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Written: February 19, 2007
WWE is saddened by news of the passing of Mike Alfonso, better known to
wrestling fans as Mike Awesome. He was 42.
Mike Awesome's first major exposure came overseas, where he became one of the Japan's top stars. Awesome would eventually become a star and champion in America while wrestling for Extreme Championship Wrestling. Following his successful run in ECW, Awesome spent time working in WCW and later WWE before retiring to his native Tampa, Florida.
While in ECW, Awesome was a two-time World Champion and Tag Team Champion. His matches with Masato Tanaka, including a show-stealer at One Night Stand in 2005 were among the most memorable in ECW history.
http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/mikeawesomepasses
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WrestlingClothesline.com sends are thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Mike Awesome.
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NWA NJ & NY Mourns Mike Awesome
It is with deep regret that I learned of the tragic death of Mike “Awesome” Alfonso.
I had worked with Mike in Japan for the Zero-One promotion. I will never forget an “awesome” matchup I officiated in the Tokyo Sumo Hall on pay per view that saw Mike go up against Masato Tanaka. The match went all over the multi-level building and had the capacity crowd on its feet every minute.
More importantly, Mike and I used the days between shows to build a friendship. Mike was an intelligent man. He was devoted to his family. On a shopping excursion to Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district, Mike searched high and low to bring home a gift for his kids. With both of us being fathers, we shared many stories about our offspring.
Mike was a giant in the squared circle. He was an even bigger man in real life.
Rest in Peace, Mike.
FRED RUBENSTEIN
NWA NJ & NY
NWA SHOCKWAVE
NWA PRO
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It seems way too often lately in wrestling that thoughts have to be expressed on the loss of a friend. I had the chance to meet Mike Awesome in ECW when he had the unforgetable match against JT Smith. He was a wonderful guy.
I also had the chance to run into him a few years ago when he and Vader came in to work with JAPW. All he did was laugh when he saw me and say "some things never change do they"
My prayers go out to his family and all I can say in Rest in Peace, my friend.
Kathy Fitzpatrick
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Here is a commentary from Lance Storm:
StormWrestling.com
- Commentary
Mike Awesome 1965-2007
February 20, 2007
I can’t believe I am writing another tribute commentary about a friend
no longer with us. For those of you who have not heard, Mike Awesome (Mike
Alfonso) was found dead in his home in Florida, from an apparent suicide,
at the age of 42.
I first met Mike in 1991 on my first tour of Japan for FMW. Mike was a major star for FMW and a really great guy. He was also part of the original “Team Canada” for FMW teaming with Rick Titan (the fake Razor Ramon from the WWF), Ricky Fuji, and (I believe) Dr. Luther. Mike and I only wrestled once for FMW, in a tag team match me teaming with Chris Jericho and Mike teaming with Horace Bolder (Hogan), but our paths would cross again in ECW, WCW, and WWE.
On March 12, 2000 Justin Credible and I regained the ECW Tag Team Titles in a match with Masato Tanaka & Tommy Dreamer, and Raven & Mike Awesome. Mike Awesome is likely best know in ECW for his departure, when he jumped to WCW with the ECW Heavy Weight Title. After a lengthy legal battle he returned to drop the title to Tazz in one of the most unique inter-promotional matches in wrestling history. In that match WCW wrestler Mike awesome defending the ECW World Heavyweight Title against WWF wrestler Tazz, on an ECW show.
Mike got a lot of heat for the way he left ECW, but a lot of that was unjustified. The true story is that Mike was owed a significant amount of money from ECW and he refused to sign his contract until he received all money due him. After repeatedly not receiving money promised him Mike accepted an offer from WCW that offered his family financial security. I’m not sure there is anyone in the business that would have done differently.
I followed Mike to WCW not too long after that and we again got to work together. We first feuded over the US/Canadian Heavy Weight Title, and then Mike later joined my version of Team Canada. Mike and I were on the verge of capturing the WCW World Tag Team Titles when the WWF purchased WCW. Mike and I teamed together on the final Nitro broadcast.
In WWF/WWE Mike and I again worked together. Mike and I were involved in the first WWE vs. WCW match on RAW, where Mike and I teamed to face Kane and Chris Jericho. Mike and I again teamed facing Edge and Christian on the Invasion PPV. Mike didn’t last too long in WWE but our paths crossed again at the ECW Reunion PPV One Night Stand.
