10 WWE Number One Contenders Nobody Actually Thought Could Win
2. Hardcore Holly
Getting seriously injured is a dangerous way to guarantee a push in WWE. At least that is how it has seemed at times, where in-ring accidents have been left to fester until the injured party can return in search of revenge on his fellow professional. In 2002, Brock Lesnar and Hardcore Holly struggled to cooperate on a powerbomb, a move both men had taken and given on countless occasions but one that just didn't seem to work on this occasion. Holly was dropped onto the back of his head, breaking his neck in the process. He missed 13 months of action as a result.
Holly returned at the 2003 Survivor Series as a member of Team Angle, desperate for retribution against the then-WWE Champion. The former Thurman was disqualified before the match even began, beating the heck out of Brock and shoving a ref down in the process, but the elimination was irrelevant. A Brock Lesnar vs. Hardcore Holly feud was happening, with the WWE Championship on the line.
This is all well and good, but the problem was that Holly had spent his entire career in the middle part of the card. At no point, not even the very start, had he even flirted with the main event. All of a sudden, fans are expected to believe that this journeyman was WWE Championship material, purely because he got injured? Wrestling is weird.
Nobody was buying it. Lesnar duely dispatched Holly at the Royal Rumble, ending Hardcore's hopes in a little over six minutes.