Match of the Day - HBK scores a Big Bossman/Mankind ladder match

Big Bossman vs. Mankind - Ladder match for the Hardcore title - Monday Night Raw (1998)

Mankind defends his Hardcore title against the one man 'Shield' for the Corporation, the Big Bossman. During the match, Shawn Michaels, commissioner at the time, provides commentary as well as scores during the match for Mankind's performance a la cue cards. The Rock also happens to makes an appearance in the match.

Theme Results

TLC: Ladder.

Match of the Day - RVD van-terminates almost every midcard title in 2002!

Speaking of hardcore Intercontinental Championship matches:

Rob Van Dam (c) vs. Tommy Dreamer (c) - Intercontinental title match/last Hardcore title match - Raw (2002)

In 2002, RVD made (little known) history when he unified the European title with the Intercontinental title after defeating Jeff Hardy (Euro champ) and then faced Hardcore champion Tommy Dreamer in a hardcore unification match a little under a month later. Rob Van Dam with his IC title was pretty much the go-to guy for defuncting a midcard title back then. Maybe if Rob returned to WWE today he could win the IC title and unify it with the US title since, like the Hardcore and European title in 2002, the US title serves zero purposes anymore.

Theme Results:

Final match: final Hardcore title match.

Match of the Day - Wrestlemania X-Seven's triple threat hardcore title match

Hardcore Wednesday:

Raven vs. Kane vs. Big Show - Hardcore Tile match - WWF Wrestlemania X-Seven (2001)

In one of the most memorable hardcore Wrestlemania, the hardcore champion, Raven must battle the two biggest wrestlers WWF had in 2001, Kane and the Big Show. 

This hardcore match lasts about a minute in the ring before making its way to the backstage area where many  memorable spots are performed including: Raven getting thrown through a glass window, Raven slipping and almost getting run over by the cart, and Kane and the Big Show going through a door then through a wall. The match ends at the entrance way when the Big Show and Raven both fall off the side of the entrance ramp into a cloud of smoke giving Kane the chance to perform what looks like a blind flying leg drop into the carnage to the side of the ramp. Kane ends up landing on the Big Show and gets the pinfall to become the new hardcore champion at the seventeenth annual Wrestlemania.

Overall a very enjoyable worked match!

During this match we also learn that Paul Heyman's favorite type of snapple is diet peach.

Match of the Day - WCW's ill-fated hardcore division

Hardcore Wednesday

Norman Smiley vs. Brian Knobbs - WCW Mayhem (1999)

In the height of hardcore wrestling in the mainstream, WCW tried to cash in on this new brand of weapon-based wrestling like WWF had successfully done by creating their very own hardcore division. And as the hardcore division was a great way for wrestlers who couldn't really wrestle to prove themselves in a Mick Foley sort of fashion, wrestlers like Brian Knobbs, Hardcore Hak (Sandman in WCW), 3 Count, Crowbar, Carl Ouellet and many others finally had a purpose in life.

So, what better person to win the title during the official crowning match at Mayhem 1999? Fit Finlay? Nope. Hak? Nah. Terry Funk? Not yet...

Turns out it was Screamin' Norman Smiley, the flamboyant, Santino Marella of the late-90's/early 2000's (since he also appealed to kids), wiggly black wrestler who always wrestled in different sports equipment (this match in particular as a Toronto maple Leaf hockey player). I guess that was his thing, I don't remember. And by his thing, I'm talking about the sports equipment gimmick...

Norman Smiley, the unlikely suspect for the hardcore division, actually became the first WCW hardcore champion after defeating Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs thanks to Jimmy Hart who hit his own Managee with a trash can as he was coming out of an elevator backstage. Silly as it may seem though, did it really matter who was hardcore champion at this point? It was already a gimmick division and was already being perfected by WWF anyways.

I still think these sort of hardcore matches are fun to watch regardless of how dumb they may look in retrospect. WCW's hardcore division is still better than watching people whack each other around with fluorescent light tubes any day...

Match of the Day - Shane McMahon: which way did he go? Answer: Down part 1

Shane McMahon vs. Steve Blackman - Hardcore Championship match WWF Summerslam (2000)

This Hardcore Wednesday match has the claim to fame as that match were Shane McMahon, being the spot junky that he is, gets caned off the titantron via "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman and his lethal kendo stick (it's really a singapore cane but whatever). A year later we saw the same drop at Backlash (McMahon vs. Big Show) but this time it was Shane-O-Mac jumping off the titantron rather than falling. The latter gets remembered a bit more while this match is really only remembered as that one match were Shane McMahon had the Hardcore title and the 24/7 rule was suspended so these two "marvelous athletes" could actually have a real (hardcore) match.

The contrast or Steve Blackman's use of weapons with his martial arts background and Shane McMahon's never-stay-down underdog attitude is also very fun to watch.

