10 Best WWE Hardcore Champions

10. Tommy Dreamer

A World Heavyweight Champion in ECW, Tommy Dreamer's primary function in WWE was being carted out every so often to coincide with the company's occasional, fleeting aspirations to make hardcore wrestling a staple part of its product.

Before Paul Heyman's passion project was bastardised in 2006, this involved winning the Hardcore Title some 14 times, an achievement that puts him sixth in the all-time rankings (one place below Shawn Stasiak, who held the belt 15 times, or less than one day, in total).

Most of these reigns were of course completely meaningless, but the last of them carried some significance. It was Dreamer who agreed to put up the belt against Intercontinental Champ Rob Van Dam in August 2002, a match which unified the two titles and thus ended the Hardcore lineage for good.

For this reason, plus the fact that he just seems like an all-round swell guy (which is something of rarity in professional wrestling, where being horrible is often encouraged), the Innovator of Violence has to be included on the list of greats.