At the first One Night Stand PPV Mike Awesome had Masato Tanaka stole the show in what was considered by most to be the best match of the night. I talked to Mike a lot that night and was very happy for him. He seemed really happy and content with his life. He talked about how he enjoyed pushing his daughter on the swing in their back yard. He would combine doing that with doing Hindu squats by doing a squat between each push. I also remember discovering that he had been happily married longer than I had, which is a rarity in this business.
I have a lot of fond memories of Mike Awesome. I got to work with him in 4 different companies (FMW, ECW, WCW, WWE) as well as wrestling with or against him on 5 PPVs for 3 different companies (ECW, WCW, WWE). In addition to all the time we spend together at work Mike was one of those few guys in the business that I met that I likely would have been friends with had I met him elsewhere in life. Mike shared my love for reading and seemed to be a very happy and loyal family man. If Mike and I had lived in the same City, I’m sure our families would have become very close. I cannot express how surprised and saddened I am to hear about his death. Mike will be very missed, my condolences to his family.
Lance Evers
P.S I hope to add another commentary later in the week sharing some of
the more fun times I had with Mike over the years. I seem unable to make
this the touching tribute I intended; I guess I am still in a bit of shock
over the news.
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Michael Alfonso
ALFONSO, Michael Lee, 42, of Tampa, passed away February 17, 2007. Michael
was a loving father and son. He is survived by his wife, Delisa; son,
Casey; daughter, Carissa; his father, Tony, and mother, Sharon; along
with his brother, Rick. Michael also is survived by his nephew, Ricky;
grandmother, Solia; grand-father, Tony; and his aunts, LaVaughn (Gary),
Betty (Jack), Diana and Solia; his uncles, Andrew (Brenda) and Eugene
(Kathrine); along with many loving cousins. Michael was a Tampa native
and member of The Crossing Church.
He was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and trail bike riding with his numerous loving friends. He will be missed greatly by all of his family members and friends. Michael had a successful 17-year career as a professional wrestler in Japan and the United States. He also wrestled in China, South Korea, Guam, Australia, Germany, England, Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Canada.
He retired from wrestling and was a real estate agent in New Tampa. The
family will receive friends 6-8 p.m. Thursday, February 22, 2007, at Serenity
Meadows Funeral Home, 6919 Providence Road, Riverview, FL 33569. A celebration
of Michael' s life will take place at 10 a.m. Friday, February 23, 2007,
at Serenity Meadows. Flowers will be accepted, however, those who wish
may donate in memory of Michael to the American Diabetes Association 4902
Eisenhower Blvd. #295 Tampa, FL 33634.
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Wrestling Mourns Awesome Loss
By Mike Mooneyham
Feb. 25, 2007
Mike Awesome had, what they call in the business, "the look."
He also had the ability in the ring and was gifted with an uncanny agility that at one time earned him the label of being the best big man in wrestling.
But sadly, like far too many of his contemporaries, he never made it to the autumn of his life.
Awesome, whose real name was Michael Alfonso, was found dead the evening of Feb. 17 by friends who went to his home and found him hanging. The death has been listed as an apparent suicide.
He was only 42 years old and left behind a wife, whom he met in high school and married in 1991, a 10-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter.
Awesome, who was 6-foot-6 and 290 pounds at his peak, hadn't wrestled in more than a year and recently had begun selling real estate in the Tampa area.
His career had peaked with an impressive run in ECW during the late '90s and a major signing with WCW in 2000. The following years, however, were less than productive, resulting in an exit from the business and a life outside the ring.
A short obituary in the local paper described Awesome as "a loving father and son ... an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and trail bike riding with his numerous loving friends and his son Casey." It briefly mentioned his 17-year career as a professional wrestler but never listed the ring name that made him famous.
Business eats its young
Awesome's passing brings back a plethora of unpleasant memories.
Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow, another top star from the '90s, was found dead in the Hudson, Fla., home of his girlfriend just weeks earlier.
Once a main-event performer at Wrestlemania and an even bigger star in Japan where he sold out the Tokyo Dome, the 45-year-old Bigelow was eking out an existence on a $700-a-month social security disability check at the time of his death.
But fame and fortune came at a heavy cost. The fading superstar had become dependent on pain medications to help his battered body, but they had done little to numb the emotional anguish brought on by several years away from his three children following a messy divorce, a business venture in Pennsylvania that had gone bankrupt and concerns over possible jail time as a result of a motorcycle accident in 2005 that had nearly killed his girlfriend.
