By Tim Brown on January 5, 2004 at 9:54 AM EST

Show: The Interactive Interview (Courtesy of ProWrestling.com)
Guest: Mike Awesome
Date: 1st January 2004
Your Hosts: Daniel Edler & James Walsh
Recap by: James Walsh

[NOTE: You need the Real One Player to hear the show, which you can download by Clicking Here]

The former FMW, ECW, and MLW Heavyweight Champion, Mike Awesome joins Dan and James of The Interactive Interview for nearly an hour to discuss his thoughts on his career past, present, and future!

Mike pulls no punches and delivers what I, and many others will feel, is his best interview to date!

Mike Awesome

-- Note: Before this interview is an interview with top indy talent "Mr 630" Jerrelle Clark.

-- Mike was a big wrestling fan growing up. He used to go to the Armory to go watch the wrestling in Florida. It was him and his friends going to watch it.

-- Dusty Rhodes was his favorite growing up. Terry Funk was a favorite as well because he was such a good heel. He hated him at the time but now he realizes that hating him meant he was over with him.

-- Mike did three years of college to become an accountant. His cousin, Horace Hogan, and also Mike himself wanted to be wrestlers but thought they were too skinny to pull it off. Horace went on a tour with his Uncle Hulk Hogan and came back saying how they had to do it.

-- Mike was trained by Steve Kern, known as Skinner in the WWF later. Steve taught him the ropes as well as Jimmy Del Ray. Horace was trained by the Malenkos.

-- The USWA was Mike's first territory. "It was a great weight loss program because we couldn't afford to eat."

-- For as green as he was, the fans were good to him in the USWA. He feels it was a great learning experience all around but he was just starving.

-- Working with Jerry Lawler was a blast. Jerry was able to take anybody in the ring and make them have a good match. Mike feels humbled to have wrestled Lawler so soon after starting in the business.

-- Mike was supposed to have a "Loser Leaves" match with Chris Champion. It ended up that both left. Mike was at a gas station and couldn't afford to put gas in the car. He was going on credit alone at that point. So, he said "the hell with this" and went home without doing the "loser leaves" match.

-- Mike feels there were expectations for him in Japan that he had to meet and he tried his best to do so. He was very nervous on the first tour but he can't put Japan over enough for all the things they have done for him. He wrestled there for many years and still wrestles there full time.

-- Atsushi Onita effected his career tremendously. After the USWA, Mike went back to college. He did some indy shows in Florida for free. He was the champion, but still wasn't being paid. Onita called and offered him the tour of Japan so he was at the crossroads in his life. it was either wrestling or college, he couldn't do both. Obviously he chose wrestling and that resulted in a great long career in Japan and he owes Onita a debt of gratitude for the opportunity.

-- Mike says he doesn't know how to answer critics that said FMW was garbage wrestling. He just knows what Onita wanted and that is what he delivered. He said the change is not just in Japanese wrestling but if you watch wrestling in the United States now, it's changed as well because of what FMW was doing at the time. If the critics want to see classic style wrestling, that's fine. He can't change their minds. He prefers tables and such, himself.

-- Mike is very proud of the innovative stuff he did in that match such as the swimming pool match with water bombs in the water and exploding barbed wire. He hopes American fans do find tapes of matches like that involving him because he is proud of them.

-- About that match, Mike was glad to be a part of it. He was told before the match not to land on the mines directly in the water or he would be seriously hurt. They had swimmers there, though, to rescue them if something were to go wrong.

-- "The Sheik was a crazy old man, boy!" He threw a chair at Mike end over end the first time they met in the ring and Mike feels "if you didn't know him, he was an asshole!" But, Mike worked with him for many years and was on the bus with him and they ended up becoming friendly. He feels once you got past the crazy gimmick that he played, he was a really nice guy. He doesn't know how many people had the honor to know him the way he did.

-- Mike did part time shots for ECW well before joining them. The reason for the short stays was because he had a full time gig in Japan and didn't feel the need to work for ECW for less money.

