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Robert William Howard (born January 29, 1963) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Hardcore Holly.
After debuting in 1988, Holly worked for World Organization of Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and other independent promotions, before joining WWE full-time in 1994. Initially portraying the character of a NASCAR driver, Thurman "Sparky" Plugg, his name was soon changed to Bob "Spark Plug" Holly. In 1998, under the name of Bombastic Bob, he formed a team with Mike Polchlopek known as The Midnight Express. Towards the end of that same year, Howard reverted to the Bob Holly name as he joined the stable titled The J.O.B. Squad.
After the disintegration of The J.O.B. Squad in early 1999, Howard won his first singles title in WWE and shortly after he became known simply as Hardcore Holly, developing a stern and punishing persona in the process. After taking up the Hardcore Holly gimmick, he was joined by Kayfabe Crash Holly in 1999 and Molly Holly in 2000. In 2002, Hardcore Holly suffered a broken neck during a match with Brock Lesnar, which sidelined him for over a year. Upon his return, he engaged in a major feud with Lesnar for the WWE Championship and minor feuds with other wrestlers, such as Mr. Kennedy and Rob Van Dam. He later formed a tag team combination with Cody Rhodes in 2007. Holly was released from WWE in 2009, wrestling only intermittently on the independent circuit afterwards. In 2013, he published his autobiography, The Hardcore Truth: The Bob Holly Story.
Championships held by Holly over the course of his career include the WWF/E World Tag Team Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, and WWF Hardcore Championship.
Holly returned to the WWF on January 11, 1994. His initial gimmick was that of a NASCAR driver turned wrestler called Thurman "Sparky" Plugg, by late summer 1994, Holly changed his name to Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly, according to Holly, he went to Vince McMahon and asked him to change his name because he didn't like the "Thurman" name and that his friends and family were teasing him over the name but wanted to keep the NASCAR gimmick and McMahon agreed. He competed in the 1994 Royal Rumble match, lasting over 21 minutes.
Bob Holly alongside Sean Waltman took part at WWF World Tag Team Championship Tournament (1995). After defeating Well Dunn and Heavenly Bodies, they reached to the finals which was held at Royal Rumble. At the Royal Rumble in January 1995, Holly and the Sean Waltman defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Chris Chavis to crown new WWF Tag Team Champions. Their title reign lasted only one day, however, as the next day, on WWE Raw, Holly and the Kid lost the tag team title to The Smoking Gunns.
On the May 7, 1995 (taped April 26, 1995) episode of WWF Action Zone, Holly pinned WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett in a title match, but as Jarrett had his foot on the ropes the title was vacated. Later on in the show, Jarrett defeated Holly in a rematch for the vacant title after pinning Holly with a roll-up. Holly's title win is no longer recognized by WWE. Holly then competed in the 1995 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Mantaur to qualify before losing to Road Dogg in the quarterfinals. He was then the first WWF pay-per-view opponent of Triple H, losing to him at SummerSlam.
At Survivor Series, Holly was a part of the Underdogs team along with Marty Jannetty, Jinsei Shinzaki, and Barry Horowitz. They were defeated by the Body Donnas team of Chris Candido, Tom Prichard, Louie Spicolli, and the 1–2–3 Kid.
Despite lasting nearly 40 minutes in the Royal Rumble, Holly made very few television appearances in the WWF throughout 1996 and 1997. In 1997 he scored two victories over Owen Hart on May 19 episode of Raw by pinfall and Brian Pillman on August 4 episode of Raw by count-out. Afterwards, Holly was inactive during the rest of 1997 and temporarily went back to welding.
In mid-1998, Holly competed in the WWF Brawl for All, a 16-man shootfighting tournament. He was eliminated in the first round by the eventual winner, Bart Gunn, who defeated him on points; Holly has the distinction of being the only one of Gunn's opponents he was unable to knock out. They disbanded in July and Holly went on his own working in lower card matches on Shotgun Saturday Night.
