In a video on this channel that I made a couple of years ago, I covered an intense trilogy of matches between Spike Dudley and Mike Awesome, because their clash from Guilty as Charged 2000 has stuck in my head all these years. It’s a match worth going out of your way to see, it’s a bit one sided, and it’s certainly never dull.
I’m not going to get into the match here though, rather an aspect of the story that I didn’t talk about much back then. If you’ve seen this match or the build to it, you might remember someone unfamiliar to us who was involved in the story, showing us a very different side of Spike. I decided to find out who this person actually was and how many other times they appeared in ECW, so in this video we’ll look at what happened in the ring, and who she was. The story would end quite abruptly , and we’ll also look at the reasons for that too. This is the brief story of who I’m calling, Littler Spike Dudley.
Before we get into Littler Spike, it’s worth putting into context that Spike was a pretty popular member of the ECW roster by 1999. He spent much of the year along with tag team partners like New Jack and John Kronus feuding with Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley, eventually finding some success, even winning the tag team titles from them teaming with Balls Mahoney. In an August 2025 interview with Chris Van Vliet, (4) Spike credits his success against his storyline siblings to him being able to take a beating, and Bubba in particular knowing how far he could take that. “He never injured me, but he’d beat the shit out of me.” He goes on to say that he had three older brothers who weren’t easy on him growing up, so it’s easy to see how Spike fit so well into the role. Once Bubba and D-Von left for greener pastures, it would have been easy for Spike to have gotten lost in the shuffle, had he not built a connection with the fans by then.
One of the things that was so likeable about Spike was his distinct look. Even alongside his kayfabe brothers, he stood out with his ragged hair, taped up glasses and the brightly coloured tye-dye and overalls. Eventually you could even spot fans in the crowd dressing like him, and Spike would make a point of interacting with these fans. It was quite clever then to introduce a character as one of these fans dressed like Spike, because Joey Styles and Joel Gertner on commentary would draw attention to them and we would be none the wiser that one of them might be in on the show until the moment they jump the guardrail.
Littler Spike
Littler Spike would actually be noticeable in the crowd for months before the storyline began. On October 16th, Spike would head to the ring for a Television title match with Rob Van Dam. On his way down the aisle he would spot his number one fan dressed as him, and would briefly pose with her before carrying on his entrance. Joey Styles points her out the way he might any other fan that a wrestler was interacting with, and at the time we’d be none the wiser that she was part of the show. A couple of weeks later on the November 5th TNN episode, she would be visible on the entranceway, and Spike would even remove his glasses and swap them with hers. One of Spike’s opponents that night Little Guido would take the glasses off her and break them, leaving Spike’s fan furious.
There were actually a couple of clues here that she might be in on the act, the first being that when we cut back from the ad break all three participants in the match, Spike, Guido and Super Crazy are already in the ring. Spike would have already passed his number one fan on his way to the ring, but goes back to her after the in ring introductions, making sure that it airs on TNN. The other clue was a line from Joey Styles noting that she had turned up in different cities, with the RVD match happening in Westwego Louisiana, and the second appearance being in the ECW arena. Joel Gertner jokes that she walked here, which if you’re interested would apparently take nineteen days according to Google Maps. Several weeks later, something else would make her mad enough to get involved in the storyline with Awesome, but not before an interesting report was published in the Pro Wrestling Torch.
On December 23rd 1999 at the ECW on TNN taping in White Plains New York, Spike Dudley would be spotted “teaching an unknown woman some wrestling moves in the ring.” This is according to Wade Keller, who reported it in the January 1st 2000 issue of the Torch. Assuming this is the same person who had been dreading up like Spike, could this be the first mention of Littler Spike in the Torch, well no actually. (5) In the November 14th issue, in coverage of the glasses moment she is referred to as “his planted female fan.” It might have not been a secret that she was a plant, but what happened next would still be surprising.
In the main event of the December 31st episode of ECW on TNN, Mike Awesome would regain the ECW World title, beating Masato Tanaka who had taken it from him a week earlier. While Awesome was celebrating his victory, Highway to Hell would start to play, and Spike would march to the ring, having confronted Awesome weeks earlier, already making his challenge for Mike’s World title. Very quickly Spike would be the victim of a two on one attack, as Judge Jeff Jones would help Awesome get the upper hand, which would cause what at first looked like a second Spike to get into the ring.