-- Mike did a dive over the top and landed on J. T. Smith. Smith's back bent over the guard rail and Mike was sure he broke Smith's back. He asked him immediately if Smith was okay and he was. Mike celebrated more because he was okay than because he hit a good move. He likes that it was used in the ECW entrance video for so long but he was more happy that he didn't hurt Smith.

-- Masato Tanaka is a great guy to work with but Mike is always on edge when he wrestles him because he knows Tanaka is going to come after him with his best stuff and Mike will do the same. "It's not that we're pissed at each other. It's just that we had so many brutal matches in Japan that we do the same thing wherever we wrestle."

-- Onita left FMW and Mike wasn't thrilled with the new booking crew. "They were doing stuff that was far from what Onita originally had us doing." When Hayabusa was in charge, who is now paralyzed, it became more wrestling and less gimmicks. Then, a year after that, it changed and Mike hurt his ankle and decided it was time to leave and not come back.

-- So, Mike entertained going to ECW full time and knew he was going to get the kind of push he ended up getting "up front." But, he blew his knee right knee out. So, he had a hurt left ankle and a blown out right knee. He took a year off to recover from his injuries.

-- When he returned and the push began, he really enjoyed the push. The match he won the title, the 3-way-dance with Tanaka and Tazz, was a great match "once we got Tazz out of there."

-- Mike gives Spike Dudley a lot of credit for getting him over in ECW. He says Spike is such a great worker and is absolutely crazy to take the bumps he takes.

-- Mike's only problem with ECW was he was simply not getting paid what he was supposed to be getting paid. He had absolutely no heat with the locker room at the time and enjoyed what he was doing. It was just financial differences.

-- Mike only talked to WCW for 4 days before deciding to jump ship.

-- Paul pulled things out of his bag of tricks when Mike jumped including filing an injunction to WCW to prevent him from wrestling claiming he had a signed contract. Mike had never signed a contract with ECW but Paul produced a paper with Mike's initials on it way below where one is supposed to sign. Mike said it was obvious to anyone that it wasn't his signature. But, WCW settled paying Paul Heyman $50,000.

-- When asked about his feelings about Paul Heyman, Mike said "He's a dirty man. I mean, that signature got on that paper somehow...I'm sure he didn't help me out when we were in WWE either. He's a snake, but that's just my opinion."

-- Mike feels he didn't leave ECW professionally. He feels he left it the way he did out of spite because he simply was not being paid. He feels that is why ECW was favorable towards the Dudley Boyz and Tazz ... They left the right way whereas Mike left "unprofessionally" as the champion.

-- The night he dropped the belt to Tazz was a great night, he feels. The crowd was so hot at him and even though they really hated him, it was just such a hot crowd. The only thing he could've done to make it better would have been to put him with Rhyno instead of Tazz because he didn't trust Tazz.

-- In WCW, Kevin Nash was great to work with. Nash was willing to do anything suggested, "not crazy wise but story wise." Mike feels too many guys were worried about their spot and such but Nash was not that way at all.

-- Knowing he wrestled Hulk Hogan, he is so honored by that fact. He feels to have not only wrestled Hogan but to have put him through a table is just fantastic!

-- When asked about the Bash at the Beach 2000 incident with Hulk Hogan and WCW, "You know, that sucked. That really sucked. I mean it was the end. It was WCW, Hulk Hogan was there. I mean he's gotten over bigger than anybody ever has ever. Ever, I mean, ever! And they go and do that to him. Come on, have a little respect!"

-- Hulk Hogan was responsible for Mike going to WCW. So, when Hogan was gone he was basically dumped on. "It was down from there."

-- "The Fat Chick Thriller was just absolutely stupid. I was wondering if they wanted me to quit. What the hell were they doing?" But, he enjoyed "That 70's Guy" at times. He liked the bus, driving it in to the arena and such. He also remembers fondly powerbombing one of the Insane Clown Possie members on top and how the guy slid off the side of the bus and how Mike tried to grab him so he wouldn't fall but realized he had polyester on and if he had tried to grab him on such a surface, he'd have fallen right off with him. "So, I said the hell with it and let him fall." But, he feels it was too goofy, though.

