Shane Douglas on WCW Wasting Mike Awesome

Shane Douglas on WCW Wasting Mike Awesome

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[j.c.ca.o.l]

Mike Awesome to me was one of the biggest unfortunate tragedies to happen, he had so much potential; a shame that he was not used.

[barringtonfisher]

That 70's guy used to brighten my Friday evenings on Channel 5 up.

[HopZine]

It was absolutely insane! Watching him in FWM then ECW he was a fantastic physical beast. Sadly Mike lacked charisma. Such a tragic end.

[kerpal]

vince russo turned mike awesome into that 70s guy, i just cant get over it

[FnRenner]

The first Awesome v Misato Tanaka match in ECW is a must watch. Easily my favorite big man match. They just beat the ever living sh!t outta each other.

[crazyfun]

I’d rate Mike Awesome right up there with the likes of Sean O’Haire as a big guy that could move like a cruiserweight that should’ve been much bigger in wrestling. Sadly neither guy got a chance to live up to their potential. Mainly because of being misused in WCW and WWE.

[liquidsnake]

He was done as soon as he made his debut and sounded off that god awful "Too Sweet" it was a comedy gimmick from that point on

[Spooky_]

I KNEW IT!! John Morrison is the illegitimate son of Mike Awesome. Look, look at the thumbnail lololol

[zackvanhalen]

I liked him as That 70s Guy. I think he and Disco Inferno would have made a great tag team. I think the 70s gimmick and the fat chick thriller gimmick were a welcomed change from the generic big muscled up monster gimmick. But, I watched wrestling with a sense of humor and didn't take it ultra seriously. After rewatching WCW 2000 for the first time last year, I think Awesome was a natural babyface and did have an endearing quality; kind of like Mick Foley as Dude Love or Abyss as Joseph Parks.

[MrFoxxx]

Styles was kayfabing, obviously lol. The ECW fans hated Mike for leaving so Joey was just echoing their sentiment on commentary.

[jasonvance]

I was at Havoc in Vegas. Awesome v.s. Vampiro falls count anywhere.
It was so good a fan double ax Handeled Mike way up the stairs in the MGM Grand.. The ref Mike and Vamp all stopped to kick his ass.Match continued, the only time they used him right I was there.

[Farmerb]

Mike awesome as a great big man during his time in ecw, his rivalry with masato tanaka were legendary, oh yeah, joey styles in fact bury him at one night stand in 2005 over not being paid and jumpship to wcw, i love his career killer gimmick and should kept it.

[TrailerParkCinderella]

People talk about how misused he was forgetting no top guy was ever gonna take bumps from him, too dangerous. You really think Austin, Rock, Taker, Hogan, Savage was gonna take Masato Tanaka esq bumps

[higler.]

Oh come are, are we STILL talking a out that Joey Styles comment? Clearly he was in character.

R.I.P. Mike Awesome

[Matt-crvv]

The dude didn’t leave because he wanted to make more money and was greedy or a sell out. He left because the dude wasn’t getting paid and couldn’t afford to pay his bills. You deserve loyalty as a company to the extent you’re taking care of people on the back end. Let’s say you opens communicate the issues and financial strain, and work to negotiate a doable compromise to e it her keep him long term and HONOR THEM instead of constantly tying about what you’ll do for somebody and then never following through. But if you’re constantly stiffing a dude and lying to him he doesn’t owe you a thing. If people want to discuss loyalty, doing busiesss or being professional then decide if not paying people, making broken promises, and consistent lying to them to the point they can’t pay their bills is professional or deserves loyalty. The argument changes if let’s say the company genuinely can’t afford full freight and is transparent with the person about that, ask for some extend of a compromise until things improve and than hold up their end of the deal. In that case yeah you drop the belt ASAP and work out an amicable way to leave. But if you’ve been lied to, aren’t being paid at all, and there’s no transparency then you deserve zero loyalty so Mike didn’t do anything wrong - just because other roster members were willing to keep getting lied to and allow their homes to fall in foreclosure and be owed tens thousands that can be admirable but would be reasonable to expect of anybody.

[ajw]

Sad thing about Mike Awesome in WCW is they booked him well when he arrived. They made him look dominant against top talent. Afterwards, they made him the Career Killer. I vaguely recall different reasons explaining why WCW changed his character. A reason was that some talent were unsure about wrestling Mike Awesome so Russo changed his character as a way to keep him on television and develop his character without him wrestling. Luckily, he became serious again after joining Team Canada. Some people think Russo made an example out of Awesome because he was affiliated with Hogan. At least Mike Awesome as a comedy character was brief. I'd take his WCW career over his WWE stint because at least in WCW he won more and was showcased a decent amount.

[carefreemc]

I'm still so angry about how they used Mike in WCW! The ECW run and Masato Tanaka jaw dropping! I challenge anyone to find a bad match they had!

[theecharmingbilly]

Someone definitely needs to bring back the Fat Chick Thrilla gimmick, though!

[gregorylevi]

It has been A long time but I think what happened was Mike Awesome was the world heavyweight champion of ECW and he just abandoned the belt and left for WCW. He didn't even bother to drop it to another wrestler. That's probably why Joey bad mouthed him so badly. 🤔 🤼‍♂️

[dudeistmonkmatthew]

Mike Awesome took the belt with him, is what it was about