Curt McGirt Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 4 hours ago, Horton Hears a Wooo!!! said: Main event was Terry Funk vs. Mr Wrestling II for NWA Title Hold up, wasn't that on a Schneider Comp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brysynner Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 15 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said: I loved Mike Awesome so much in ECW, I for sure thought he was going to end up a world champion in WCW. Then after that year of bullshit, there was the WWF buyout, and I got all excited again because I figured Vince would love him and treat his character right because of his size (his debut Hardcore title victory seemed to confirm this at the time). And then years after that, I really thought they might sign him after the great match he and Tanaka had at the first One Night Stand. Obviously Id hate for anyone to speak ill of the dead or anything, but was he just a difficult guy behind the scenes or what?? Nothing about that guys career makes any sense to me. My assumption was in WCW he was held back by WCW politics. In WWE, my guess is since he didn't work like a typical WWE big guy and didn't talk like a WWE big guy those were deal breakers to Vince. Add in the top was populated with Austin, Rock, Hunter, Angle and I assume many ECW loyalists still had a ton of resentment toward him. All of this made WWE a political minefield for Awesome so he was probably a miserable bastard until they fired him and he did a few Japanese tours. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningBeard Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 The thing about Mike Awesome you have to remember is he wasn't actually that big compared to who was around in WWF and WCW, he just dwarfed most people in ECW. So when you factor that in he just looks like any old mid card act and was very average in the ring. That said, no idea why WCW did what they did to him after signing him away from ECW... oh yeah, Russo. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabremike Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 This reminds me of a bus trip where Awesome came onto the bus for a q&a. Someone asked him what the best promotion he ever worked for he replied "ECW! That place was great! What was the worst? ECW! They didn't fucking pay me!!!" 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 He got to routinely nearly kill Masato Tanaka with no repercussions most of the time. So ECW and FMW should be a tie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playa Shunna Ver 3.0 Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 What I loved about Mike Awesome was the name. Like somewhere, at sometime, someone asked him his wrestling name......and he had the ball to say "Mike Awesome". I mean what a fucking statement. There was no Stone Cold Steve Awesome, or The Nature Boy Ric Aweome, or Shawn Awesome, or the AwesomeTaker....but there was fucking Mike Awesome. 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Don't forget, he was also The Gladiator. Rargh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Never forget. ROCK HARD RICK. WCW TV-Taping @ Augusta 1989/06/15 @ Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center in Augusta, Georgia (United States of America) Samu and Fatu defeated Mike Awesome and Rock Hard Rick (2:33 minutes) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 8 hours ago, CreativeControl said: was very average in the ring There are Gladiator matches in FMW that say otherwise That said, his style was not big-two oriented at all, at least for that era. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 15 minutes ago, Playa Shunna Ver 3.0 said: What I loved about Mike Awesome was the name. Like somewhere, at sometime, someone asked him his wrestling name......and he had the ball to say "Mike Awesome". I mean what a fucking statement. There was no Stone Cold Steve Awesome, or The Nature Boy Ric Aweome, or Shawn Awesome, or the AwesomeTaker....but there was fucking Mike Awesome. Well come on. You have to believe in yourself or nobody else will. Fans aren't going to lay their money down for Mike Half Decent or Mike Passable. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playa Shunna Ver 3.0 Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Yeah...no one paid to see Above Average Mike..... 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 20 hours ago, Sasha said: HBO started transmitting in 1972 and went national in 1975, if I recall correctly. They had carried a lot of MSG shows right from the beginning. Not sure when the Atlanta one was aired. Yeah, they specifically name-check HBO on that 1973 MSG show on the Network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 58 minutes ago, Playa Shunna Ver 3.0 said: Yeah...no one paid to see Above Average Mike..... Poor Mike Sanders. Being Above Average isn't bad. C's = degrees 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChesterCopperpot Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Because it's always fun to see what Braun eats 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Love Mike Awesome, he was what you would imagine a pro wrestler to be in a cartoon. Now he was not as big in WWF or WCW, but he could do things most men his size can't. I thought it was impressive how over he stayed in WCW despite how they booked him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdangerously Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I like that Braun restrains himself to a mere three pieces of bacon. I guess four or more would be excessive. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quackhell Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 My most found memory of Mike Awesome memory is during his very brief stint locally in the HWA when it was a developmental. The fans are hanging out at Chili's and he and Horace Hogan come in. A few minutes later we hear "Come on Horace, there is no food here...just Karaoke!" and they leave. We still quote that to this day. I did enjoy a lot of his in ring work as well. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quackhell Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I know this should go in the gif thread, but this is another Mike Awesome moment permanently etched in my brain. Poor, poor JT. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 If I'm not mistaken, isn't that the match that led to JT Smith, Full Blooded Italian? If so, thank you Mike Awesome. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 46 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said: If I'm not mistaken, isn't that the match that led to JT Smith, Full Blooded Italian? If so, thank you Mike Awesome. Not really That match was in 94. Smith then became TV champ The first version of FBI where JT was with Big Guido didn't start till like 96 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 9 minutes ago, RIPPA said: Not really That match was in 94. Smith then became TV champ The first version of FBI where JT was with Big Guido didn't start till like 96 Smith started doing the Italian gimmick prior to the FBI, though. Wasn't it because he took a nasty bump on the floor that left a baseball sized bump on his head and he ended up thinking he was Italian? I remember Guido working as Damien Stone prior to the FBI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said: Smith started doing the Italian gimmick prior to the FBI, though. Wasn't it because he took a nasty bump on the floor that left a baseball sized bump on his head and he ended up thinking he was Italian? Yeah - that was AFTER the TV title run though He came back from injury. Fucked up the balcony dive and they turned it into the angle So it was the Balcony Dive not being broken in half that got us FBI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 GOD DAMMIT - I am mixing up my JT Smith botches It was the Hack Myers bump to the floor that started the FBI so you were right on that part Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 11 minutes ago, RIPPA said: Yeah - that was AFTER the TV title run though He came back from injury. Fucked up the balcony dive and they turned it into the angle So it was the Balcony Dive not being broken in half that got us FBI My memory of early ECW gets muddled sometimes. I had actually forgotten about the Hack Myers dive. How that's possible, I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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