The WCW hardcore title

[Sephiroth]

Personally I was never really fond of this title, and for numerous reasons. To start with-it was a blatant rip off on WWE, as if another was needed. Second, the belt itself was damn ugly

Third, they never really DID anything worthwhile with it; arguably the title's high point was Screaming Norman Smiley. And fourth, they actually bumped the TV title-a belt with an actual legacy in the NWA and WCW, so that they could have room for this piece of junk on the roster. That is a move I still don't get. If they felt that some midcarders like Norman needed something to do why not just keep the TV belt and have them competing for that? And lets not forget the way they finally took this stupid belt off tv: by literally never mentioning it again after Meng/Haku won it and jumped ship to WWE. Probably the only belt/s worse than this one was the cruiserweight tag titles.

[fuzzywarble, squat cobbler]

Two words: Russo

[CMWaters]

What I find funny is that when they were making replicas of it, they didn't bother making the belt in the OP, and made up a whole new one:



...which Yukes used in WWE 13 and WWE 2K14.

[Sickness Rising]

Probably because the actual title is a blatant ripoff of the ECW title.

[CMWaters]

Nov 13, 2013 10:36:27 GMT -5 Sickness Rising said:

Probably because the actual title is a blatant ripoff of the ECW title.

Kind of ironic in a way, since ECW used to have titles that were blatant rip-offs of WWF titles.

Seriously, I think the ECW TV title was a modified Winged Eagle WWF Title once, and the Tag Titles were modified IC titles.

[Sickness Rising]

Nov 13, 2013 10:43:00 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Nov 13, 2013 10:36:27 GMT -5 Sickness Rising said:

Probably because the actual title is a blatant ripoff of the ECW title.

Kind of ironic in a way, since ECW used to have titles that were blatant rip-offs of WWF titles.

Seriously, I think the ECW TV title was a modified Winged Eagle WWF Title once, and the Tag Titles were modified IC titles.

Truth!

[SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts]

It was terrible. I remember one match, it was Terry Funk vs Someone. Funk put him in the back of a truck and drove to a ranch and dumped him into a pigsty.

[wildojinx]

Nov 13, 2013 10:17:57 GMT -5 fuzzywarble, squat cobbler said:

Two words: Russo

Actually, the WCW Hardcore title debuted in the summer of 1999.

[SOR]

Nov 13, 2013 14:22:41 GMT -5 wildojinx said:

Nov 13, 2013 10:17:57 GMT -5 fuzzywarble, squat cobbler said:

Two words: Russo

Actually, the WCW Hardcore title debuted in the summer of 1999.

They crowned the champion in November which to my knowledge would be Autumn in the United States, correct? Russo was in charge when it debuted anyway although WCW did have an unofficial hardcore title (A trophy) in the Summer of 99 which you may be talking about.

Me personally? I enjoyed it. It's a good way to seperate the monotony of all in ring stuff and most of the matches were a bit of fun. I don't think it was any worse than the WWF Hardcore Title though.

[tigermaskxxxvii]

Nov 13, 2013 10:21:13 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

What I find funny is that when they were making replicas of it, they didn't bother making the belt in the OP, and made up a whole new one:



...which Yukes used in WWE 13 and WWE 2K14.

I just imagine after receiving your replica WCW Hardcore Title belt in the mail and wondering why this belt looks so different from the one on TV, you see something else in the package which just turns out to be an 8 X 10 photo of Russo with a shit eating grin on his face.

Nov 13, 2013 14:34:46 GMT -5 SOR said:

Nov 13, 2013 14:22:41 GMT -5 wildojinx said:

Actually, the WCW Hardcore title debuted in the summer of 1999.

They crowned the champion in November which to my knowledge would be Autumn in the United States, correct? Russo was in charge when it debuted anyway although WCW did have an unofficial hardcore title (A trophy) in the Summer of 99 which you may be talking about.

Me personally? I enjoyed it. It's a good way to seperate the monotony of all in ring stuff and most of the matches were a bit of fun. I don't think it was any worse than the WWF Hardcore Title though.

Yeah, I think there's some confusion with the Junkyard Invitational at Bash at The Beach in July and the Hardcore Title that Norman Smiley won in a tournament final against Brian Knobbs at Mayhem in November of the same year (1999).

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Nov 13, 2013 10:21:13 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

What I find funny is that when they were making replicas of it, they didn't bother making the belt in the OP, and made up a whole new one:



...which Yukes used in WWE 13 and WWE 2K14.

I wanna say that because the proper belt was a total ripoff of the ECW belt, that WCW never secured the rights to it. I believe the new belt was made before the belt was retired, but it never appeared on TV.

[thegame415]

This was the first Hardcore Trophy given after the invitational. This screams Russo more to me than the title.

[Ron Woodsman aka Shempaholic]

To me, the WCW Hardcore Title is equivilant to the WWF Light Heavyweight Belt. Both companies tried to rip off something the other was doing well with, and failed miserably.

[Deleted]

I mostly remember the Junkyard Invitational and how many dudes got hurt in that nonsense.

[ICBM]

Nov 13, 2013 16:53:56 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

This was the first Hardcore Trophy given after the invitational. This screams Russo more to me than the title.

Nah, wcw had some pretty shoddy booking ideas before Russo came in.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Norman Smiley was money, I don't even care. Whatever he was doing, it was entertaining. I've never seen a wrestler who could turn shit into gold so easily. I loved when he lost the title, so he pinned a ten year old in a backyard wrestling league and ran off with a cardboard title - and when he couldn't lose an I Quit match because his larynx had been crushed.

[thegatewaydrug]

Was Sandman (Hak) already back in ECW before the belt...er trophy(?) was first awarded? How about Bigelow, already moved on to pairing with Kanyon and DDP?

Those two having wild matches ushered in the 'hardcore' era as I remember.

[SOR]

Nov 13, 2013 19:54:10 GMT -5 thegatewaydrug said:

Was Sandman (Hak) already back in ECW before the belt...er trophy(?) was first awarded? How about Bigelow, already moved on to pairing with Kanyon and DDP?

Those two having wild matches ushered in the 'hardcore' era as I remember.

Sandman left just before the title was introduced but Bigelow was around for it and was actually the third or fourth champion I believe. He lost the title to Brian Knobbs who lost the title to Three Count who he beat 3 on 1 on PPV probably harming them a lot in the process.

[thegame415]

Nov 13, 2013 19:54:10 GMT -5 thegatewaydrug said:

Was Sandman (Hak) already back in ECW before the belt...er trophy(?) was first awarded? How about Bigelow, already moved on to pairing with Kanyon and DDP?

Those two having wild matches ushered in the 'hardcore' era as I remember.

I believe Sandman was actually in the Junkyard Invitational at Bash at the Beach 1999. I think this was his last match in WCW.

BTW, does anyone know the origin of the name Hak? Was it a shot by WCW calling him a hack?

[Error]

Nov 13, 2013 21:07:34 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

Nov 13, 2013 19:54:10 GMT -5 thegatewaydrug said:

Was Sandman (Hak) already back in ECW before the belt...er trophy(?) was first awarded? How about Bigelow, already moved on to pairing with Kanyon and DDP?

Those two having wild matches ushered in the 'hardcore' era as I remember.

I believe Sandman was actually in the Junkyard Invitational at Bash at the Beach 1999. I think this was his last match in WCW.

BTW, does anyone know the origin of the name Hak? Was it a shot by WCW calling him a hack?

Story I've always heard was his nickname backstage in ECW was Hack and when he went to WCW, everyone that knew him was calling him Hack and they just ran with it.