Mike Awesome

"The Gladiator" redirects here. For other uses see Gladiator (disambiguation)

Mike Alfonso
Born	January 24, 1965 Tampa, Florida
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	The Pro The Gladiator Mike Awesome That 70's Guy Fat Chick Thrilla
Billed height	6 ft 6 in (198 cm)
Billed weight	290 lb (132 kg)
Trained by	Steve Keirn
Debut	1989
Retired	2006

Michael Alfonso (born January 24, 1965), better known by his ring name Mike Awesome, is a retired American professional wrestler best known for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Career

Alfonso received training from Steve Keirn's training camp out of the Pro Wrestling Federation (PWF). After wrestling for the PWF in 1989, teaming occasionally with Brett Sawyer, Alfonso moved around, appearing in various promotions including a brief stint in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) under the tutelage of Nate The Rat, a manager there. In that same year he made his first TV appearance as a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) masked jobber named The Pro from San Juan.

1990-2000

Alfonso moved on to Japan, joining up with Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) in late 1990, gaining the name The Gladiator.

In 1993, Alfonso appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for a short period (as "Awesome" Mike Awesome) before returning to FMW. In 1994, the Gladiator finally struck gold, teaming with Big Titan to defeat Atushi Onita & Katsutoshi Niyama in the finals of the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag-Team Title Tournament. In October 1994, he teamed with Mr. Pogo to win the belts again. As The Gladiator, he faced and defeated Hayabusa for his first major singles title, FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Title in September 1995 and later vacated due to injury. In May 1996 he won the title for a second time and also unified it with the FMW Independent World Title after defeating W*ING Kanemura in December 1996. In August 1997, teaming with Hisakatsu Ooya & Mr. Gannosuke he won the vacated FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag-Team Titles, holding all three belts at once. But a month later, everything began falling apart, as the Gladiator lost all of the titles in September, due to an epic feud with Masato Tanaka.

In the summer of 1998, he again appeared in ECW as Mike Awesome, mainly to continue his feud with Masato Tanaka. Awesome would begin by losing to Tanaka on an episode of Hardcore TV; following the loss, he delivered an Awesome Bomb on Tanaka over the top rope through a table, which was set up on the outside. Awesome (along with Justin Credible) then lost a tag match on July 18 to Masato Tanaka and Jerry Lynn, after Credible was pinned by Jerry Lynn. In his final appearance, Awesome lost yet again to Masato Tanaka on August 2 at ECW's Heat Wave 1998 Pay-Per-View event.

During a match with Super Leather, Alfonso seriously injured his knee, taking him out of wrestling for nearly a year. When he returned, as The Gladiator, he wrestled for a brief period in All Japan Pro Wrestling. Alfonso would soon return to ECW, as he shocked the wrestling world by winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship at ECW's Anarchy Rulz 1999 Pay-Per-View; the scheduled title match was Taz defending against Masato Tanaka, but Awesome showed up in the audience, which angered Taz and inspired Paul Heyman to turn the bout into a 3-Way Dance as a result.

2000-2001

Awesome continued to be a major factor in ECW early in 2000, including teaming with Raven in to beat Tanaka & Tommy Dreamer for the ECW Tag-Team Titles. Awesome was often managed by Judge Jeff Jones in his ECW tenure. In December 2000, Awesome was defeated by Masato Tanaka for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, but Awesome regained the title a week later.

According to a shoot interview that HighSpots conducted with Mike Awesome in 2003, from the night that he won the title to the day he signed a contract to join WCW, Awesome was never contractually obligated to ECW.

In April 2000, Mike Awesome made a surprise appearance on WCW Monday Nitro, aiding the New Blood by attacking Kevin Nash. This presented a problem for ECW, because Awesome was still the reigning ECW World Champion, and it was only the threat of a federal injunction that prevented WCW from having Awesome appear on WCW television with the belt. In one of the more bizarre moments in pro wrestling, Awesome (who was now under contract with WCW) returned to ECW for one night to drop the title to Tazz (who was under contract with the World Wrestling Federation at the time) in an ECW ring at an ECW event.

