10 Most Bizarre Wrestling Title Lineages

9. WWE Hardcore Championship

Finn Balor Goldberg
WWE

This is acceptably random.

The random quality was a byproduct not of forced fun but the genuine spirit of invention and, subsequently, deftly arranged chaos. The WWF Hardcore Championship began life as one visual gag, matured (ironically) as an actual prize, and then fragmented gloriously into a weekly bloom of visual slapstick.

Mankind, the first holder, lost the title to the Big Boss Man, after which the title served the Attitude Era undercard incredibly well under what reductively was the "These guys aren't technical studs and you don't give a sh*t about that anyway, here, watch Al Snow and Road Dogg give each other CTE with aluminium baking trays" belt.

The matches worked, just about, as enjoyably neanderthal walk-and-brawl affairs, but the legacy and lineage really caught ablaze when plucky Crash Holly, chest puffed out, issued an irresistibly in-character challenge: he would defend that Hardcore Title 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

And he did, resulting in endless, fiendishly creative scenarios that made a tongue-in-cheek mockery of what was then a dated and boring concept like lineage, spewing forth "Champions" like Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, and, infamously, 'Godfather's Ho'.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!