31 Facts About Mike Awesome

Mike Awesome was a member of two separate stables Team Canada in both FMW and WCW.

Mike Awesome was recruited by FMW as the replacement for Al Green, who was scheduled to compete as Gladiator but moved to WCW.

Mike Awesome returned to the company as Mr Pogo's partner in a tag team tournament on January 6,1991, where the duo lost their first match in the tournament against Onita and Sambo Asako.

Mike Awesome suffered a knee injury in the fall of 1995, which forced him to vacate the title on January 5,1996.

Mike Awesome defeated Hisakatsu Oya in the quarter-final and Yukihiro Kanemura in the semi-final to become the runner-up of the tournament as he lost to Hayabusa in the final.

Mike Awesome left the company due to disagreement over Kodo Fuyuki's style of booking.

Mike Awesome returned to ECW in January 1997 at House Party, defeating Balls Mahoney.

In January 1998, Mike Awesome began appearing for ECW again and continued his feud with Masato Tanaka in the United States.

Mike Awesome began in ECW by losing to Tanaka on an episode ECW's weekly Hardcore TV.

In September 1998 at UltraClash, Mike Awesome tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a bout with Balls Mahoney; he did not wrestle again until September 1999.

Mike Awesome continued to be a major factor in ECW early in 2000, including teaming with Raven to beat Tanaka and Tommy Dreamer for the ECW World Tag Team Championship.

Mike Awesome gained a new manager, Judge Jeff Jones, who managed Awesome to the top of winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship twice in 1999.

Mike Awesome appeared a few days later at an ECW event in Indianapolis, Indiana, accompanied by WCW's head of security, where he lost the title to Tazz, who lost it a week later to Tommy Dreamer.

Now with WCW, Mike Awesome continued to be a major factor with the New Blood for the next month, teaming with Billy Kidman occasionally to aid him in his feud with Hulk Hogan.

Mike Awesome engaged in an on-and-off feud with Kevin Nash, as well as feuding with Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon.

In May 2000, Mike Awesome threw Kanyon off the top of the first level of a triple cage onto the entrance ramp, which started his "Career Killer" gimmick.

Mike Awesome was additionally given a bus that resembled the one featured on The Partridge Family to drive into arenas as part of his entrance.

Mike Awesome battled both ICP members in a handicap match on an episode of Nitro, during which he hit Shaggy with a powerbomb on the roof of the bus that caused Shaggy to fall to the concrete floor below.

Mike Awesome then faded into the background, mostly helping Storm in his battles against Ernest "The Cat" Miller.

Mike Awesome first made a appearance in WWF as a jobber on December 12,1996, losing to Justin Credible who was known then as Aldo Montoya in a dark match for WWF Superstars of Wrestling.

Mike Awesome was the first "Invader" to gain gold in the WWF, stealing away with the Hardcore belt before any WWF wrestlers could catch him.

From here Mike Awesome's push diminished and he began appearing mostly on WWF's b-shows, before being sidelined with an injury in November 2001.

Mike Awesome was released from the WWE on September 27,2002, along with Shawn Stasiak and Horace Hogan.

From 2002 to 2006, Mike Awesome competed on the independent circuit in the United States and Japan where he returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling as "The Gladiator" .

Mike Awesome worked for Pro Wrestling Noah from 2004 to 2005.

In February 2006, after 17 years in the ring, Mike Awesome announced his retirement from wrestling, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and adding that he felt underpaid for his work at the One Night Stand event and that he would only return to the ring "if the money was right".

Mike Awesome wrestled several matches for the promotion before leaving in May 2003.

Mike Awesome's TNA in-ring debut was on April 16,2003, where Awesome defeated Perry Saturn by DQ when The Sandman and New Jack interfered.

Mike Awesome made an appearance at WWE's ECW One Night Stand reunion pay-per-view on June 13,2005, defeating Masato Tanaka.

Mike Awesome enjoyed mountain biking and would ride frequently at Alafia River State Park in Florida, close to his Tampa home.

Mike Awesome is no relation of fellow ECW alumnus Bill Alfonso, whose real surname is Sierra.