Mikey Whipwreck John Watson ( June 4 , 1973 ) , better known as Mikey Whipwreck , is a semi - retired American professional wrestler best known for his career with Extreme Championship Wrestling . Career Highlights . Extreme Championship Wrestling . Mikey Whipwreck was trained in 1993 by Sonny Blaze , who opted not to charge him because he doubted the likelihood Whipwreck would ever succeed as a wrestler . Once his training was completed , Whipwreck became part of the Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) ring crew , assembling the ring in the ECW Arena . ECW booker Paul Heyman hired him after he watched Whipwreck practice a variety of aerial maneuvers before the show began ( Joey Styles states on an episode of " The History of ECW " it was he who suggested that Heyman check out Whipwreck ) . The short , lightly - built Whipwreck made a natural underdog who would absorb a great deal of damage in the course of his matches , and his entrance music , Beck ' s " Loser " , predicated his poor win - loss record . He was trained along the way by various ECW wrestlers such as Taz , Perry Saturn , Tommy Dreamer , Paul Heyman and Mick Foley among others . He defeated Pitbull # 1 for the ECW World Television Championship on May 15 , 1994 and held the title until August 13 of that year , although he rarely dominated his opponents , instead winning as a result of luck and outside interference . Whipwreck ' s big break came on August 27 , 1994 , when Terry Funk cancelled his appearance and , thus , his scheduled tag team match with Cactus Jack ( Mick Foley ) against Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock , The Public Enemy . Whipwreck substituted for Funk , and managed to pin Rock , thus gaining the ECW Tag Team Championship . The unlikely duo held the titles for just over five weeks before being defeated by the Public Enemy . From this point , Whipwreck began to ascend the roster , in the meantime increasing his offensive arsenal . On October 28 , 1995 Whipwreck defeated The Sandman in a Ladder Match , upsetting him for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship . On one notable occasion he defeated " The Extreme Superstar " Steve Austin with a Sunset Flip . On December 29 , 1995 in Rego Park , New York at " Holiday Hell " Whipwreck defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in a singles match in which the ECW World Television and Tag Team titles were all on the line . Immediately afterwards , Cactus Jack declared himself to be Whipwreck ' s partner , and the pair became two - time tag team champions . On January 5 , 1996 Scorpio regained the television title and two months later , the tag team champions lost their titles to Perry Saturn and John Kronus ( " The Eliminators " ) . Cactus Jack turned on Whipwreck , blaming him for their loss . The imminent departure of Cactus Jack for the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) caused the ECW fans to support Whipwreck during this feud . After Whipwreck attacked Cactus Jack during a bout with Shane Douglas , a singles match between the two was scheduled for March , 1996 . Whipwreck was defeated following several chair shots and a piledriver . World Championship Wrestling . Whipwreck was an important part of ECW for the next two years , holding the Television Title once more before leaving for World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) in late 1998 . He debuted at Uncensored 1999 , unsuccessfully challenging Billy Kidman for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship . He left WCW after several months , disillusioned by his lack of a push . While in WCW , he generally wrestled in the cruiserweight division , or fought his fellow ECW alumni . Back in ECW . Along with The Sandman , Whipwreck returned to ECW in 1999 . Aligning himself with The Sinister Minister and changed his gimmick in ECW from a lovable loser to a crazed pyromaniac . Whipwreck lost numerous matches before winning the tag team titles for a third time along with Yoshihiro Tajiri ( The Unholy Alliance ) . Rather than competing for the ECW Heavyweight title , Whipwreck primarily fought against lighter , faster wrestlers , giving rise to some of his best matches . He and Tajiri eventually lost the titles to the The Full Blooded Italians , Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke . Soon after , ECW went bankrupt . Semi - Retirement . In early 2001 Whipwreck announced his intention to retire in May 2002 if he was not hired by the World Wrestling Federation in the interim , expressing an interest in pursuing a career in pyrotechnics . By June 11 he had decided to retire by September of that year , as his wrestling style had resulting in a number of nagging injuries , including two herniated discs , damaged knees , a bad right shoulder and a jaw cracked to the point of not even being able to eat hard food . The " Mikey Whipwreck Retirement Bash " was hosted by Border City Wrestling on August 29 , 2001 at the Cicciaro Club in Windsor , Ontario and featured a number of legendary ECW performers such as Tommy Dreamer and Sabu . Whipwreck wrestled his American retirement match on October 20 , 2001 , defeating Little Guido . Whipwreck broke his retirement before long , returning in 2003 . He wrestled in several different promotions , such as Ring of Honor , where he would often team with or against some of the wrestlers he has trained . He attended both of the June 2005 ECW reunion shows , teaming with Chris Chetti to defeat Simon Diamond and C . W . Anderson at Hardcore Homecoming on June 10 , and appearing in the corner of Yoshihiro Tajiri at ECW One Night Stand on June 12 , 2005 . During April 2006 , Mikey Whipwreck worked as an agent for Liberty States Wrestling . As of April 2007 , Mikey runs a wrestling school out of Long Island NY called " New York Wrestling Connection " . Along with the school comes shows where some ECW mainstays like Jerry Lynn , Raven , Spike Dudley , and Team 3 - D come to promote and assist in teachings . At the One Night Stand 2006 pay - per - view on June 11 , Mikey was seen on camera celebrating with other ECW Wrestlers after Rob Van Dam won the WWE Championship .