----Phantom mentioned this in his report, but I wanted to send my condolences to friends and families of Awesome.
According to Dave Meltzer, former ECW world champion & former WWE
Hardcore Champion Mike Awesome has passed away at the age of 42. His
real name was Mike Alfonso. According to reports, Awesome was found
dead on Saturday morning in the Tampa Area.In addition to working in the U.S.,
he also worked for FMW in Japan.
He will probably be most remembered as being the regining ECW
champion when he signed with WCW. Tazz was brought in by WWE to take
the title from him, as he jumped to WCW.
Awesome had been working as a realtor at Coldwell Banker in the Tampa
area at the time of his death. Reports indicate that friends arrived
at Awesome's apartment on Saturday evening around 10:30 p.m. to pick
up him up, but he never answered the door. Awesome was found hanging
in his home, and it is believed his death was due to suicide pending
results of the autopsy.
Awesome, who had retired from wrestling in 2006 to spend more time
with his family, is believed to have been diagnosed with diabetes and
had lost weight recently. There is speculation he had been depressed
as a result of all of this which could have led to him taking his own
life, but nothing is definately known at this time pending the
results of the medical examiner's report.
