WCW Hardcore Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | World Championship Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date established | July 11, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date retired | January 21, 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Statistics | |
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First champion(s) | Fit Finlay |
Final champion(s) | Meng |
Most reigns | Brian Knobs & Terry Funk (3 reigns) |
Longest reign |
Norman Smiley (51 days) |
Shortest reign | Carl Ouellet (37 ½ Minutes) |
Oldest winner | Terry Funk (56 years) |
Youngest winner | Shannon Moore (with 3 Count) (20 years) |
Heaviest champion | Bam Bam Bigelow (360 lb (160 kg)) |
Lightest champion | Shannon Moore (with 3 Count) (181 lb (82 kg)) |
The World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Hardcore Championship was a title in World Championship Wrestling. The title was defended in Hardcore matches, in which there were few rules and restrictions and weapons were allowed. Eventually, the rules were changed so that matches began in the backstage area but would only end by pinfall in the ring, but later were changed back to 'Falls Count Anywhere' rules. The belt was created in response to the growing popularity of hardcore wrestling in North America.
The title lasted from 1999 to 2001. The very first WCW Hardcore champion was Norman Smiley who defeated Brian Knobs in Toronto, Ontario at the WCW pay-per-view Mayhem on November 21, 1999. Other notable champions are 3 Count who won and defended the belt as a trio. Brian Knobs who held the belt a record three times and was the one to defeat 3 Count at WCW Uncensored 2000. Terry Funk (a two time hardcore champ) also held the title for a period of almost two months, from April–June 2000 when he was defeated by Eric Bischoff at a WCW Monday Nitro in Atlanta, Georgia. Bischoff later awarded the title to Big Vito as a reward for helping him take it from Funk. In 2000, as part of a storyline where he renamed singles titles that he had won, Lance Storm won the Hardcore Championship and, as he had done with the Cruiserweight and U.S. titles (renaming them the 100 Kilos and Under and Canadian championships), changed the name of the title to the Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title (or S.H.I.T for short).