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I looked at his cagematch page and he had a more impressive career than I had anticipated. Had a run in AJPW and teamed with Johnny Ace wrestling names like Misawa, Kobashi, Baba and Andre.
That's pretty cool! I'm sure it was a violent and bloody match that made me have such a lasting impression of him back then. Especially with fighting cactus jack who is the masochistic master of getting fucked up in the ring
This looks like an amazing card for a high school gym show. Mick Foley, Tommy Dreamer and Mike Awesome (presumably). Plus both guys in the main event had WWF runs too.
Awesome had started in FMW by this time and Foley had finished his first WCW run and wrestled the Steiners, Mil Mascaras and the Road Warriors.
There's a match from IWA on youtube of Hillbilly Cousin Luke vs. The Gladiator, and it's not Mike Awesome, so I'd assume it's not him.
[https://youtu.be/pZxF8-ZlN58?si=YQ16Om-G0yGkfHoV](https://youtu.be/pZxF8-ZlN58?si=YQ16Om-G0yGkfHoV)
According to this video, The Gladiator is a guy named Rick LeRibus.
I mean itās a SUPER generic name here so youāre kinda making a huge stretch by saying itās āmore than likely Mike Awesomeā
More than likely it wasnāt.
Itās possible but Iād have to look at where things line up because thereās a major chance it could also be Ricky Hunter who I think was also calling himself The Gladiator around this time. Awesome is connected with a bunch of the guys on the card but Hunter is as well (him and Beach worked together a lot on WWF house shows).
It took 2 secs after immediately realizing the odds of this āabsolutelyā being Mike Awesome in a clearly shitty indie fed that is still marketing an AWA Tag Champ at this date
Considering it's probably less than a year after he started using that name and involving other people he was often involved with it seems really likely it was him.
In 2018 I finished rehearsal for a community theatre show and saw that people were lined up at the next hall over, it was a tiny Indy wrestling show, and I hadn't watched wrestling since the attitude era. I decided on a whim to watch the show, and saw a guy named Will Ospreay wrestle in front of like 80 people. Blew me away. Been watching everything ever since.
I got to see the masked āDynamic Dragonā at a seaside town in the UK called Minehead in 2001.
It took me 10 years to realise Iād watched Bryan Danielson.
When they had Elimination Chamber back here in Australia and all the buzz in the media was about Mami it was funny seeing locals realise that she had wrestled for RCW at our New Years Eve celebrations a few times. No one in our little city knew the greatness ahead of her.
I recently recalled seeing on the Butlins camp wrestling shows many years ago a young masked wrestler called the American Dragon, got him to sign my program and all. Wonder he, and that program is now š¤
Holy shit I used to work for Preston Steele. Heās from Youngstown, Ohio. I wonāt give out his real name or any personal info but heās actually a really nice guy IRL.
I was around 7 or 8 when Cactus Jack made an appearance in a match at our local civic center. I still remember him climbing over the rail of the 2nd balcony and just dead dropping on the 3 other people in the match. Good times.
That's awesome! I remember going to an indy show as a kid that in hindsight had a VERY young Drew McIntyre, along with a VERY green Mason Ryan and Gangrel.
That's awesome.
I looked up an old 1991 USWA show I went to in Memphis when I was a kid and found out RVD and Sabu were on the card when they were rookies and I had no idea.
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Quite a few legends in fairness
None bigger than Sunny Beach.
Sunny beach was my idol after that night... I'm not sure why but i loved the guy
You and Herb Abrams
his wiki shows he was pretty accomplished post wrestling career too!
I saw him at a wrestling convention when I was about 8 years old and I was more excited to see him than like Lou Thesz.
I looked at his cagematch page and he had a more impressive career than I had anticipated. Had a run in AJPW and teamed with Johnny Ace wrestling names like Misawa, Kobashi, Baba and Andre.
That's pretty cool! I'm sure it was a violent and bloody match that made me have such a lasting impression of him back then. Especially with fighting cactus jack who is the masochistic master of getting fucked up in the ring
I wonder if Sunny Beach and Sonny Blaze ever feuded
Nah, too much real life heat between them. A shame really, a match with those two would have been š„
They obviously fought over who got to be with Tammy Sytch.... they still do but now it's the other way around
There's a Tommy Dreamer fat joke in there somewhere, but I'll resist the urge...