Awesome continued to be a major factor with the New Blood for the next month, teaming with Billy Kidman occasionally, to help Kidman against Hulk Hogan. Awesome also continued his on-and-off feud with Kevin Nash, while feuding with Kanyon. During 2000, Awesome began changing his gimmick slightly, coming out as That 70s Guy. He dressed in various throwback outfits, hosted his own "Lava Lamp Lounge" show, and even drove a painted bus around to arenas. He also began to become infatuated with "heavyset" women. Awesome had feuds with Jeff Jarrett and a minor one with Vampiro, which created many brawls between Awesome & Vampiro's allies in the Insane Clown Posse. At one point, Awesome battled Shaggy 2 Dope & Violent J in a Handicap match, which led to Awesome Powerbombing Shaggy 2 Dope on top of his van (Shaggy 2 Dope then slid off, injuring himself). In November 2000, Awesome renewed an earlier feud with Bam Bam Bigelow,

2001-2005

Going into 2001, Awesome dropped the 1970s gimmick joined with Lance Storm & Elix Skipper in Team Canada after assaulting "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. Team Canada's feud with the Filthy Animals led to Awesome challenging Billy Kidman to a Hair-vs-Hair match. Before the bout could take place, Team Canada took out Kidman in the back. However, Konnan (with no hair) took his place, and got the win. The Filthy Animals then cut off Awesome's long-time mullet haircut. Awesome later faded into the background for a time, helping to aid Storm in his battles against Ernest "The Cat" Miller. With Awesome & Skipper's aid, Storm defeated Miller at one point to become the WCW Commissioner, allowing Team Canada to run with a lot of power for a few weeks. However, at Superbrawl, Storm lost to Miller, who regained his Commissionership.

Mike Awesome became part of The Invasion storyline in the WWF. He ended up making his WWF debut on the June 25, 2001 episode of Raw is War during a match which saw Rhyno defending his WWF Hardcore Title against Test. Rhyno gored Test against the wall and made the pin to become the new champion but while Rhyno was celebrating, Mike Awesome came out of nowhere and attacked Rhyno in the head with a metal pipe. He then powerbombed Rhyno onto a steel ladder and made the pin, and, due to the 24/7 Hardcore Title rule, the ref made the count, giving Awesome his first WWF victory and, shockingly, the WWF Hardcore Title. Awesome became the first Invader to gain gold in the WWF, stealing away with the Hardcore belt before any WWF wrestlers could catch him. It struck a blow against the WWF, as well as giving Awesome his first gold in more than a year. Awesomes' hardcore reign came to an end a few weeks later on the July 12, 2001 edition of Smackdown! when he was pinned by Jeff Hardy, he never got a rematch. Awesome's push slowly declined as he would appear mostly on WWF's Sister Shows (WWF Jakked and WWF HEAT. He was left off the majority of the Pay-per-view's (PPVs) involved in the WWF/Alliance storyline, and was eventually sidelined with an injury in November 2001.

After The Alliance storyline ended, Mike Awesome was not used much in the storylines or matches, and after a WWE Draft Lottery, Mike was drafted to SmackDown!, but was rarely seen on TV and was used as a jobber on WWE Velocity in 2002, losing to the likes of Sho Funaki and Ron Simmons. He was released from the WWE in September 2002.

Mike Awesome made a few appearances at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), but mainly competed on the independent circuit in the United States and Japan. Awesome's most notable activity on the independent circuit occurred throughout late 2002-summer 2003, as he competed in Major League Wrestling. Awesome would defeat Masato Tanaka in a #1 Contender's (for the MLW Heavyweight Championship) on the Revolutions card (May 9, 2003), and then challenge (the reigning-champion) Satoshi Kojima at Hybrid Hell (June 20, 2003); Awesome would win the title, only to lose it 10 minutes later in an impromptu challenge by Steve Corino. Match and won the company's Heavyweight Championship from Satoshi Kojima. One of Awesome's final appearances in MLW occurred on September 19, 2003 at War Games, where he defeated Joe Seanoa.

