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World Wrestling Entertainment's Hardcore Championship was a championship defended under hardcore rules:
- No Disqualifications, meaning all weapons are legal.
- Falls Count Anywhere, meaning pinfalls and submissions do not have to take place in the ring.
- No Holds Barred, meaning that the referee will allow anything and will only end the match with a pinfall or submission.
- 24/7, meaning the belt was being defended at all times, allowing the championship to change hands anytime as long as there was a referee present.
History
Vince McMahon first awarded Mankind the belt on November 2, 1998. After losing the title to the Big Bossman, Mankind never attempted to recapture it. This was mainly due to Mankind's main event push after he lost the belt.
When Crash Holly won the belt, he introduced the 24/7 rule; this allowed for many comic relief moments, including once where the belt changed hands at a motel while the champion was asleep. There was also a humorous segment on Raw where The Headbangers chased Crash around Funtime, an amusement park in Brooklyn, New York. Crash escaped many attempts by the Headbangers to take the title before pinning Mosh in the ball pit. Other moments included multiple wrestlers in the locker room chasing Crash around the arena. The addition of this rule is said to have made the division more interesting with the array of holders and matches, though at times, more confusing. Others believed this rule cheapened and devalued the championship.
This rule was enforced until August 19, 2002 when then-RAW GM Eric Bischoff decided to stop this rule after a six minute Hardcore Battle Royal, which was won by Tommy Dreamer. Bischoff would retire the belt on August 26, 2002 after a unification match. The final Hardcore Champion was Rob Van Dam, after he beat Dreamer in a match to unify the Intercontinental and Hardcore titles.
On an episode of RAW in the summer of 2003, Vince McMahon, Al Snow, Spike Dudley, The Dudley Boyz, Tommy Dreamer, and Rob Van Dam gave the original title belt as a gift to the original Hardcore Champion Mick Foley (Mankind) to commemorate his success in WWE.
The belt was unofficially reactivated by Mick Foley in mid 2006 for a short period when he declared himself and Edge "co-holders of the Hardcore Championship" during a feud with other hardcore wrestlers. After the feud ended the belt dissappeared from television.
Trivia
- The original WWE Hardcore Championship belt itself was originally used as the WWF Championship in an angle between Hulk Hogan and Mr. Perfect. On an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, Hennig and The Genius attacked Hogan and stole his belt. When the show came back from the commercial break, it cut to a shot of Hennig using a hammer to smash the belt, breaking the gold plates. Unknown to wrestling fans, this belt was a replica of the actual belt. When the WWF decided to create the Hardcore Championship, they took the smashed-up replica WWF Championship belt and applied duct tape on various spots of the belt, with the word 'HARDCORE' written on the first large piece of tape and the word 'CHAMPION' written on the second large piece of tape.
- The longest reigning champion was The Big Boss Man. He won the belt from The British Bulldog on October 14, 1999, and held it for 95 days before losing it to Test on January 17, 2000.
- The longest reign after the 24/7 rule was instituted is by Rob Van Dam. He beat Kurt Angle for the title on September 10, 2001 and held it for 80 days before losing it to The Undertaker on December 9, 2001. However, this was during a period where WWE largely ignored the 24/7 rule.
- The shortest reign is unclear, and would be very hard to determine, as the 24/7 rule made for numerous title reigns lasting for less than a minute, with no specific records given for how long the belt was in a specific wrestler's possession.
- The youngest champion was Christopher Nowinski, who won the Hardcore title from Crash Holly on July 1, 2002 at age 23.
- The oldest champion was Pat Patterson, who was 59 when he lost the title to Crash Holly on June 25, 2000.
- The record for the most reigns as Hardcore champion belongs to Raven, who won the title 27 times between December 2000 and August 2002.
- When Bradshaw first won the belt on June 3, 2002, he replaced it with a customized belt to fit his Texan Cowboy gimmick. The belt included a Texan flag, giant bull horns and the words 'Texas Hardcore Champion'. Shortly afterwards, Tommy Dreamer covered Bradshaw's belt with a New York license plate (since Dreamer is from Yonkers, NY). This version of the belt was used before the title was retired.
- Terri, Mighty Molly, Bobcat and Trish Stratus were the only women in the WWE to ever win the Hardcore Championship. Each of them lost the title the same night they won it.
- The Hardcore title changed hands 10 times in one pay-per-view broadcast during WrestleMania 2000 in a battle royal type match, which was then won by Hardcore Holly.
- Hardcore Holly would win the Hardcore Championship in consecutive WrestleManias (XV and 2000).
- The only wrestlers to win both the WWE and WCW Hardcore Championships were Johnny Stamboli, (who won the Hardcore title as "Johnny The Bull" with Big Vito in June 2000) and The Hurricane, who was co-Hardcore champion with Evan Karagias and Shannon Moore as "Shane Helms" in February and March 2000.
- 53 wrestlers have held the title individually.
- The WWF/E Hardcore title lasted 1050 days until it was retired. During this time there have been 240 title reigns.
- The Hardcore Championship is the only WWE Championship to change hands in Scotland
See also
List of WWE Hardcore Champions
References
External links
World Wrestling Entertainment championships | Hardcore wrestling championships
WWE Hardcore Championship | WWE Hardcore Championship | WWE・ハードコア王座 | WWE Hardcore Championship
"WWE Hardcore Championship"