9 Worst Botches In ECW History

9. Mike Awesome Came To Play

A 6’6” powerhouse and a high flyer? Incredible but true… actually, make that Awesome but true. Sadly, these days the late Mike Awesome is best remembered for his controversial decision to jump ship from ECW to WCW (in a dispute with Heyman over pay) while holding the ECW world title.

Unlike Vince McMahon in a similar position, Heyman managed to intimidate the competition into keeping the ECW championship belt off television (possibly due to the influence of his father, a heavyweight lawyer). Awesome would eventually drop the title to Tazz, in a match famous for its historical significance: a WCW wrestler losing the ECW title to a WWF wrestler.

This moment, however, is from six years earlier. In a short, one-sided match against sad sack J T Smith at The Night The Line Was Crossed on February 5th 1994, Mike proved why he was so Awesome and made a significant impact with ECW fans… but lost via sudden inside cradle. Smith would roll out of the ring, leaving Awesome to take it out on the referee with two Awesome Bombs, followed by a frog splash which, as you can see, never actually took place.

That’s an Awesome faceplant, right there... but fortunately, the big man shook it off, dumped the broken turnbuckle on the luckless referee and stalked off.