Why WCW's Hardcore Division Was Such A Disaster, Explained
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In early 1999, WCW found themselves with quite the hardcore division, having just signed a bunch of guys from ECW like Bam Bam Bigelow, Mikey Whipwreck, and even The Sandman. They also had Raven under contract for about a year and a half at that point. However, an official belt for the division was not created until later in the year when the company would bring in Vince Russo from WWE to be their head of creative.
The Hardcore Championship in WWE, introduced in late 1998, had proven to be a ratings success, and when Russo jumped ship to WCW in late 1999, he was hoping to reproduce the same success he had previously had. This was one of the numerous concepts that WCW recycled from WWE around this time.
RELATED: The WWE Hardcore Title Was Actually A Brilliant Concept
WWE Copied ECW's Hardore Style Under Vince Russo
Hardcore wrestling was all the rage in the late 90s, a time when the art form was becoming more and more violent, high risk, and more physically demanding than ever. We were in the middle of a wrestling war with companies fighting for the attention of the fan. A style that was popularized in the states by ECW would soon make it to weekly television with WWE adopting, or even ripping off certain concepts from Paul Heyman and his locker room. WWE’s hardcore division was essentially a more watered down, less serious version of the ECW style that utilized talent that otherwise would not have much to do on TV. It’s known that Russo, the lead writer for WWE at the time, frequently watched ECW and was influenced by it creatively.
While WWE was seeing success with its hardcore division, a sideshow attraction to the main card, WCW could simply not provide the viewer with the same type of experience, as they were under Turner and had to play under different rules than WWE. Blood and some of the stunts that the competition was pulling off at the time was not being permitted in WCW, leading to a further watered down product of a hardcore division even before Russo’s arrival in late 1999. It is also a popular theory that Eric Bischoff did not understand or appreciate the hardcore style and simply purchased some of ECWs bigger names just to have them on his show, without knowing how to properly showcase them.
RELATED: 10 Wrestlers Who Hated Working For Eric Bischoff In WCW
Norman Smiley Was One Of The Few Who Got Over With The WCW Hardcore Championship
By the time Russo got to WCW, many of the talent previously mentioned were gone from the company, with Raven famously returning to ECW in August 1999, and Sandman, known in WCW as Hak, returning to the promotion in October 1999. This contributed to a depleted subset of the roster and the hardcore championship would be introduced as a comedy championship, not that it was meant to be taken super serious in WWE, but it was clearly an attempt to copy them in a way. It would get even worse when the 24/7 concept took off in WWE the following year.
No disrespect to the talent that held the belt, because they did what they could with it and many of them were underrated and underutilized in their own respects, but when you think of hardcore wrestling, the name 3 Count doesn’t exactly come to mind. They were only the third act to hold the title, and they even enacted the freebird rule when defending it. The Hardcore Championship did actually help one man, though. When you think of the WCW Hardcore Championship you have to think of Norman Smiley, who was able to get over around this time with his Screamin' Norman Smiley gimmick and his run with the title. Smiley was an unsung hero of the otherwise creatively bankrupt era that was WCW 2000. His segments were always pretty entertaining, and he became synonymous with the title. RELATED: 10 WCW Wrestlers You Forgot Won The Hardcore Title
WCW's Hardcore Title is Mostly Forgotten
The WCW Hardcore division is a mostly forgotten piece of wrestling history, but it was a part of some of the most unique concepts we’ve seen for better or worse, like the Junkyard Invitational, from Bash at the Beach 1999, a match that could best be described as a producer's nightmare taking place in the middle of a shoot junkyard featuring around 15 of the WCWs best brawlers.
Or perhaps, you’re more familiar with the time that a match between the legend Terry Funk and Chris Candido ended up in a horse stable with Terry Funk catching a big boot from a live horse following a piledriver to Funk delivered to Candido.