"I destroyed my youth, my health and my marriage, lost my fortune," he told the Tampa Tribune a few months before his death. "I'm trying to teach these guys about the mistakes I made," he said in reference to advice he was giving wrestlers at an area independent show. "There are ways to do things without getting hurt. I don't want them to feel like I do at 45."
Bigelow's funeral in New Jersey was paid for by WWE owner Vince McMahon, while a second funeral in Florida was funded by several local wrestlers.
Four years ago Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig, who this week was tabbed to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, was found dead at the age of 44 in a Brandon, Fla., hotel room, hours before he was scheduled to take part in a wrestling show at the Tampa State Fairgrounds. The official cause of death was "cocaine intoxication," which caused a fatal heart attack, according to the medical examiner. An autopsy had revealed an enlarged heart. But his father, former wrestling star Larry "The Axe" Hennig, was convinced there was another significant factor.
"Wrestling had a major part in my son's death," he said at the time.
Hennig's childhood friend, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, had died in his bed three years earlier at his home in Fulton County, Ga., of a drug overdose medical officials said included Valium and gamma-hydroxybutrate, the so-called "date rape drug," used by athletes to quicken their recovery from weightlifting sessions.
Another Minnesota native, Mike "Road Warrior Hawk" Hegstrand, died at his home in Indian Rocks Beach, Fla., in 2003 from an enlarged heart caused by high blood pressure at age 46. Mike "Crash Holly" Lockwood died two weeks later at age 32 from what a medical examiner ruled a suicide. A lethal combination of painkillers was found in his system.
The roll call of premature wrestling deaths is seemingly endless.
Chris Von Erich (Chris Adkisson), 21; Mike Von Erich (Mike Adkisson), 23; Louie Spiccoli (Louis Mucciolo), 27; Art Barr (28); Gino Hernandez (Charles Wolfe), 29; Crash Holly (Mike Lockwood), 32; Kerry Von Erich (Kerry Adkisson), 32; Buzz Sawyer (Bruce Woyan), 32; Eddie Gilbert, 33; The Renegade (Rick Williams), 33; Owen Hart, 33; Chris Candido (Chris Candito), 33; Bobby Duncum Jr., 34; Yokozuna (Rodney Anoai), 34; Big Dick Dudley (Alex Rizzo), 34; Brian Pillman, 35; Pitbull No. 2 (Anthony Durante), 36; Eddie Guerrero, 38; "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, 39; Johnny Grunge (Mike Durham), 39; Terry Gordy, 40; Rick Rude (Richard Rood), 40; Big Boss Man (Ray Traylor), 42; Miss Elizabeth (Liz Hulette), 42; Earthquake (John Tenta), 42; Curt Hennig, 44; Bam Bam Bigelow, 45; Junkyard Dog (Sylvester Ritter), 45; Hercules (Ray Fernandez), 46; Big John Studd (John Minton), 46; "Gentleman" Chris Adams, 46; Road Warrior Hawk (Mike Hegstrand), 46.
And that list comes nowhere close to even scratching the surface.
Enlarged hearts, hardening of the arteries and other coronary problems - symptoms associated with steroid use - are the reasons most often identified by medical examiners in the wrestlers' deaths.
Some died as a direct result of the wrestling lifestyle - grueling travel schedules combined with a vicious cycle of steroids, painkillers, cocaine and sleeping aids. Some died of drug overdoses. Some took their own lives. One, Owen Hart, died of a stunt that went tragically awry.
But they all succumbed - at an extraordinarily high rate for people that young - to a profession that grinds up its top athletes like no other.
Mike Awesome
Awesome was a top star in Japan before coming to Extreme Championship Wrestling where he won the hardcore company's version of the world heavyweight title. He created considerable controversy when he left ECW to go to WCW while still ECW's champion. He returned to drop the belt to Tazz (Petre Senerchia), but never regained the level of success he had experienced in ECW and in Japan.
Awesome is perhaps best remembered by ECW fans for his feud with Japanese star Masato Tanaka. The two rivals renewed their feud with a match at the original ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view on June 5, 2005, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
Former pro wrestler Lance Storm (Lance Evers) recalled on his Web site that Tanaka-Awesome "stole the show."