In February 1999, the members gradually drifted apart: Scorpio was released by the WWF, Gillberg was later phased out of storylines, and The Blue Meanie allied with Goldust; thus, after dwindling down to only two members, Snow wrestled against himself on an edition of Raw before Holly came down to the ring to prevent Snow from hurting himself. The two fought and it led to the formal breakup of the J.O.B. Squad. Later that month at , Holly defeated Snow for the WWF Hardcore Championship to permanently end the J.O.B. Squad. A week later on Raw, for his title defense match against former partner Bart Gunn, Holly formally changed his name to Hardcore Holly.
They unsuccessfully challenged for the WWF Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam. Although simultaneously arguing over who was the better Holly, they won the WWF Tag Team Championship on the October 18, 1999 edition of Raw, by defeating the Rock 'n' Sock Connection, after Triple H interfered. They lost the titles two weeks later to Mick Foley and Al Snow on the November 4 edition of SmackDown! The Holly Cousins and Too Cool defeated Edge, Christian and The Hardy Boyz in a traditional four-on-four elimination match at Survivor Series, where Holly was the lone survivor.
On the November 18, 1999 edition of SmackDown!, Holly challenged The Big Show for the WWE Championship, but was defeated. In early 2000, Hardcore Holly pursued the Intercontinental Championship, losing a match against Chyna due to interference from Chris Jericho. He then lost a Triple Threat Match against Chyna and Jericho for the championship at the Royal Rumble, which was won by Jericho. He lost two more subsequent matches to Jericho for the title, ending their feud.
After Crash Holly won the Hardcore Championship on the February 24, 2000 episode of SmackDown!, the cousins began feuding over the title. Holly won the Hardcore Championship in a "hardcore" 13-man battle royal at WrestleMania 2000. He lost the title back to Crash the following night on Raw. He then sporadically challenged for both the Intercontinental and Hardcore championships the following months. Holly then missed several months of ring time due to a legitimately broken arm, suffered in a match with Kurt Angle on the June 29, 2000 edition of SmackDown!. After his return, later in 2000, another on-screen cousin, Nora Greenwald was introduced. Holly returned on the November 13, 2000 edition of Raw, where Holly, Crash Holly and The Undertaker defeated Edge, Christian, and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag match. At Survivor Series, Holly faced William Regal for the WWF European Championship but lost by disqualification. Holly got a rematch at the title at Armageddon but was defeated by Regal. At the Royal Rumble, Holly competed in the 30-man Royal Rumble match but was eliminated by The Undertaker. In February, Holly won the Hardcore title three more times, but each time re-lost the title moments later under the "24/7 Hardcore rule". Holly competed in the King of the Ring tournament but lost to Kurt Angle in the first round. Then Holly continued teaming with Crash until December 2001.
In October 2003, Holly began training at Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE's developmental territory, in preparation for his return to the main roster. Holly returned at the Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 16 for revenge against Lesnar for his neck injury. He challenged Lesnar to a match for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2004, but lost.
During 2004 and early 2005, he formed short-lived tag teams with Billy Gunn, and later Charlie Haas in the hunt for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but was unsuccessful with both partners. He also failed to claim the WWE Championship from John Layfield (JBL) in a hardcore match on the October 14 episode of SmackDown!.
In mid-2005, Holly went into singles competition trying to acquire the United States Championship from Orlando Jordan. After being defeated twice by Jordan, Holly finally managed to pick up a non-title win over Jordan via disqualification on WWE Velocity, which aired on August 6, 2005. Holly then entered a short feud with SmackDown! newcomer, Mr. Kennedy. This feud climaxed on October 9, 2005, at No Mercy, where Kennedy defeated Holly after a Green Bay Plunge.
Holly then underwent several surgeries to repair nagging injuries. He was hospitalized after a staph infection developed in a right arm wound. The infection was possibly career-threatening, as doctors were worried at one point that the arm may have to undergo amputation. The subsequent treatments were a success, however.
On September 26, 2006, Holly received 24 stitches from WWE Doctor Ferdinand Rios in his back after suffering a severe laceration during an Extreme Rules match against Rob Van Dam when he landed on the metal railing of a table he was suplexing Van Dam out of the ring and through during an ECW show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Holly obtained the injury early in the match but continued to wrestle until the match's conclusion when he was pinned. After the match, as he was being helped out of the ring, he received a standing ovation from fans. The legitimate incident caused fans to cheer Holly in the following weeks, leading him to become a face character and a feud with Paul Heyman's other enforcer Test. His second to latest run as a face was short lived as he eventually turned on Rob Van Dam when they were partners in a tag match.
