WWE Hardcore Championship

Infobox championship
championshipname=WWE Hardcore Championship
promotion=World Wrestling Entertainment
titleretired=August 26, 2002
created=November 2 1998
mostreigns=Raven (27 reigns)
firstchamp=Mankind
longestreign=Big Bossman (97 days)
shortestreign=Rob Van Dam (<1 second)
oldest=Pat Patterson (59 years, 158 days)
youngest=Christopher Nowinski (23 years, 285 days)
heaviest=The Big Show (convert|507|lb|kg st|abbr=on|lk=on)
lightest=Terri Runnels (convert|100|lb|kg st|abbr=on|lk=on)
pastnames=small|WWF Hardcore Championship|The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hardcore Championship was a hardcore wrestling championship defended in World Wrestling Entertainment, (formerly the World Wrestling Federation) under hardcore rules.

Hardcore rules

*No Disqualifications, meaning all weapons and interference are legal.
*Falls Count Anywhere, meaning that pinfalls and submissions do not have to take place in the ring. On at least one occasion a "pin" occurred vertically, while the defender was against a wall.
*No Holds Barred, meaning that the referee will allow anything and will only end the match with a pinfall or submission.

History

Vince McMahon first awarded Mankind the belt, originally known as World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Hardcore Championship, on November 2, 1998. After losing the title to the Big Bossman, he never attempted to recapture it, mainly because of his main event push he received shortly after he lost the belt. At the time of the belt's conception, the idea was that the belt was to have been used in comedy segments to try to push Mankind's reputation as a famous hardcore wrestler, but as Foley was getting over with the crowd as well as the rising popularity of hardcore wrestling at the time, the Hardcore Championship seemed to gain a life of its own. Its growing popularity led competitor World Championship Wrestling to create their own Hardcore Championship, a move followed by numerous independent promotions. Following the beginning of the Brand Extension, the Hardcore Championship became exclusive to the Raw brand.

24/7 Rules

When Crash Holly won the belt, he introduced the "24/7 rule"; which meant the belt was to be defended "at all times...as long as there was a referee present." This allowed for many comic relief moments, including the belt once changing hands while the champion was asleep, and a segment on an episode of "Raw" where The Headbangers chased Crash Holly around Funtime USA, an amusement park in Brooklyn, New York with Crash escaping repeated attempts to take the title from him before escaping from the ball pit and running from the building. There was also a moment at WrestleMania X8 the title was involved in a strange twist of events. The champion going into the event, Maven defended against Goldust. After they knocked each other out with trash can lids, Spike Dudley entered and pinned Maven to win the title. Then, in the backstage area, The Hurricane defeated Spike to win the title. Mighty Molly then defeated The Hurricane to become champion (and the second female to do so). As she was trying to escape with the title, Christian won the title by slamming a door into Molly's head as she was running to a taxi. Christian was about to leave the building in the taxi, but Maven, who lost the title earlier in the night, rolled Christian up to regain the title. Maven then escaped in the taxi and celebrated as Christian was left all alone in the parking lot, whining and cursing bitterly.

The addition of this rule is said to have made the division both more interesting and unpredictable, adding a vast array of holders and matches. Still, others believed this rule cheapened and devalued the championship for the same reasons. This rule has led to the shortest title reigns and quickest title changes in WWE history. On April 2, 2000 at WrestleMania 2000 in Anaheim, California, for example, there were 10 title changes in a period of 15 minutes. However, the reigns during the time limit match before Hardcore Holly's match concluding victory are not recognized on WWE Hardcore title history page but the title reigns are recognized, E.G The Hardcore Title was on Big Daddy V Bio even though he had only won it at WrestleMania 2000

During this time, four women have held the Hardcore Championship: Molly Holly, Trish Stratus, Terri Runnels, and Bobcat.

The 24/7 rule was enforced until August 19, 2002 when Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff decided to suspend it following a six minute Hardcore Battle Royal won by Tommy Dreamer. Prior to this a 24 hour suspension on the rule was in place for Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy's match at WWF Invasion.

Unification and retirement

The title was finally retired on August 26, 2002 when WWE Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam defeated Hardcore Champion Tommy Dreamer to unify the titles. The belt was last seen encased in a wooden and glass case and presented during an in-ring ceremony to Mick Foley, with Vince MacMahon wishing him to be the permenant holder of the belt.

Possible Comeback

It has been hinted by {WWE} that it is planning to bring back the Hardcore title and use it in its new brand ECW as a secondary title like the Intercontinental Championship is to Raw or how the WWE United States Championship is to Smackdown, however it may be renamed under the term "Extreme Rules" than Hardcore Rules and may create a new belt to replace the broken-plated WWE Championship belt used before.

Origin of the belt

The WWE Hardcore Championship belt itself is a replica of the "Winged Eagle" WWF Championship title that is smashed in several places and reassembled with two long pieces of duct tape with the words "Hardcore" and "Champion" written in marker. A long-standing rumor stated that this belt was the same one that was stolen by Mr. Perfect from Hulk Hogan on a 1989 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event and destroyed with a hammer at the end of the episode. However, this has been proved to be false, since the destroyed belt was kept by then WWF referee/booker Mel Phillips. A new belt was purposely destroyed to create the Hardcore Championship. [Dave Millican Belts Website : http://www.davemillicanbelts.com/DestroyedWWFWE.htm]

When Bradshaw won the title in June 2002, he briefly renamed it the "Texas Hardcore Championship", and brought a custom belt to the ring with a Texas flag and oversized bull horns. This belt was actually a redressed Steve Austin "Smoking Skull" beltFact|not on there being a texas belt, but on it's being a redressed austin belt|date=August 2008. The original design was resumed later in June when Raven reclaimed the championship. Tommy Dreamer would use a variation of the belt with a New York license plate where the center plate should be.

ee also

*List of WWE Hardcore Champions
*List of WWE Hardcore Championship reigns by length

References

External links

* [http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/hard/ WWE Hardcore Title History]
* [http://solie.org/titlehistories/whcwwf.html Solie.org WWF/WWE Hardcore Title History] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_the_Hardcore_Championship_coming_back