Littler Spike goes right after Jones, while Joey Styles calls her Spikes “fan, his groupie, his friend,” almost not sure what to make of her. The unknown woman would hit an Acid Drop on Jones, but while celebrating would be blasted by Awesome with a clothesline. Officials and Spike go over to check on the woman, who quickly starts bleeding from the mouth. We would later learn that Awesome had, in storyline mind, knocked her two front teeth out. Mike would remind us of this in promos for weeks, explaining that he was furious at Spike for ruining his championship celebration. The episode then ends with Spike going after Awesome, but being dumped out of the ring before we fade to black.
On the following night, January 1st 2000, Hardcore TV would feature a replay of the Awesome versus Tanaka match, and everything that followed with Spike 1 and Spike 2. After this we cut to a very different than usual Spike Dudley, who makes the point that even after all of the violent things he has taken, he has never missed an ECW show in the three years he had been with the company. He also tells Awesome “You knocked my girl’s teeth out,” and vows that there will be no silliness at Guilty as Charged. (2) The January 8th Torch notes that Spike apparently received a lot of praise for this promo, and that management is high on Spike for his ability to take all he has and still not miss a show. Foreshadowing is a literary device where- We will learn a lot more from this same issue, but more on that in a minute. On the Friday January 7th ECW on TNN, the only new thing we see is a rebuttal from Mike Awesome and Jeff Jones, who say that Spike's girlfriend made him look ridiculous. Awesome then says if he’s willing to do what he did, imagine what he will do to Spike at the pay per view.
Who was Spike’s Fan?
In the January 8th Torch, we get our first indication who the mystery woman actually is. I should note that while Wade Keller gives her full name I won’t be doing so. She isn’t a public figure as best I can tell, so I imagine twenty plus years later she might not want to be named in a YouTube video. I am however, going to tell you who she is in relation to ECW, and the storyline with Spike. Wade Keller would write, (2) “the woman who plays Spike's look-alike fan and took the incredible bump for Mike Awesome on last week's TNN show, has never had formal wrestling training. In fact, she is ECW's lighting director.” Wade also claims that before the clothesline took place, Littler Spike told Awesome to really hit her. “Paul Heyman wasn't surprised by that report and called her "the toughest woman I've ever met." Wade goes on to say that she wasn’t hurt at all from the rough looking clothesline, and that her front teeth were actually knocked out years ago, and that she wears false ones. “[Bullock] the planted fan is slated to be a regular part of Spike's routine and will appear with him at the PPV,” though TNN were reportedly not happy with the level of man on woman violence that the angle included. This, as I’m sure you can imagine, was a bit of a recurring conversation between TNN and ECW.
On the night of Guilty as Charged, January 9th 2000 from Birmingham Alabama, Spike's girlfriend wouldn’t appear on the live show, but she would be part of a pre-taped promo that would air on the show. Spike shows us Mike’s handiwork, and Littler Spike who ECW still hadn’t given a name yet, shows us a large gap in her teeth which again, Mike didn’t really cause. Something happens off screen and we hear Paul Heyman ask Spike to start over, and he flies into a rage, throwing a trash can around and completely dropping the gimmick. Though Littler Spike doesn't say a word, she shows fear while Spike is throwing a fit, helping to get across how out of character this is for him. Over this and the previous promo they do a very good job in showing us a different Spike Dudley, one that is ready for a war with Awesome.
After Guilty as Charged, Littler Spike doesn’t appear on ECW TV again, nor is she mentioned much by the newsletters. (7) In the March 4th Torch, Wade reports that she was on a leave of absence from BML, the lighting company used by ECW because of a personal reason, and was even moving to a different state to be near her family. This might well explain why she never appeared on screen again, though it’s also said that “She has an open invitation to return as ECW's lighting director through BML or directly with ECW.” Though it would seem like this might be the last we would hear about Spike’s girlfriend, she would pop up in the Torch again a few months later, but we’ll get to that after covering what happened in Spike’s career, as her absence was not the only reason for the storyline ultimately being dropped.
