• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Mike Hopes To Bury The Shame Of His Past

Posted: Jan 22nd 2009 By: CMBurnham

For the majority of his career, once word could sum up the wrestler known as Maniacal Mike: loser.

Looking at Mike's win-loss record, it is much more heavily weighted on the losing side than the winning. And that was just while he was competing in MSWA. He'd pull off the odd victory here or there, but it seemed like, for every win, there were 3 or 4 losses. And things didn't get any better when he started competing in SWCW.

At least in MSWA he had the fans on his side. When Mike began impersonating some of the WWE stars, he found the fans laughing with him instead of at him. And amazingly, when he settled on being "Maniacal Mike Taker" in MSWA, he began to put together several wins. But none of that translated into success in SWCW.

Mike came to SWCW to prove himself as one of the toughest men around and figured the best way to do that was to conquer SWCW's notorious Hardcore division. With the Hardcore TItle vacated by Miss Sheila, Mike saw an opportunity to make a name for himself. But to do that, he had to make it past the "Oklahoma Hardcore Legend" Kareem Sadat and that just wasn't going to happen. Sadat took Mike out to become the Hardcore Champion and set Mike on a chase that would last the next 5 months.

Mike pursued that Hardcore Title with everything he had. He faced Sadat as well as constant challenger Romo for the belt in multiple Triple Threat Matches, culminating in a Triple Threat TLC match which Romo won. Not one to be deterred, Mike continued his chase and again stepped in to a Triple Threat Match, this time with Romo and Shane Sanchez. Mike thought the shift in opponents would make a difference, but didn't count on Sadat being the special referee. The end result: a new champion in Sanchez and Mike again believing that Sadat had screwed him over.

Since 2009 began, Mike had lost 2 matches against Havoc and it was after the most recent of these matches that he grabbed the microphone and demanded that Sadat come down to the ring to hear what he had to say. With Miss Sheila gone, Sadat had been appointed interim commissioner and when he came out to face Mike, an amazing challenge came from the slightly psychotic one. Mike demanded to face Sadat one-on-one at the next SWCW show, but instead of it being a regular match, he wanted a "Buried Alive" Match!!! This was one of the signature matches of The Undertaker and for the first time, Mike seemed to be drawing on that side of his personality which had brought him success in MSWA. Sadat accepted the challenge, but that didn't stop Mike from promising to first bury Sadat physically and then to bury his career.

Sadat knew that Mike was trying to manipulate him mentally and stepped in the ring to show that he had no fear. He then offered his hand as a sign of good faith. Mike stared for a moment, then cautiously extended his hand as well. After the two clasped, it looked like good sportsmanship would prevail, but Sadat took that moment to kick Mike in the stomach, then deliver a thunderous piledriver to his foe, leaving him quivering in the middle of the ring.

With the annoucement of the "Buried Alive" Match, it seems likely that SWCW fans may see the side of Mike's personality (-ies?) that MSWA fans are much more familiar with. But does Mike have a chance? While his confidence certainly goes up while competing as "Mike Taker", he's facing a man who has been victorious in all kinds of specialty matches. In this type of match, all someone has to do is put their opponent in the hole and shovel dirt on top of them. With no other rules restricting them, it seems likely that both men will go to great extremes to be victorious in yet another first for SWCW.

Tags: Maniacal Mike, MSWA, SWCW, WWE, Miss Sheila, Kareem Sadat, Romo, Shane Sanchez, Havoc