Despite all the talk about the legendary “Forbidden Door” or the war between AEW and WWE, they have nothing on the Monday Night Wars of the mid-90s between WWE and WCW. sprinkle a little ECW there too just in case. For almost five years, the three companies were at odds with each other. Heyman’s ECW might not have been on Mondays, but he certainly felt that Bischoff was getting the brunt of the talent, despite his then-secret relationship with WWE.
Thanks to some particular talent poaching and a particular partnership, on one fateful night, the three promotions and their legal teams found a way to converge at The Forbidden Door. A contracted WCW wrestler defended the ECW title against a contracted WWE wrestler inside an ECW arena.
Mike Awesome leaves ECW for WCW
In late 1999, Taz notified Paul Heyman that he was leaving ECW for WWE; which is exactly the right way to do business. At the time, he was the defending ECW Champion and did the honors during a three-way dance. He was eliminated first, ensuring either Masato Tanaka or Mike Awesome became the new ECW Champion in Anarchy Rulz. Awesome and Tanaka would spend the majority of the year trading the title back and forth. Mike Awesome, however, despite being the champion, wasn’t all that happy about his paycheck, or lack of it at all. Instead of venting his frustrations on Paul Heyman, he signed a contract with WCW while he was still the ECW Champion and planned to walk away with the gold.
Tazz returns to ECW to defeat Mike Awesome for the championship
Once Heyman found out what was going on, he and his lawyers jumped into action. He was able to file an injunction to prevent Awesome from appearing on WCW TV and attacking his former employer. The Nitro announcers were also not allowed to criticize ECW and had to acknowledge that Awesome was the ECW Champion. He came to Nitro and attacked Kevin Nash, revealing himself to be a member of The New Blood.
The announcers mentioned that Awesome was a world champion, but did not mention which promotion he was champion in. Several days later, WCW’s head of security escorted Awesome to Indiana to defend the title one last time. At the end of WWE, Paul Heyman approached the company with a great idea and asked if he could borrow his former charge, Tazz, to save the day and defend ECW’s honor. Tazz arrived in Indiana a conquering hero and was hailed when he bested Awesome and regained the ECW title.
Mike Awesome became a joke in WCW
Oddly enough, all three companies found a way to ruin the historic moment. WCW hired Mike Awesome while he was the defending champion, but instead of doing anything and trying to build a new star, they hired Awesome to be a joke. He became That 70s Guy and The Fat Chick Thriller. He was a reserve that his career never recovered from. Tazz was able to take the ECW title with him to SmackDown. He would show gold in a match against WWE Champion Triple H. Clearly, The Game wasn’t going to lose to a lesser champion and The Human Suplex Machine fell short of the highest profile of his WWE career. He would defend the title against Tommy Dreamer at Cyber Slam, who was ultimately able to claim the title, only to lose to Justin Credible.
Despite how the fallout from this moment was handled, this story was still a great moment. The three companies, even reluctantly, were able to come together and find common ground. This allowed them to do business with each other to make a moment for fans that also made all parties involved as complete as possible, given the situation Awesome created.
It also marked one of the last gasps for WCW to try and make a mark during the Monday Night Wars. The company made a quick name for itself, but ultimately didn’t know what to do with the talent they had hired. For his time, Awesome was a top-tier talent. He had the strength of a man his size and the speed and agility of a lightweight. The company was clearly short-sighted, they had a guy who could have contributed and instead made him a laughingstock.