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#4 Mike Awesome (2 reigns, 201 days as champion)
Mike Awesome may be best remembered by some fans for a succession of ridiculous gimmicks in his final months in WCW such as: "That 70s guy" and the "Canadian Career Killer." However, Awesome was a brilliant worker and superstar at the height of his fame during the mid to late 1990s.
Awesome achieved arguably his greatest success in ECW, though he did also have a spectacular run in FMW in the early 1990s. Awesome worked for ECW on three separate occasions but by far his most successful run was his final one between 1999-2000.
It was during this period that Awesome became a two-time ECW World Champion. Awesome ended Taz's dominant reign as Champion in September 1999 and rekindled his legendary series of matches with his favorite opponent, Japanese superstar Masato Tanaka, with whom he traded the belt in December 1999.
A planned title feud with Rob Van Dam in 2000 would have been legendary but unfortunately, it never occurred as RVD suffered a broken ankle and was forced onto the sidelines. Around this time, Awesome was offered a huge money contract by WCW in the spring of 2000 and left the company without dropping the belt.
With ECW threatening WCW with litigation for stealing away their champion, Awesome was forced to return to ECW for one night only to drop the title to Taz, who WWE loaned to ECW for a short period to facilitate the transition of the belt with Awesome gone and their other top drawing card, RVD on the shelf.
Despite the acrimony of his departure from ECW, Awesome should be remembered for his super stiff, brutal matches with the likes of Taz and Tanaka which will be forever en-grained in the consciousness of all who witnessed them.
Awesome, was the quintessential big guy that was very agile despite his large stature. His modification of the power bomb, also known as the 'awesome bomb' was one of the most destructive moves in his arsenal.
