Robert William Howard
Born	(1963-01-29) January 29, 1963 (age 61)[1] Grants Pass, Oregon
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Bob Howard Thurman Sparky Plug Sparky Plugg Bob Holly Bombastic Bob Holly Hardcore Holly
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2]
Billed weight	[undue weight? – discuss][2]
Billed from	Mobile, Alabama[2]
Trained by	Stan Frazier[1] Eddie Sullivan[1] Rip Tyler[1]
Debut	1987

Robert William "Bob" Howard^[1] (born January 29, 1963) better known by his ring name Hardcore Holly, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its RAW brand.^[2]

While in WWF/E, Holly has held the WWF Hardcore Championship six times and the WWF World Tag Team Championship twice (with 1-2-3 Kid and Crash Holly).^[3]

Career

Holly trained under Stan Frazier, Eddie Sullivan, Marcelle Pringle and Rip Tyler and debuted in 1987 in the Mobile/Pensacola area in the World Organization of Wrestling where he held titles on and off, including the WOW Tag Team Championship with Ron Starr.

From there, he wrestled in Memphis and then in the NWA with moderate success before briefly going to Smoky Mountain Wrestling in early 1992 where he wrestled as "Hollywood" Bob Howard before adopting the ring name "Superstar" Bob Holly.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

1994-1998

Holly debuted in the World Wrestling Federation on January 11, 1994. His initial gimmick was that of a NASCAR driver turned wrestler called Thurman "Sparky" Plugg,^[4] which was later changed to Bob "Spark Plug" Holly.

At the 1995 Royal Rumble, Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka in the finals of a tournament to crown new WWF Tag Team Champions.^[5] Their title reign lasted only one day, however, as the next day, on WWF Monday Night RAW, Holly and the Kid lost the tag team titles to The Smokin' Gunns.^[6]

On the April 26, 1995 episode of WWF Action Zone, Holly defeated Jeff Jarrett in a match with the WWF Intercontinental Championship on the line. However, as Jarrett's foot was on the rope during the three count, the Intercontinental Championship was declared vacant and Holly's title reign was not recognized. Later in the show, Jarrett defeated Holly to win the vacant title.

In February 1998, Holly and Bart Gunn joined forces with Jim Cornette as part of Jeff Jarrett's National Wrestling Alliance stable.^[7] Holly, renamed "Bombastic Bob", and Gunn, renamed "Bodacious Bart" were known collectively as The New Midnight Express. The New Midnight Express defeated The Headbangers for the NWA World Tag Team Championship on March 30, 1998^[8] and held the titles until August 14 of that year, when they were defeated by The Border Patrol.

1999-2001

In 1999, Holly entered the race for the WWF's new Hardcore Title, billing himself as Hardcore Holly. As part of his new gimmick, he formed an alliance/rivalry with The Big Show, a real super heavyweight embarrassed by Holly's delusions of grandeur. He then teamed up with an on-screen cousin Crash Holly, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championships. In 2000, another on-screen "cousin" Molly Holly was introduced. Earlier that same year, Holly missed several months of ring time due to a legitimate broken arm, suffered at the hands of an errant moonsault from Kurt Angle.^[9]

2002-2005

In 2002, Holly turned heel on SmackDown! and began a short feud with then-face and newcomer, Randy Orton. When then-face Crash Holly was drafted from RAW to SmackDown!, he reunited with Hardcore Holly. As a result, Hardcore Holly turned face again.

Holly suffered a broken neck during a 2002 match against Brock Lesnar.^[10] Holly was wrestling a very stiff match against Lesnar and sandbagged an attempted powerbomb by Lesnar in mid-air so that Lesnar couldn't get him all the way up.^[11] This led to Lesnar powerbombing Holly neck-first onto the mat. He had a thirteen month hiatus from wrestling after surgery. Holly returned at the Survivor Series in November 2003 for revenge. He went on to challenge Lesnar for the WWE Championship at the 2004 Royal Rumble. To prove that he could take down Brock, Holly defeated the Big Show in a street fight on SmackDown!. At the Royal Rumble, Holly could not overpower Lesnar and was eventually defeated.