"I talked to Mike a lot that night and was very happy for him. He seemed really happy and content with his life. He talked about how he enjoyed pushing his daughter on the swing in their back yard. He would combine doing that with doing Hindu squats by doing a squat between each push. I also remember discovering that he had been happily married longer than I had, which is a rarity in this business."
Awesome broke into the business in the late '80s after training at Steve Keirn's wrestling school in Tampa. He had worked briefly as an ironworker on numerous downtown Tampa highrises following high school, and after three years in college, he began training as a pro wrestler.
Awesome was extremely gifted and athletic for his size, and it wasn't long before Japanese promotions came knocking at his door. He worked primarily in Japan under a hood, as The Gladiator, and was good enough to win Atsushi Onita's FMW (Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling) tag-team title in 1994 with Big Titan and the company's singles title the next year with a win over Hayabusa. An injury forced him to drop the title, but he regained it the following spring.
Awesome joined ECW in 1998 where he renewed his feud with FMW star Tanaka in a program that culminated with a memorable match at ECW's Heat Wave '98 pay-per-view.
Another serious injury kept Awesome out of action for some time, until he returned to Japan in the second half of 1999, this time working with All Japan. After a tour with the promotion, Awesome returned the United States and joined ECW on the full-time basis, beating Tazz for the ECW world title at the Anarchy Rulz pay-per-view. A new feud with Tanaka got under way, and in December of that year, the two traded the title back and forth.
His jump from ECW to Ted Turner-owned World Championship Wrestling was far from ordinary. In a four-day span, Awesome made a surprise appearance on the first Nitro produced by the team of Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, was pulled from WCW's Thunder show due to threats from the ECW legal team, and returned to ECW for one final match in Buffalo in which he dropped the promotion's title to Tazz, who at the time was on loan from WWE. The hastily planned bout took on even greater significance due to the unique circumstances surrounding it - a WCW-contracted wrestler working with a WWE-contracted wrestler in an ECW ring fighting for the ECW title. Although he was claiming to be under ECW contract prior to signing with WCW, Awesome later claimed that he was never under contract to ECW.
Awesome said the connection with WCW came through the "chain" of Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea), cousin Horace Hogan (Horace Bollea) and Russo. He said at the time that the Hulkster advised him to join WCW. "He said it was the major leagues, and it was compared to where I was. He was pretty positive about it. He said it was a good move, and so did I."
Awesome was soon repackaged with a new gimmick, "That 70s Guy," dressed in various throwback outfits, with his own "Lava Lamp Lounge" show and traveling in a takeoff of the Partridge Family bus. The angle bombed, and Awesome was relegated to a mid-card comedy act.
Other bad gimmicks and flawed creative decisions doomed Awesome's future success in WCW, although he was making more money than he had ever made in ECW or Japan.
If there was anything lacking in Awesome's repertoire, it was his interview ability. Being a mainstay in Japan for so many years, he never really had the occasion to utilize it.
"Being in Japan all those years, we didn't have an opportunity to be on the mic," he said in a 2000 interview. "They didn't understand what we were saying anyway."
Awesome became part of the WCW invasion angle in the then-WWF and made his debut in June 2001 when he won the company's hardcore title and became the first "invader" to win gold in WWE.
Awesome's push slowly declined, however, and he was eventually sidelined with an injury in November 2001. He was released from the company in September 2002. A brief stint with TNA was followed by his last wrestling appearance at One Night Stand in 2005 where he beat his old foe, Tanaka, in a critically acclaimed match. Awesome, however, blew out his knee during the bout, killing any chance that Vince McMahon might offer him one more run in WWE. And with the company encouraging a safer style for its performers, it was unlikely that Awesome's crash-and-burn style would have been welcomed into the fold anyway.
It also was clear that neither ECW management nor its fans fans had forgiven Awesome for what they considered a betrayal of ECW five years earlier.
Awesome, feeling that he was underpaid for his performance at the 2005 PPV, later announced his retirement from wrestling so he could concentrate on spending time with his family and selling real estate.
"In addition to all the time we spent together at work, Mike was one of those few guys in the business that I met that I likely would have been friends with had I met him elsewhere in life," said Storm. "Mike shared my love for reading and seemed to be a very happy and loyal family man. If Mike and I had lived in the same city, I'm sure our families would have become very close. I cannot express how surprised and saddened I am to hear about his death."