-- He doesn't know if Russo was mad at him or connected him to Hogan or if he just really thought the gimmicks were "something good."

-- Gary Coleman was funny to have with him at Fall Brawl 2000 but his biggest memory of the night was Gary relentlessly trying to get with Major Guns. "Lighten up, guy. She's not going to give it to you, all right?"

-- He doesn't believe Vampiro when he says the powerbomb from the top from Halloween Havoc "broke his neck." Mike doesn't feel he was really injured and says he has confronted Vampiro on the issue. He feels Vampiro used it as a way to get out of his problems with WCW.

-- At the same event, a fan got a little too involved and Mike took some shots on him for his own safety. With how tight security was, Mike landed maybe one punch on the guy before he started accidentally smashing security guards.

-- Another fan incident was one of the girls of FMW dragged a guy backstage who was throwing stuff at them in the ring. The guy looked like he was about to hit the girl so Mike charged from about 30 yards away and hit him with a clothesline from behind. "I just creamed him!"

-- Mike was glad to get his hair cut because he wanted to distance himself from the 70's Guy gimmick and become something serious.

-- The last few months at WCW were tough because everybody knew it was to be sold because AOL/Time Warner were not interested in keeping the company themselves. But, nobody thought it would be the WWE who bought them.

-- The last Nitro was a weird feeling because everybody was in different rooms instead of just one big room.

-- Hugh Morris walked in on the last Nitro and told Mike his contract was picked up by the WWE. Mike replied "great!"

-- Mike thought getting the WWE Hardcore title would result in getting a push. But, he figured out shortly after it wasn't. He was just the guy they put the belt on so he could give it to the guy who they really wanted the belt on.

-- Wrestling under the banner "ECW" again was something he never expected to happen again. He feels the ECW group was more over than WCW. He feels they didn't let it take off because they didn't want it to.

-- The reason the invasion failed is because fans wanted Hogan, Steiner, Goldberg, and so forth right away. Instead they didn't get them and the angle just left people unsatisfied.

-- He feels Paul didn't help him in the WWE when he had power. He says he doesn't anymore.

-- Mike enjoys wrestling in Japan full time now with All Japan. He says keep up with him in Japan by buying Japanese tapes and checking out the All Japan web site.

-- NWA TNA is just not his style of wrestling. Mike feels he wasn't very into it when he was there. He regrets it, but he just wasn't into it. He likes longer matches rather than short TV matches so he had a hard time in TNA.

-- The Wall aka Malice was a friend of his that he'll miss dearly. Malice was also with All Japan and in the New Church as Mike was. He feels bad that he couldn't be with him on the last tour and wishes he (Mike) hadn't gotten injured so he could've been with him. He misses him already.

-- Mike isn't planning to be a part of MLW when they start up. He was the MLW champion for a very short time but he has not been contacted to appear for their upcoming shows and as such he will just focus all his energy on Japan.

-- Mike likes the hard hitting Japanese style far more than WCW/WWE "story" style. He likes the more in ring style.

-- Mike has nobody he wants to wrestle in particular right now but Eddie Guerrero or Chris Benoit would be nice.

-- When Mike finishes with wrestling, he is finished for good. He has no intention of sticking around backstage as some guys hope to. "When I'm done, I want to be out for good."

-- Mike's career highlight thus far has to be winning the FMW Heavyweight Title the first time.

-- PLUS! Word associations with names like Paul Heyman, Jeff Jones, Tanaka, Hulk Hogan, Horace, Muta, and so many others!

-- We then go into our show recap with Daniel Edler & James Walsh discussing the latest wrestling news!

***We at The Interactive Interview are very keen to know if readers enjoy the product we, and this website, provide you with in these regular interviews. We also like feedback on each individual interview and what bits you liked and didn't like or felt could've been added. Thus, please send through feedback (positive or negative) to us at daniel@theinteractiveinterview.com & tiikingofnoise@hotmail.com.