10 Best WWE Hardcore Champions

With the possible exception of Undertaker, Rob Van Dam is perhaps the best ever out-and-out wrestler to wear the Hardcore Championship belt, which is actually a far more impressive accomplishment than you might think.

More than 50 men, women and whatever Kane is held this thing over the the four or so years in which it was in existence, but none could move around the squared circle like RVD (at least one or two of them never moved around it, actually).

The ECW legend also has the distinction of being the very last Hardcore Champion. It was he who unified it with the Intercontinental Title on the post-SummerSlam episode of Raw in 2002, after beating then-holder and fellow extremist Tommy Dreamer.

So, too, is he responsible for some of the division's greatest matches. The two successive pay-per-view bouts he shared with Jeff Hardy in the summer of 2001, for example, were probably the highlight of the entire Invasion angle... for whatever that's worth.