At the end of February, Spike Dudley would take some time away from ECW due to a knee injury, his first significant time off since joining the promotion in mid-1996. According to Spike in the Chris Van Vliet interview, he actually suffered the injury in the Guilty as Charged match with Mike Awesome, but kept working on it for another month until it became clear that he couldn’t any longer. When I say that Spike continued to wrestle, I mean that he would take part in twelve more matches, including three World title shots against Mike Awesome, although only two would be televised. Of his injury the Torch would report in late February, (6) “Spike has been telling friends within the company that his knee injury is not serious, but sources report that he has been advised by doctors to have surgery.” Of course he was trying to downplay it. Wade also notes that Spike hoped to be back in the ring by the Living Dangerously pay per view on March 12th, but it would appear that this would be too soon.
Defiant for as long as he could be, Spike would wrestle his last match before taking time off on March 4th against Rhino on a TNN television taping. Not one for taking it easy, Rhino would throw Spike off a stage, and gore him sideways through a table, both of which leading Spike to clutch his injured knee. Spike Dudley would return to the ring in October 2000, though from June on he would make appearances on television, eventually given a sort of take on the commissioner role, their version of what Mick Foley was doing at the time in WWF.
After the Storyline
In a final note about Spike’s girlfriend, she would get one more mention in September, when there appeared to have been a mix up with the lighting company that ECW used at the time. (9) According to the Torch, the August 19th event at the ECW arena was on the verge of being cancelled, as several essential parts of their lighting equipment hadn’t been delivered, and a manager from the company couldn;t be reached as he was working another job. “ECW officials had to send a driver to pick up the equipment and return it to the Arena. Just 15 minutes before showtime, the driver returned with the equipment and the show went on as scheduled.” Wade would write that the person formerly known as Spike's girlfriend was given full credit having set up the lighting in that short time, and ensuring that the show was able to start.
I’ll end not with recent comments from Spike, but with an April 2000 interview with Jason Powell for the Pro Wrestling Torch. Spike makes it clear that he wasn’t too happy with having the storyline, or having an on air girlfriend that looked like him. When asked if he enjoyed it Spike says no quite succinctly. He further explains, (3) “I don't know where all of the shit about the girlfriend stuff came from. I had no say in that (laughs). I thought it was neat that she looked like me when she was dressed up and I thought it was a cool little angle. But no, I didn't like "Spike and his mutant girlfriend who looks just like him.” Spike does add that the angle seemed to go as it was planned, because as he puts it “Mike nailed the hell out of her.” Despite not liking it, when asked if he would do it again Spike says “I'm not opposed to anything if Paul E. says to do it. I'll take his word for it. He is the booker and I will do whatever he wants. It wouldn't be something that I would suggest. How is that?” Perhaps the most interesting thing that Spike says in that interview comes when he elaborates, “It isn't natural for me to walk down the aisle while holding hands with a chick. It's just not my deal.” This caught my eye because the WWE storyline that Spike is perhaps best known for by many is his 2001 romance with Molly Holly, so it’s interesting to hear his comments a year earlier on the subject.
Ending
Something dawned on me while making this video, and it’s a thing that you’re probably going to think I’m daft for only just realising. Following Bubba, D-Von and Big Dick Dudley all leaving ECW in 99, Spike remained as the only surviving member of the group, which I’m sure you’re like aware is a much bigger family than just the most famous ones.
While other Dudleys had success elsewhere, Spike was the last one in ECW, and stayed until the end of the promotion. He claims in the CVV interview that Paul Heyman told him that Spike could have beaten Mike Awesome for the world title had he known that Mike was about to leave in the way he did, but Spike was injured by the time that happened so we’ll never know. While that might have been a bit much, I do still feel like Spike deserves some credit for being introduced as the runt of the litter, and going on to be a significant part of ECW, one of the remaining stars whose name meant something at the end.
Sources:
https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/torch582/T582ECWNews.html Mystery Woman, Jan 1st 00
https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/torch583/T583ECWNews.html ECW high on Spike, Womans identity, Jan 8th 00
http://www.prowrestlingtorch.com Spike Dudley Interview with Jason Powell PW Torch, April 14th 2001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBo01f4Gk7E Brothers, CVV August 2025
https://vip.pwtorch.com/2019/11/16/vip-1999-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-575-november-14-1999-cover-story-titled-pro-wrestling-no-longer-cable-anomaly-looking-at-upn-and-ipo-sidebar-updating-progress-or-lack-ther/ Planted female fan
https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/backissues00.shtml Spike Injury 1
https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/torch592/T592ECWNews.html Injury 2 and divorce
https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/torch593/T593ECWNews.html nine months
https://members.pwtorch.com/torchbackissues00/torch618/T618ECWNews.html Lighting company
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