8 Unfairly Maligned Wrestlers From The Monday Night Wars

8. Hardcore Holly

Bob Holly’s unsavoury reputation in some circles of wrestling fandom stems as much from his perceived real life persona as it does the kayfabe portrayal of his character. Somewhere along the way, the two distinctions have been blurred to the point where it is difficult to distinguish where the character ends and the man begins.

As a result, his in-ring career is often reduced to an afterthought. Holly was never spectacular, but rarely was he disappointing. He possessed an aura of legitimacy that so many of his peers lacked.

His series of matches with Al Snow, the best of which coming at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1999, helped to usher in the Hardcore division. The introduction of his storyline cousin, Crash Holly, contributed to an upturn in his character work, his best since the brief run as ‘Hollywood’ Bob Holly in Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

He was employed continuously by WWE for fifteen years between 1994-2009, outlasting the vast majority of his colleagues from the Monday Night Wars. At the time of his release, only The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels predated his tenure with the company.

Finally, Bob Holly can also lay claim to having the most sumptuous dropkick in wrestling history.