The following are highlights from Xtreme Mayhem's interview with Mike Awesome! The interview was conducted by Mike Nagel and Jeff Meacham on May 20th, 2003...

- Mike Awesome talks about how he was trained by Steve Kern. He was trained in 1989, and had his first match in Orlando, FL in 1990. He remembers exactly when and where his first match was and who he faced.

- He talks about how he wrestles the Japanese style of wrestling and since ECW had a similar style, things went well there for him. When he won the ECW World Title, nobody including the talent knew that he was going to involved in the match. He thinks the reasons ECW went out of business were because of WWE taking ECW's TV deal, and the fact that Paul Heyman got too big too fast.

- He talked about how departure from ECW, and how the paychecks weren't simply coming in. He wasn't under a contract and had no obligation for the company, and he said anybody else in his situation would have done the same thing.

- He enjoyed the "Career Killer" gimmick in WCW and felt the fans liked it, but he felt that the Hogan/Jarrett situation was one of the reasons why they changed his gimmick. He said Hogan was one of the reasons he got into the wrestling business, and there were some politics in regards to his character once Hogan left. He didn't mind having any of the other gimmicks in WCW, since he at least got paid.

- When he won the WWE Hardcore Title in Madison Square Garden, he thought it was great at first, but a few weeks later he realized it didn't mean anything since they were going to bury him anyway.

- He talked about being released from WWE, and said they simply had too many guys and he was simply one of the guys they got rid of. He doesn't want to go back to WWE at this point, because he is currently with All Japan Pro Wrestling and NWA TNA and he feels things are going really for himself. He said he tries to watch WWE from time to time, but he finds it hard to not turn off the television. He compared his debut with WWE to going to a new high school, where you had to adjust to everything and do things the way everyone else did. He said if you did one wrong thing that WWE didn't like, they were all over you.

- He felt the Invasion could have possibly worked if WCW and WWE were given totally separate shows without there being interpromotional matches every month.

- He compared American wrestling to Japanese wrestling, and he said Japan was more about respect between wrestlers and it was portrayed more as a real athletic competition.

- He does see a little bit of politics in TNA, but overall things are more relaxed, there is little backstabbing, and the office doesn't force people to do things like in other promotions. He's happy being around all the old ECW guys again.

- He talked about the Raven/Jarrett match, and said he enjoys any match where a guy gets the crap beat out of him. He said the lines outside for people wanting to see that show was amazing.

- He doesn't have any relationship with Paul Heyman but did talk with him in WWE, but he feels that deep down inside, Heyman doesn't like him.

- Horace Hogan, who is his cousin, is a very good friend of his. Horace is out of the wrestling business because he is raising two young daughters on his own and can't travel. Horace is currently a supervisor with a construction company that builds homes.

- He likes David Flair and feels he is a good talent. He doesn't know why WWE isn't using him and feels that even know he isn't Ric Flair, he still has something to offer to the business.

- He said Sting is a really cool guy and nice to hang out with.

- He said Spike Dudley is sick in regards to the amount of bumps he is willing to take.

- He said Raven is a very intelligent person.

- Mike does some more "word association" with the hosts, and wraps up the show by saying he's been tearing it up in Japan, and will continue to do so. If the money was right and they wanted him, he would be willing to work for NWA TNA full-time.

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