Welcome, dear reader, to another thrilling installment of the High 5.
With Extreme Rules last night, we’ve been in a hardcore state of mind. Oli actually hit me with a metal chair for eating his yogurt out of the fridge and the HR person has been carrying around a barbwire bat. It’s in this spirit that we present to you the Top 5 WWE Hardcore Champions of all time.
Now, you enjoy the list while I figure out why James and Matt are setting up a folding table beside my desk.
5. Al Snow: 6 reigns – 129 days as champ
What does everybody want?! What does everybody need?! How about one of the most underrated wrestlers of the modern era. Not only is Al Snow a great promo, he’s versatile in his characters and so good in the ring the WWE had him training their future stars at one point. The man even trained Dan ‘The Beast’ Severn and was once called “the best-kept secret in wrestling” during his early years.
During Snow’s first WWE run, the company started a working relationship with ECW and Al was sent there to compete. While back in ECW, Snow developed the schizophrenic gimmick that would become his staple character. Eventually, Snow was recalled to the WWE and began pursuing the WWE Hardcore Championship.
Snow won his first hardcore title after defeating Hardcore Holly at Backlash: In Your House in April of 1999. His first reign lasted for 91 days until he was beaten by the Big Bossman at Fully Loaded in July. Though the feud contained the much-maligned kennel match, both men were a staple of the WWE hardcore scene during its infancy.
4. Rob Van Dam: 4 reigns – 134 days as champ
RVD, like many ECW alum, is synonymous with hardcore.
It only makes sense that upon arriving in the WWE Van Dam would capture the Hardcore Title. RVD first captured the title from Jeff Hardy at Invasion. Though the invasion storyline wasn’t handled the best, RVD became a breakout star. During his first three reigns, he defeated a bevy of top stars and was put in the major title picture with the Rock and Stone Cold.
RVD’s run with the Hardcore Championship came to an end after losing to the Deadman at Vengence in December of 2001. RVD eventually went on to feud with Regal over the Intercontinental Championship, but would eventually recapture the Hardcore Title in August of 2002. He was the IC champ at the time and combined the two belts. Eventually, the Hardcore title was retired, making RVD not only one of the best Hardcore Champs, but the last man to hold the title.
3. Steve Blackman: 6 reigns – 172 days as champ
https://youtu.be/6nMp4Z51-nE
Steve Blackman is the longest reigning Hardcore champ of all time. Let that sink in for a second. A guy who Lance Storm would call dull was the longest reigning hardcore champ. Not an ECW guy, not Crash or Mankind, no. It was Steve Blackman.
I, for one, loved Steve Blackman.
He was up there with Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn as guys who brought legitimacy to the “sport” by being real-life badasses. Not to say Ming wasn’t the biggest badass ever, but these men were decorated in real combat sports.
Blackman entered the hardcore picture in 2000 and held the title four times between June and September of that year. His reign was characterized by failed surprise attacks. With the 24/7 Rule in effect, the WWE Hardcore Title was prone to change when the champ was ambushed by a random challenger. However, Blackman’s deadly martial arts skills made him too dangerous to attack.
His most memorable moment with the title came when he fought Shane McMahon to regain the title at SummerSlam in 2000. This, of course, was the famous match that saw Shane fall from the top of the TitanTron. Shane allegedly put himself through this in order to put Blackman, his friend, over. Though he never broke out of the mid-card, Blackman was fun to watch in the ring, if not on the mic, and was a credible threat against any superstar.
2. Crash Holly: 22 reigns – 88 days as champ
Not to speak ill of the dead, but for a guy who would be jobbing out on 205 Live today, Crash made a decent career for himself in the WWE Hardcore Title scene. Crash was the first to institute the 24/7 Rule thus giving the title a break-out dynamic that set it apart from other mid-card championships. This resulted in Crash losing the title, only to regain it only moments later on many occasions. Once, he even lost the title to one of Godfather’s working girls for 15 seconds.
Holly’s run(s) with the title was a comedy of errors, but much like the fashion files, his spots each week were a highlight everyone looked forward to. Each week we tuned in and enjoyed seeing how the ‘Houdini of Hardcore’ would escape with the title.
Sadly, Holly took his own life at the age of 32 after being served with divorce papers. Molly Holly later released an autobiography with some of the proceeds going toward Crash’s daughter’s education. Crash was fun in the ring and he had a lot to do with the legacy of the WWE Harcore Championship. It’s a tragedy that he was lost so soon.
1. Raven: 27 reigns – 84 days as champ
So we talked a lot about Raven and his place in ECW on our last High 5, so we’ll attempt not to rehash anything. Though he held the title less time than any other man on this list, Raven holds to record for most title reigns at 27. Though this may not mean much due to the 24/7 Rule, as an ECW alum and brooding misanthrope, Raven was the perfect Hardcore champ.
Watching Raven push a shopping cart full of weapons to the ring guaranteed us a violently good time. Raven defeated Steve Blackman on an episode of Raw in December of 2000 for his first Hardcore title. Like Crash, Raven’s run(s) was punctuated by brief loses, only for him to recover his title shortly thereafter.
Raven reentered the Hardcore title hunt in 2002 where he had multiple runs that lasted nearly a month, which is an eternity in Hardcore Title time. Raven’s final reign came in August of 2002 and lasted for 27 days. No one else after that point would hold the belt as long, and the title was retired only weeks later.
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