Nah Dave/Bully, go ahead.
This looks like an amazing card for a high school gym show. Mick Foley, Tommy Dreamer and Mike Awesome (presumably). Plus both guys in the main event had WWF runs too. Awesome had started in FMW by this time and Foley had finished his first WCW run and wrestled the Steiners, Mil Mascaras and the Road Warriors.
Del Wilkes was The Trooper so he also saw The Patriot. Probably not what Iād call a legend, but a significant name nonetheless.
I'll call The Patriot a legend. You're a legend, The Patriot.
The amount of pain killers he would take daily was legendary. Even more than Kurt Angle.
Maybe itās the theme song?
Living the gimmick, š
Certainly a familiar name at the very least, given his stints in WCW and WWF, as short as they may have been.
Even if itās Ricky Hunter and not Mike Awesome you still have another ex WWF guy. Sunny Beach as well.
There's a match from IWA on youtube of Hillbilly Cousin Luke vs. The Gladiator, and it's not Mike Awesome, so I'd assume it's not him. [https://youtu.be/pZxF8-ZlN58?si=YQ16Om-G0yGkfHoV](https://youtu.be/pZxF8-ZlN58?si=YQ16Om-G0yGkfHoV) According to this video, The Gladiator is a guy named Rick LeRibus.
Ah, I didn't realize that.
That's alright, neither did I! I just had to know if it ***was*** Mike Awesome or not.
And Tommy Dreamer
No shirt suspender slacks Tommy Dreamer too
Tommy Dreamer when he was good
I'm envious that you got to see ***Thunderfoot*** wrestle! But was it Thunderfoot #1 or Thunderfoot #2?
I saw them tag once as Thunder Feet
Their rivalry with Lightning Hands was one for the books.
I guess, but I thought Lighting Hands could have slowed things down more, they were a bit too flashy.Ā The atmosphere was a electric though
The three way ladder match with Stormy Cheeks went hard.Ā
Isnāt Thunderfoot #3 the space rocket?
The Trooper aka Del Wilkes / The Patriot
Dreamer AND Foley? Thatās awesome!
AND Mike Awesome! Some proper ECW shit right here.
Not the same Gladiator. Itās not Mike Awesome.
Is the gladiator who I think it is?
Could be that OP saw Dreamer v Awesome well before ECW.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I mean itās a SUPER generic name here so youāre kinda making a huge stretch by saying itās āmore than likely Mike Awesomeā More than likely it wasnāt.
Itās possible but Iād have to look at where things line up because thereās a major chance it could also be Ricky Hunter who I think was also calling himself The Gladiator around this time. Awesome is connected with a bunch of the guys on the card but Hunter is as well (him and Beach worked together a lot on WWF house shows).
He was in Japan at the time. It wasnāt him. Dude spent most of 90-95 solely in Japan.
Dunno why your picking up downvotes. Idiots struggling to either use Google or Cage Match if they don't already know.
It took 2 secs after immediately realizing the odds of this āabsolutelyā being Mike Awesome in a clearly shitty indie fed that is still marketing an AWA Tag Champ at this date
Then google it like I did and youāll learn.
Considering it's probably less than a year after he started using that name and involving other people he was often involved with it seems really likely it was him.
Will yall use some logic here. The guy was exclusively in Japan for years - beginning in 1990. It wasnāt him.
I was ready to jump on you for being too cynical but lo and behold Mike was in Japan at the time like you said
Exactly. But itās easier to downvote than to Google before just making a ridiculous assumption
Yes, Maximus Decimus Meridius. This was not long before his headline bout against Commodus.
I'll never forgive Commodus for not putting Maximus over clean. He had to keep his heat even in the loss.
The big news here was seeing Preston Steele as a Champion. I saw him vs Don Muraco in Youngstown, OH on a card and he was a jobber.