Match of the Day - Jeff Hardy vs. the imploding table

Hardcore Wednesday:

Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam - Hardcore Title match Smackdown! (2001)

Just four nights after their ladder match at Summerslam (this was back when Smackdown! was on Thursdays), Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam would once again face of for the Hardcore Title. This time around though it wasn't a ladder match, but Jeff Hardy being the uncontrollable showstopper that he is/was, decided that it would be in his best interest to incorporate the ladder for all the fans that didn't watch Summerslam that year. Unfortunately for Hardy, his swanton bomb spot off the ladder onto a table did not pay off for him like it has many, many, many times before. See instead of leading on RVD from the 20 foot ladder, RVD rolls off the ladder leaving Hardy to implode - and I'm serious when I say that so I'm going to say it again - implode(!) the table below with all of his weight and momentum.

Above is an abridged version of this match as the whole versions that are available online are much to grainy to watch. The version shown above best sums up this opening match on Smackdown! in September of 2001 though. Jeff Hardy explodes a table into little pieces with his body.

This is also the third Match of the Day in a row where the contest ends with no definitive hand raised, "you're the winner" outcome as Jeff Hardy was unable to come back from the drop he took onto the imploding table.

All in all, this isn't the best match between Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam, but it is one that is seemingly forgotten.

I'll never forget it though.

PS: If you'd like to check out the very grainy first half of this match, it is worth the watch as it features the old Smackdown! "Beautiful People" and the "this is not PG rated and has flashing lights program" warning. Good times!

Match of the Day - The one where Mankind wrestles in a tux

Hardcore Wednesday:

Mankind (c) vs. Ken Shamrock - First ever Hardcore Title match Raw (1998)

In Mankind's first defense as the Hardcore Champion, a title awarded to him by Mr. McMahon, against Ken Shamrock the Intercontinental champ at the time, Mankind, believing he was now corporate material dons a new tuxedo for this fine occasion.

Of course, like Ken Shamrock who uses his own body as a weapon, Mankind uses much of his attire to attack Ken Shamrock in this anything goes, falls count anywhere match.

All in all, this is a good introduction to the hardcore title. While there wasn't a lot of weapons and gimmick-y hardcore stunts pulled (other than Mankind beating Shamrock with his own shoes), this match and it's hardcore-ness relies heavily on the fact that these two characters are hardcore themselves. Both were also deranged which helped a great deal as well.

Later down the line, Hardcore title defenses in WWF became a lot more of a quick and easy treat for the audience. Especially with the introduction of  weapons and the 24/7 rule that was later adapted to the title, things got a little more easier for wrestlers who weren't naturally brutal or straight-up "hardcore" like Mankind and Ken Shamrock were. It is still always fun to watch all the interesting twists and spots wrestlers pulled when the 24/7 - or just the fact that they could go anywhere to win it - rule was around.

Good stuff.

Match of the Day - Bob Holly becomes the "Hardcore championship"

Al Snow vs. Bob Holly - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House (1999)

It was either this or Al Snow wrestling himself.

Seriously though, this match actually came about because Al Snow decided to wrestle himself for the Hardcore title one night on Raw. It wasn't too long after Al had smacked his head with the microphone, hit himself with a chair, fire extinguished his face, broke a broom over his dome, and moonsaulted a table did his J.O.B. squad teammate, Bob Holly come out to talk some sense into him.

Sense was something Al could not grasp at this time however, and a hardcore match was set up at the Valentine's Day themed In Your House PPV between the two teammates, thus ending the J.O.B. Squad and turning Bob Holly into 'Hardcore' Holly.

Also at this time, Al Snow and Road Dogg were co-holders of the Hardcore title. Since Road Dogg was "injured backstage" and couldn't compete, the title was stripped of him and up for grabs in this match.

Al Snow vs. Hardcore Holly by Stinger1981

This match is pretty much a lost gem brought back to life by the WWE after they put it on their Falls Count Anywhere compilation DVD released earlier this year. It features Al and Bob fighting all over the arena, even outside and into the Mississippi River where Bob ends up wrapping Al in some wire fencing for the win.

Overall reaction to the match: While I remember renting this event on VHS at a local Blockbuster by my house as a kid, I truthfully can not recall watching this match. I remember the Blue Meanie/Bluedust/Goldust match, The Last Man Standing match between Mankind and The Rock, and, more clearly than the rest, the steel cage main event match between Mr. McMahon and Stone Cold where Paul Wight (Big Show) climbs out from under the mat and slams the rattlesnake right out of the cage... But I do not remember this match. 

It happened though, and this is proof. 

This is the match that Bob Holly really cemented himself as "hardcore". Before this he was a jobber/NASCAR driver named Thurman "Sparky" Plugg, a member of the failed attempt at a new 'Midnight Express' as "Bombastic Bob", or just a midcard wrestler in a jobber faction. So after winning this match and proving himself to be hardcore material, Bob became actully became somebody. he became Hardcore Holly, a very rough and tough SOB. 

Here's to two of the most underrated superstars in WWE history.

Bonus: "Bob Holly becomes the fourth hardcore "CHAMPIONSHIP" in WWF history." - Thanks Michael Cole for that wonderfully botched analysis.