Alfonso was trained to wrestle by Steve Keirn, debuting on February 26, 1989, at the Eddie Graham Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

[5] Alfonso trained for about one year along with former professional wrestlers, Dennis Knight (Mideon, Phineas Godwin) and "Big" Al Green before making his debut.

Pogo and Gladiator made to the semi-final, where they beat Grigory Verichev and Boris Gogichashivili and then defeated Onita and Asako in the final on January 15 to win the tournament.

In the summer of 1991, Gladiator would form a villainous alliance with Tarzan Goto, Big Titan and Horace Boulder after Mr. Pogo's departure from FMW and resumed the feud with Atsushi Onita.

On August 17, Gladiator participated in the Barbed Wire Deathmatch Tournament, in which he defeated Horace Boulder in the quarter-final and lost to Sambo Asako in the semi-final.

During this time, Gladiator was inspired by Damian's lucha libre videos on travels, which led him to adopt a high-flying style despite his big size.

The following month, Gladiator and Big Titan defeated Sambo Asako and Ricky Fuji in a street fight stretcher match at the 2nd Anniversary Show.

At 3rd Anniversary Show, Big Titan, The Gladiator and Horace Boulder defeated Sambo Asako, Ricky Fuji and The Great Punk in a street fight stretcher match.

Later that year, Gladiator and Boulder participated in the Street Fight Tag Team Tournament, where they qualified for the semi-final against Tarzan Goto and Big Titan, which they lost.

The team of Gladiator, Titan and Fuji gained more success by defeating Asako, Katsuji Ueda and Grigory Verichev in a street fight at Year End Spectacular.

The following year, Gladiator and Titan participated in a double-elimination tournament for the newly created Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship, in which they defeated Hideki Hosaka and Hisakatsu Oya in the quarter-final, Jinsei Shinzaki and Masaru Toi in the semi-final and Mr. Gannosuke and Tarzan Goto in the final to succeed in their block and then defeated Atsushi Onita and Katsutoshi Niiyama in the tournament final on January 18, 1994, to win the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship, marking Alfonso's first title in FMW.

In October, Gladiator joined the new W*ING Alliance with Mr. Pogo, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, Yukihiro Kanemura, Goro Tsurumi, Horace Boulder, Hideki Hosaka and Hisakatsu Oya.

On October 28, Gladiator and Pogo defeated Atsushi Onita and Mr. Gannosuke to win the vacant Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship.

At 7th Anniversary Show, Hisakatsu Oya, Horace Boulder and The Gladiator lost to Super Leather and The Headhunters in a match for the inaugural World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.

On August 5, Hisakatsu Oya, Mr. Gannosuke and The Gladiator defeated Fuyuki-Gun at a Fuyuki Army show to win the World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.

Gladiator had lost his significance as a main event competitor after losing the Double Championship despite being the longest reigning champion and became a mid-card member of ZEN.

Alfonso injured his knee during the match and went on a hiatus, during which he returned to United States and toured with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for the rest of the year.

Although he was initially hesitant, citing a lack of interest, Sabu managed to talk Alfonso into it, who used his frequent-flier miles to go to Philadelphia and wrestle a match for ECW.

On April 10, 2000, Awesome made a surprise appearance on WCW Monday Nitro—aiding The New Blood by attacking Kevin Nash—while still reigning as ECW World Heavyweight Champion.

[10] Awesome's friend Lance Storm has said that he had refused to sign a new contract with ECW until Paul Heyman paid him overdue wages.

[14] Now with WCW, Awesome continued to be a major factor with the New Blood for the next month, teaming with Billy Kidman occasionally to aid him in his feud with Hulk Hogan.

In May 2000, Awesome threw Kanyon off the top of the first level of a triple cage onto the entrance ramp, which started his "Career Killer" gimmick.

After Bash at the Beach in July 2000, his gimmick was tweaked, with him becoming infatuated with heavyset women and calling himself "The Fat Chick Thriller" and feuded with Scott Steiner and Lance Storm for the WCW United States Championship.

[10] On the September 6, 2000, edition of Thunder, Awesome's gimmick was changed to "That '70s Guy" (a reference to the TV series That '70s Show), for which he dressed in 1970s-inspired attire and hosted the "Lava Lamp Lounge" interview segment.

On the final Nitro on March 26, 2001, Awesome and Storm were defeated by Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire in a WCW World Tag Team Championship match.

In an shoot interview released by Highspots in 2003, Awesome said that the infamous incident between Vince Russo and Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 2000 may have been one of the underlying reasons as to why he was plagued by a string of unfavorable gimmicks.

After Rhyno Gored Test against a wall and pinned him he stood celebrating his new title only to be attacked by Awesome wielding a metal pipe.

Awesome made an appearance at WWE's (formerly the WWF) ECW One Night Stand reunion pay-per-view on June 12, 2005, defeating Masato Tanaka.

The ECW toy series manufactured by Original San Francisco Toymakers released a Mike Awesome action figure in 2000.

[30] WWE acknowledged his death on the February 20 broadcast of ECW on Sci-Fi with an "In Memory..." graphic at the opening of the program, and two days later his family received flowers at Serenity Meadows Funeral Home in Riverview, Florida.