Initially awesome? Excellent, too (2,4)
I believe the answer is:
as well
'too' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'initially awesome? excellent' is the wordplay.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
'excellent' becomes 'swell' (I've seen this before).
The initial letter of 'awesome' is 'a'.
'a'+'swell'='AS WELL'
(Other definitions for as well that I've seen before include "To boot" , "Also, additionally" , "on top" , "Appropriate" , "A swell sort of addition" .)