List of WWE Hardcore Champions

List Of WWE Hardcore Champions

The WWE Hardcore Championship was a professional wrestling championship contested for in the United States–based World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion, formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) before May 2002. The title was only contestable in matches under hardcore regulations, and could be won only by individual wrestlers. As a professional wrestling championship, it was not won legitimately; it was instead won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline. It was introduced by the WWF on its television program Raw is War on November 2, 1998, in which WWF Chairman Vince McMahon awarded Mankind the title. In 2000, the WWF instated the "24/7 rule", a regulation stating that the title could be defended anywhere at anytime as long as a referee was present, which led to numerous title changes in shorter time periods; the rule was discontinued in 2002. On the August 26, 2002 episode of Raw, WWE Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam defeated WWE Hardcore Champion Tommy Dreamer in a ladder match to unify both titles; the Hardcore Championship was retired shortly thereafter. The title was reactivated on two occasions afterwards, although they are not considered official reigns by WWE according to their official title history. On the June 23, 2003 episode of Raw, Mick Foley (who was the first champion as "Mankind") was awarded the WWE Hardcore Championship belt by the Raw brand authority figure Stone Cold Steve Austin for his contributions in hardcore wrestling. Edge and Foley then introduced themselves as co-holders of the championship in 2006, due to a storyline with alumni of the hardcore wrestling-based Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion.

Overall, there were 229 reigns shared between 52 wrestlers, all of whom won in Canada, England, Germany, Scotland, and the United States. Raven has the most reigns as champion, with 26. The Big Boss Man's fourth reign was the longest in the title's history, at 97 days Steve Blackman ranks first in combined reigns by length, at 172 days in six reigns. Due to the "24/7 rule", numerous wrestlers held the title less than one day, and because exact time at which each wrestler held the title is unknown, each of their reigns is regarded as the shortest in the title's history. Each reign was won at WWF/E-promoted events: pay-per-view events, live events, and on televised events.