Mike Awesome

Just found out that former ECW heavyweight champion Mike Awesome recently passed away at age 42. Don't really want to touch on the means of death, but instead I just want to remember him for all the great matches he had over the course of his career.

I remember when I saw him win the ECW title on PPV back in 99; it was the first ECW PPV aired in Canada at the time. While I was never a big fan of the guy, Awesome had a presence that made him different from other big guys in WW(F) or WCW. Here was a guy who not only looked like he could kick your ass, but wouldn't have a problem doing it effortlessly either. He wasn't a gimmick, he was this big bad brawler.

Then he went to WCW and he got all these shitty gimmicks... and then he was in WWE... and let's forget all that.

His last big match around these parts was at the ECW One Night Stand show (the first one - and quite frankly, the only good one) where he had that last match with Masato Tanaka. Brutal stuff, man. But excellent too.

Condolences to his family and friends.

RIP Mike Awesome.