You remember Maven, right? He was the first winner of Tough Enough and dropkicked his way through the WWE for a couple of years before ultimately, mercifully fading away for eternity. Now, there's a large section of the WWE fanbase who don't think he should have even won Tough Enough (that would be Josh Lomberger/Matthews), but hey, the guy had a good look and a pretty nice dropkick, so why not? And that's all well and good, but why does that guy get to become a three-time Hardcore Champion? Were they trying to sex-ify the division as a way to somehow get more females interested in Al Snow? Maven held the Hardcore Championship for longer than Mankind, Tommy Dreamer, or Jeff Hardy. Just think about that for a second. The guy who's finishing move was a dropkick held this title longer than The Hardcore Legend, the founder of House of Hardcore, and the guy who made ladder matches relevant again by actively trying to dismember his own body with Swanton Bombs. And he did it all while looking exactly like a guy who tried out to become a wrestler via reality TV competition and was thrust into the spotlight too early and was being relegated to the dumpster that was the hardcore division because he was still too green to carry a straightforward match.
