List of WCW Hardcore Champions

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Norman Smiley (right) was the first WCW Hardcore Champion. Norman Smiley and Billy Kidman.jpeg
Norman Smiley (right) was the first WCW Hardcore Champion.

The WCW Hardcore Championship was a professional wrestling Hardcore Championship contested for in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). During late 1999, WCW promoted various hardcore matches, bouts where there were no disqualifications or countouts, that mainly involved Norman Smiley and Brian Knobbs. The developing rivalry between the two wrestlers led WCW to announce the creation of the WCW Hardcore Championship in November 1999. [1] In January 2001, the champion Meng signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after his WCW contract expired. [2] The WCW Hardcore Championship was vacated; a few months later, WCW was purchased by the WWF, and while the WWF used WCW's World Heavyweight, United States, Cruiserweight, and Tag Team Championships in the subsequent Invasion storyline, the WCW Hardcore Championship was not re-introduced. [3]

Contents

Title reigns were determined by professional wrestling hardcore match types with wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripts feuds, plots and storylines or were awarded the title due to scripted circumstances. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a hardcore wrestling type match or series of matches for the championship. [4] The inaugural champion was Norman Smiley, who defeated Brian Knobbs at Mayhem. Before the promotion's purchase, the title was vacant, though, Meng was the final wrestler to hold the championship. The title was won in Canadian municipalities and in American states. Smiley held the title the longest at 51 days, and at less than one day, Carl Ouellet has the shortest title reign. Brian Knobbs and Terry Funk both won the title on three occasions, the most in the championship's history; this also ties with the number of times the title was vacated. Overall, there were 18 reigns.

Reigns

Key
No.Overall reign number
ReignReign number for the specific champion
DaysNumber of days held
†Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion
No.ChampionChampionship changeReign statisticsNotesRef.
DateEventLocationReignDays
† Fit Finlay July 11, 1999 Bash at the Beach Fort Lauderdale, FL 1†29Won the Junkyard Invitational to win the WCW Hardcore Championship, represented by a trophy. Unrecognized by WCW and WWE.
— Vacated August 9, 1999 Nitro Boise, ID ——WCW President Eric Bischoff vacated the title due to a leg injury sustained by Fit Finlay. Finlay’s reign would not be recognized in the title's history.
 1 Norman Smiley November 21, 1999 Mayhem Toronto, ON  151Smiley defeated Brian Knobs in the finals of a tournament to retain the title in his first defense of his inaugural championship. [5]
 2 Brian Knobbs January 12, 2000 Thunder Erie, PA  127This title change aired on tape delay.
 3 Bam Bam Bigelow February 7, 2000 Nitro Tulsa, OK  113
 4 Brian Knobbs February 20, 2000 SuperBrawl San Francisco, CA  28 [6]
 5 3 Count
(Evan Karagias, Gregory Helms and Shannon Moore)		February 28, 2000 Nitro Minneapolis, MN  120Helms, Karagias, and Moore, known as the 3 Count stable, defeated Brian Knobs simultaneously in a match, and as a result, WCW allowed the Freebird Rule in which all three wrestlers were able to defend the championship.
 6 Brian Knobbs March 19, 2000 Uncensored Miami, FL  322 [7]
— Vacated April 10, 2000 Nitro Denver, CO ——WCW Presidents Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff vacated every WCW championship during WCW's reboot.
 7 Terry Funk April 16, 2000 Spring Stampede Chicago, IL  136Funk defeated Norman Smiley to win the vacant championship.
 8 Shane Douglas May 22, 2000 Nitro Grand Rapids, MI  11
9 Terry Funk May 23, 2000 Thunder Saginaw, MI  213
10 Eric Bischoff June 5, 2000 Nitro Atlanta, GA  11
11 Big Vito and Johnny the Bull June 6, 2000 Thunder Knoxville, TN  113WCW President Eric Bischoff awarded Vito and Johnny the championship, and he announced that the Freebird Rule was in effect for this title reign, allowing both wrestlers to defend the title. This title reign aired on tape delay.
12 Big Vito June 19, 2000 Nitro Billings, MT  235Vito defeated Johnny the Bull to be named the sole champion.
13  Lance Storm July 24, 2000 Nitro Cleveland, OH  121Storm renames championship "Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title" shortly after winning it.
14 Carl Ouellet August 14, 2000 Nitro Kelowna, BC  1<1 Lance Storm awarded Ouellet the championship.
15 Norman Smiley August 14, 2000 Nitro Kelowna, BC  242
— Vacated September 27, 2000 Thunder Wilkes-Barre, PA ——The championship was vacated by WCW Commissioner Mike Sanders and a tournament announced to begin that night. The episode aired on tape delay.
16 Reno October 2, 2000 Nitro San Francisco, CA  137 Sgt. AWOL originally defeated Reno to win the vacant championship in a tournament final. However, Mike Sanders reversed the decision and awarded Reno the title.
17  Crowbar November 8, 2000 Thunder Chicago, IL  139This title change aired on tape delay.
18 Terry Funk December 17, 2000 Starrcade Washington, D.C.  328 [8]
19 Meng January 14, 2001 Sin Indianapolis, IN  17This was a triple threat hardcore match, also involving Crowbar. [9]
—DeactivatedJanuary 21, 2001———— Meng left WCW for WWF a week after winning the title to compete as Haku in the 2001 Royal Rumble and the championship was abandoned.

Combined reigns

RankWrestlerNo. of reignsCombined days
1 Norman Smiley 293
2 Terry Funk 377
3 Brian Knobbs 357
4 Big Vito 248
5 Reno 135
6 Crowbar 131
- Fit Finlay -29
7 Lance Storm 121
8 Evan Karagias 120
Shane Helms 120
Shannon Moore 120
11 Bam Bam Bigelow 113
Johnny the Bull 113
13 Meng 17
14 Eric Bischoff 11
Shane Douglas 11
16 Carl Ouellet 1<1

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References

General
Specific
  1. ↑ "WCW Hardcore Championship History". Wrestling Title Histories by Royal Duncan and Gary Will. Solie.org. Archived from the original on 2017-09-24. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  2. ↑ Powell, John. "Surprises dominate Rumble 2001". SLAM! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2008-11-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ↑ "WWE Entertainment, Inc. acquires WCW from Turner Broadcasting". World Wrestling Entertainment Corporate. 2001-03-23. Archived from the original on 2014-03-13. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
  4. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Archived from the original on 2013-11-29. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  5. ↑ Arnold Furious (April 10, 2007). "The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Mayhem '99". 411mania. Archived from the original on 2017-12-26. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
  6. ↑ "The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Superbrawl X". 411Mania. April 23, 2007. Archived from the original on 2017-02-27. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2021-01-19. Retrieved 2020-03-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ↑ Furious, Arnold (2007-10-06). "The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Starrcade 2000". 411mania. Archived from the original on 2007-11-17. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  9. ↑ "WCW Sin Results". Wrestling Information Archive. Archived from the original on February 1, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.

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