gewesen. Sein Tod war ein schwerer Schlag und zudem absolut überraschend! Aber das ist ja leider meistens der Fall..."
[10.0] "Ein wirklich sehr genialer Wrestler! Ich kann mich an kein Match von ihm erinnern, an dem er mich gelangweilt hat! Nur die WCW hat ihm die übelsten Gimmiks gegeben... Schade, das er von uns gegangen ist... Leider viel zu früh... Für ihn kann ich nur die volle Punktzahl geben, denn er hat mich in allen Punkten überzeugt!"
[8.0] "Mike Awesome war aufgrund seines Stils nicht für den Stil in WCW und WWF gemacht. Seine besten Zeiten hatte er bei ECW und bei FMW in Japan. Dort war er der Star und das völlig zurecht. Er hat seltsame Berühmtheit erlangt, als WCW'ler seinen ECW Title gegen einen WWF'ler in einem ECW Ring zu verlieren. Die zwei bekommt er wegen seiner Zeit in Japan."