When Sabu was found kayfabe unconscious in the locker room area before the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember on December 3, Holly was chosen as his replacement. Holly entered with Rob Van Dam as the first of two combatants. He was the second to be eliminated; he was eliminated by Test by a running big boot. Subsequently, he entered into a feud with CM Punk whereby Holly, now a tweener, showed his endurance by surviving Punk's Anaconda Vice submission hold. Holly then gave Punk his first loss in ECW; Punk had been undefeated for half a year. After Test replaced Holly in a match against ECW Championship Bobby Lashley, Holly vowed he would become champion whether he faced Test or Lashley. Holly then was one of the ECW superstars entered in the Royal Rumble on January 28, 2007, but was eliminated by The Great Khali. Holly soon became the number one contender for Lashley's ECW World Championship and faced off against Lashley, albeit unsuccessfully.
On the April 3 episode of ECW, Holly lost to Gene Snitsky. After the match, Snitsky wedged Holly's arm between the steel steps and repeatedly hit the steps with a steel chair, resulting in a broken arm in the storyline. Holly had surgery on April 16 because of a Staphylococcus and missed around five months.
Despite this setback, on the December 10, 2007, episode of Raw during the brand’s 15th Anniversary show, Holly and Rhodes captured the World Tag Team Championship from Cade and Murdoch. The pair successfully defended their titles on multiple occasions, including matches against teams like Carlito and Santino Marella, and Paul London and Brian Kendrick.
At the Night of Champions event on June 29, 2008, Rhodes turned on Holly, teaming with Ted DiBiase to defeat Holly and claim the World Tag Team Championship. This marked Holly’s final WWE pay-per-view appearance. Following this, Holly took an extended hiatus from WWE television for seven months. He was released from his contract January 16, 2009, after 15 years with the company, ending his lengthy tenure with WWE.
In the months preceding his release, Holly faced personal struggles, including a suspension due to a pain pill addiction. The incident that led to this suspension involved Holly being caught stealing painkillers from another wrestler’s bag, which resulted in his immediate placement in rehab.
On March 19, 2013, Holly, now bald and sporting a new tattoo, made a one night appearance for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as he took part in a six-man tag team match and teamed with James Storm and Magnus to defeat Aces & Eights (Drew Hankinson, Wes Brisco, and Mike Knox) at the TNA One Night Only event Hardcore Justice 2, which was aired on July 5, this was Holly's only match for TNA. Later that year he would wrestle for Southside Wrestling Entertainment and Preston City Wrestling in the U.K. and for Melbourne City Wrestling in Australia.
On May 7, 2016, Holly wrestled in the Netherlands for Pro Wrestling Showdown. Holly would also spend time in the UK, competing for PCW, Kamikaze Pro, Southside. Holly would also challenge Eddie Ryan for the Pro Wrestling Pride Heavyweight Championship, and Joseph Conners for the ; however he would win neither championship.
Holly participated in a triple threat match against Cody Hall and Luke Hawx for the British WAW promotion on June 2, 2019. Although Holly did not announce a retirement afterwards, the match is his last known to date.
In 1995, Howard began driving a WWE-sponsored Late model in the All Pro Series in an attempt at cross promotion. After the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) withdrew its sponsorship, WWF chairman Vince McMahon gifted the equipment to Howard.
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| 2000 ! scope="row" | Operation Sandman | Sturner | Television film |
| 2016 ! scope="row" | Thanks for Reading | The Reader | Short film |
| + Television | |||
| 2005 ! scope="row" | MTV's The 70s House | Himself | Episode: "Dodge Ball" |
Howard's autobiography, titled The Hardcore Truth: The Bob Holly Story was released in the United States on April 1, 2013. Co-authored by former British wrestler Ross Owen Williams, an actor and writer who wrestled Holly in June 2010, it was published by ECW Press.
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