Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, it was very common to see some no name wrestler go up against a proven star of a promotion. Whether that be from the WWF, NWA/WCW, AWA or elsewhere, these nomads of professional wrestling were there to make the stars look great. They were known as enhancement talent, preliminary wrestlers or as many fans have come to know them…”jobbers.” While fans were clamoring to see big time match ups, these “squash matches” served a very important purpose. While perhaps not appreciated at the time, they were just as important as the stars themselves.
Mike Alfonso was trained by Steve Keirn and started his wrestling career competing in various territories and independent promotions. He adopted the name of ‘Mike Awesome’ early into his career. Starting in the Summer of 1989, Awesome was used as enhancement talent for World Championship Wrestling. He would also work as a “jobber” in the WWF.
It wasn’t until he traveled to Japan and work for FMW under the name ‘The Gladiator’ where Alfonso developed into a big star overseas. The combination of his large size and uncanny athletic agility made him a huge attraction in Japan. As the Gladiator, Alfonso would capture the FMW heavyweight title and various other championships in the promotion including the tag team titles which he held with both Big Titan (Fake Razor Ramon in WWF) and Mr. Pogo.
In between tours of Japan, Alfonso worked for ECW under the name ‘Awesome’ Mike Awesome starting in 1993. He was back and forth between Japan and here in the States for ECW showcasing his immense talent in the ring. After a knee injury sidelined him for several months…Awesome returned to ECW and defeated Masato Tanaka and Taz in a three way dance for the ECW world title. Awesome would win that belt twice, as well as the ECW tag team titles with Raven. His battles against Tanaka were some of the best, hard hitting matches in ECW history.
Mike Awesome was quickly becoming a top star for ECW, but a dispute over money and unpaid appearances led Awesome to jump ship to WCW as the ECW champion. Awesome would never appear on WCW television with the title belt due to fears of legal actions, but agreed to drop the belt at an ECW event to a WWE wrestler in Taz. Despite getting a steady paycheck from WCW, Awesome floundered in the company mainly because he was saddled with subpar gimmicks like ‘That 70’s Guy’ and the Fat Chick Thriller.
When WCW was purchased by WWF in 2001, Awesome was one of the wrestlers acquired in the takeover. He immediately won the WWF Hardcore title by beating Rhyno in his debut on Monday Night Raw and was a member of Shane McMahon’s alliance group.
Despite being the first wrestler of the Alliance to win a championship in WWF, Awesome’s career never fully gained traction with fans and was ultimately released in 2002. After his release, Awesome worked for TNA wrestling and worked independent dates including a return to Japan working for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Awesome returned to WWE in 2005, wrestling on the ECW One Night Stand pay per view and practically stole the show with his match against rival Masato Tanaka. He never really became the big star in the United States as he was in Japan. Sadly, he committed suicide in February of 2007.