Review for WWE History of the Hardcore Championship 24/7

Hardcore is possibly one of the strangest wrestling styles in that it could mean anything. Back in the early 1990s a single chairshot could knock someone out, but later with the emergence of ECW it was going to take a lot more than that. In the WWE it started as just a gimmick for a character called Mankind giving him his own belt, but that belt soon went on to be a popular one with matches taking place all over the arena. In these matches anything goes and everything was legal.

When it was won by Crash Holly the 24/7 Hardcore Rule came into place. I do feel at that time it did lose a bit with there often being multiple champions in a single match. The other problem is that because no one was selling anything it meant that the superstars had to take more and more punishment and no longer could a chairshot end the match (unless it was the 20th!?).

Introduced by the first Hardcore Champion Mick Foley, the last champion Rob Van Dam and the man with the most reigns (27?) Raven. This is probably the best way to do this kind of set and the round table feel to this discussion makes the set just perfect. They talk about how WWE and the wrestling business evolved the 'hardcore' style.

There have been far too many champions to list (240) but the belt was won by numerous notable people such as Mankind, Al Snow, Hardcore Holly, Tommy Dreamer, JBL, Goldust, William Regal, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Big Show, Kane, Raven and even The Undertaker.

There are 58 matches and I would be lying if I didn't say they are very hit and miss. I would say that most of the matches are simply just spotfests and just exercises in how much pain can one person go through.

Highlights include a great ladder match between Mankind and Big Bossman which is filled with great moments. There is the infamous match between Al Snow and Bob 'Hardcore' Holly at St Valentine's Day Massacre which will forever be remembered as the one where they fought in the Mississippi which is just mad to imagine. Al Snow against Big Bossman starts and ends fantastic including running commentary by Road Dogg and is a match that truly goes anywhere, across the road and into the local bar.

Crash Holly's match against Test is possibly one of the best underdog matches I have seen and really that was what Crash Holly was all about. Crash against the Headbangers in an amusement park is also the maddest thing I have ever seen and that is saying something. Shane McMahon against Steve Blackman has possibly the craziest moment from the whole set with Shane falling almost 50 feet from the Titantron.

Kurt Angle, The Rock and The Big Show feature in a fantastic triple threat match that could have easily been a PPV match. Raven is featured multiple times with great matches against Chris Jericho and Big Show. His best match is an amazing match against Rhyno which features everything, including the kitchen sink!

Two other performers who are featured heavily are Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam. Both show how Hardcore didn't have to just mean steel chairs and cookie sheets. Their athletic ability is just fantastic with RVD facing off against Jeff at Invasion in one of the best matches on this set. RVD also has an amazing match against The Rock and Jeff against The Undertaker. These two matches showed how even established main eventers wanted in on the Hardcore Craze and would put on a great showing. The Undertaker even won the belt and a number of his title defences are shown.

The belt was discontinued in 2002 and it seems only fitting that the two people to feature in the last 'Hardcore Championship' match were Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. This unification match really should have been on a PPV to give it that extra special feel. That being said, it is an amazing match between the two and definitely a great send off for the title.