2005-retirement

At ECW One Night Stand 2005, Awesome faced Tanaka once again inside an ECW ring. Awesome won the match after Awesome Bombing Tanaka to the outside of the ring, and through a table and a slingshot Awesome Splash onto Tanaka. After the match Mike Awesome powerbombed referee Jim Molleneux. Throughout the match, both ECW fans and Joey Styles, who was announcing the match, made note of the fact they had not forgiven Awesome for betraying ECW five years previously.

During February, Awesome announced his retirement from wrestling so that he could concentrate on spending time with his family and selling real estate. Awesome added that he would only wrestle "if the money was right," and added that he felt that he was underpaid for his performance at ECW One Night Stand 2005, due to the fact that Awesome felt that his match with Masato Tanaka stole the show. Additionally, Awesome had blown out his knee during the match.

Wrestling facts

File:Awesome bomb.jpg

Awesome using the Awesome bomb to put Tommy Dreamer through a table.

• Finishing and signature moves

• Awesome Bomb (One shoulder powerbomb)
• Kamikaze Awesome Bomb (Superbomb)
• Running Awesome Bomb (Running one shoulder powerbomb)
• Sitout Awesome Bomb (Sitout powerbomb)
• Awesome Splash (Frog splash)
• TKO
• Flying clothesline
• Overhead belly to belly suplex
• German suplex

• Catchphrase

• "I'm the BEST!"
• "Awesome Bomb BABY!"

• Managers

• Judge Jeff Jones
• Ronald Gossett
• Nate the Rat
• James Mitchell
• Kimberly Page
• Major Gunns

Championships and accomplishments

• Extreme Championship Wrestling

• 2-Time ECW World Heavyweight Champion
• 1-Time ECW World Tag Team Champion, with Raven

• Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling

• 2-Time FMW World Brass Knuckles Champion
• 2-Time FMW World Brass Knuckles Tag-Team Champion, with Big Titan and Mr. Pogo
• 1-Time FMW Independent World Heavyweight Champion
• 1-Time FMW Street Fight 6-Man Tag-Team Champion, with Horace Boulder & Hisakatsu Oya

• Jersey All Pro Wrestling

• 1-Time JAPW Champion

• Major League Wrestling

• 1-Time MLW Heavyweight Champion

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• 1-Time WWF Hardcore Champion

Trivia

• He is the cousin of Horace Hogan. Awesome grew up with Horace, and the two entered wrestling at the same time, due to the Hulkster's influence. While Horace trained in the Malenko camp, Awesome got his skill from Steve Keirn's training camp out of the PWF.
• He was part of many stables, such as the Puerto Rican Army, Shiek's Army, Team Canada, Lethal Weapon, Funk Masters of Wrestling, and the WCW/ECW Alliance.
• Awesome's theme music during his tenure in Extreme Championship Wrestling includes "Immortal Sin" by Fight, the FMW-produced "He's Awesome", "Phantom Lord" by Metallica and "Awesome Bomb" by Reckless Fortune (which was prodeced by ECW's Harry Slash of Harry Slash & The Slashtones).
• To this day, Awesome has still not been paid for his match against Masato Tanaka at ECW Heat Wave 1998.
• Awesome was involved in a backstage altercation with the Yakuza at an FMW event, as a result of several members beating up his real life friend, Sabu. As a result, Awesome, along with the rest of the foreign wrestlers, didn't leave their locker room for over 2 hours, because the Yakuza were waiting in the hallway with the intention of murdering them all as soon as they left the locker room. Atsushi Onita smooved things over with the group, however.