9 Old-Timers That Won Wrestling Gold (And Shouldn't Have)

Let's get one thing straight: Terry Funk is a hardcore legend. No one is disputing that. His career rebranding was a thing of brilliance, and he damn well deserved every title he was able to get his hands on in ECW.

And so I can understand the impetus for using Funk to legitimize the newly-established WCW Hardcore division. When he beat Norman Smiley for the belt after the company's "reboot" in 2000, it felt right. But as was the case with every championship in WCW at that time, the hardcore title was ping-ponging around far too much, and Funk's initial reign would last just over a month.

That should have been it. Funk should have been a one-and-done WCW Hardcore Champion, because it would have saved him the embarrassment of losing the belt a second time...to Eric freaking Bischoff.

After being replaced as Executive Vice President in September 1999, Bischoff had returned to the company in an on-air capacity a few months later, and clearly craved the spotlight once again. So naturally he had to humiliate a hardcore legend in the process.

What's worse, Bischoff only held the title for a day before he handed it over to some scrub tag team.