A lifelong mid-carder, Bob Holly was renamed 'Hardcore' Holly in the late-90's, mainly so he'd slot nicely into the promotion's Hardcore Title division, something he did with great aplomb. Indeed, Holly had fun matches with everyone from Steve Blackman to Al Snow, and they were entirely fine for what they were. Going further, when in there with a great talent like Kurt Angle or Chris Jericho, Holly was capable of holding up his end of the bargain, providing much entertainment. Along the way, during a routine match on Smackdown in 2002, Holly suffered a broken neck at the hands of Brock Lesnar, who was clumsy with him during a powerbomb spot. Out for over a year, Hardcore returned in 2003, looking to gain revenge on Lesnar for what he had done to him. This resulted in a rather odd-feeling main event push for Holly, who challenged for the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble in 2004, losing in quick order to a man clearly higher up the pecking order than he. Fans did admittedly pop when Holly beat down Lesnar at Survivor Series, but there wasn't much mileage in a true main event run, and considering there were rising talents like Eddie Guerrero waiting in the wings, nobody believed Holly could feasibly win the belt.