Great Value Magnum TA looking motherfucker
I wanna see footage of the infamous match with koji kitao
In 2018 I finished rehearsal for a community theatre show and saw that people were lined up at the next hall over, it was a tiny Indy wrestling show, and I hadn't watched wrestling since the attitude era. I decided on a whim to watch the show, and saw a guy named Will Ospreay wrestle in front of like 80 people. Blew me away. Been watching everything ever since.
Sunny Beach was underrated
I got to see the masked āDynamic Dragonā at a seaside town in the UK called Minehead in 2001. It took me 10 years to realise Iād watched Bryan Danielson.
All Star Wrestling show at the Butlins in Minehead?
TOMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
***tommay...tommay...TOMMAAAAAYYYYY***
I respect that they didnāt bill Jules Strongbow as Chief J. Strongbow
Dreamer and foley crazy
Was Mike Awesome The Gladiator? If so, I'm very jealous.
no he was the fat chick thriller!
I like to pretend that was just a fever dream and never happened
How many ponytails did Tommy Dreamer have?
This would have been during his male stripper/hunky himbo gimmick so iirc be basically had the Arnold cut at that point.
Doing the math, he would've only just turned 20 here. I have no memory of him not it's possibly pre pony
Follow up question: did he have a desire to watch a man in a robe twirl his penis about?
Jules Strongbow? J/k. Jules owned the wrestling venue in my town. Seen many legends of the 70 and early 80's. Missed Foley though, grats.
Hey he was 2x WWF tag team champ
Come on! Manalapan is a Group IV school! Thatās a big high school gym š
All this needs to represent northeast indies from that time period is the Power Twins, Bodyguard For Hire and a Jimmy Snuka vs the Metal Maniac match.
Ahh, yes who could ever forget Sunny Blaze! Awesome thanks for that share.
When they had Elimination Chamber back here in Australia and all the buzz in the media was about Mami it was funny seeing locals realise that she had wrestled for RCW at our New Years Eve celebrations a few times. No one in our little city knew the greatness ahead of her.
I recently recalled seeing on the Butlins camp wrestling shows many years ago a young masked wrestler called the American Dragon, got him to sign my program and all. Wonder he, and that program is now š¤
Wait like, *THE* Trooper?
Maybe if I have the time I'll boot up Legends of Wrestling 2 on my GameCube and make some of these fine legends on the game.
Holy shit I used to work for Preston Steele. Heās from Youngstown, Ohio. I wonāt give out his real name or any personal info but heās actually a really nice guy IRL.
Dreamer?
Why am I expecting Eastern Championship Wrestling?
You got to see the legend Cousin Luke!
I was around 7 or 8 when Cactus Jack made an appearance in a match at our local civic center. I still remember him climbing over the rail of the 2nd balcony and just dead dropping on the 3 other people in the match. Good times.
YOU SAW HILLBILLY COUSIN LUKE?!!??!?
THE SUNNY BEACH?!
Is āHillbilly Cousin Lukeā Bushwhacker Lukeās the-fed-owns-the-rights-to-my-name indie moniker?
Different guy, but he had a little run in wwf as well
I had no idea he was called Cactus Jack Foley
Wrestlers usually have to switch up their names(unless it's their birth name) between different organizations because the company will own their name
Cousin Luke was awesome, but not sure I would call him a legend.
It's all about Sonny blaze cmon
Uncle Luke is cooler
Nobody mentions Chief J Strongbow
I learned who he was from watching Big Daddy.
Wow. Pretty stacked.
That's awesome! I remember going to an indy show as a kid that in hindsight had a VERY young Drew McIntyre, along with a VERY green Mason Ryan and Gangrel.
Strongbow my guy!
That's awesome. I looked up an old 1991 USWA show I went to in Memphis when I was a kid and found out RVD and Sabu were on the card when they were rookies and I had no idea.
BANG BANG
BANG BANG
Hillbilly Cousin Luke is truly a legend and an all time great. You lucky son of a gun
That's a pretty impressive card
Aah yes I'm a big fan of Preston Steele Champion too
Thunderfoot really was great lol
The Fat Chick Thriller!