After this he would form short-lived tag teams with Billy Gunn, and later Charlie Haas in the hunt for the WWE Tag Team Championship gold, in which he was unsuccessful with both partners. He also failed to claim the WWE Championship from John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a hardcore match.

At the November 21 2004 SmackDown! house show in Syracuse, New York, Hardcore Holly was involved in a tag team match with René Dupreé when Holly broke kayfabe during the match and legitimately attacked Dupree, punching and kicking the other wrestler over a speeding ticket that Dupreé had picked up whilst in Holly's rental car.^[12] Dupreé gave Holly consent to "take it out on him" in the ring, but was still fined $10,000 and told by owner Vince McMahon that he was on his "last strike" with the company.^[12]

Holly next went into singles competition trying to acquire the United States Championship from Champion Orlando Jordan. After being defeated twice by Jordan, Holly finally managed to pick up a non-title win over Jordan via disqualification on WWE Velocity, which aired on August 6, 2005. In September 2005, Holly began another short-lived singles feud with the metrosexual Sylvan, addressing him by the sobriquets "Sylvy-an", "Sylvester" and "Sylvia". This feud ended with Holly winning a falls count anywhere match during an edition of SmackDown!. Holly then entered a short feud with "SmackDown!" newcomer, Mr. Kennedy. This feud climaxed on October 9, 2005 at No Mercy, where Mr. Kennedy defeated Holly after a Green Bay Plunge. After the match, Sylvan once again came out and attacked an injured Holly.

2006-2007

Holly then underwent several surgeries to repair nagging injuries. He was hospitalized after a staph infection developed in a right arm wound. The infection was possibly career-threatening, as doctors were worried at one point that the arm may have to be amputated.^[13] The subsequent treatments were a success, however, and Holly made his in-ring WWE return at a RAW/SmackDown! supershow tapings on July 31, 2006 in a dark match, defeating Simon Dean.

Holly made a surprise appearance at WWE's Extreme Championship Wrestling house show event on August 21, 2006 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, defeating Balls Mahoney. Holly made his ECW television debut the next night, August 22, appearing in a promo with Paul Heyman, and later attacking Rob Van Dam and Danny Doring during a match. Holly, as a heel, soon joined with Heyman and his other associates to feud with RVD and others.

On September 26, 2006, Holly received 24 stitches from WWE Doctor Louis Rios in his back after suffering a severe laceration there during an Extreme Rules match against Rob Van Dam when he landed on the metal railing of a table he was suplexing Van Dam out of the ring and through during an ECW show in Tulsa, Oklahoma.^[14] Holly attained the injury early in the match but continued to wrestle for at least another 10 minutes with blood running down his back, despite his recent infections. After the match, as he was being helped out of the ring, he received a standing ovation from fans.^[15] The legitimate incident caused fans to cheer Holly in the following weeks, leading to a face turn and a feud with Paul Heyman's other enforcer Test. His latest run as a face was short lived as he eventually turned on Rob Van Dam when they were partners in a tag match.

When Sabu was found (kayfabe) unconscious in the back before the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember, he was chosen as his replacement. Holly entered with Rob Van Dam as the first of two combatants. He was the second to be eliminated, he was eliminated by Test by a Running big boot.

Subsequently, he entered into a feud with CM Punk where by Holly, now a tweener, showed his endurance by surviving Punk's Anaconda Vice. Holly then gave Punk his first loss in ECW, Punk had been undefeated for half a year. After Test replaced Holly in a match against ECW champion Bobby Lashley, Holly vowed he would become champion whether he faced Test or Lashley. Holly then was one of ECW superstars entered in the Royal Rumble 2007, but was eliminated by The Great Khali. Holly soon became the #1 contender for Lashley's ECW Championship and faced off against Lashley, albeit unsuccessfully.

On April 3, 2007, Holly lost to Snitsky. After the match, Snitsky wedged Holly's arm between the steel steps and repeatedly hit the steps with a steel chair, resulting in a kayfabe broken arm.^[16] Hardcore Holly had surgery on April 16 to release a nerve entrapment in his elbow and missed around 5 months.^[17]

Holly was drafted back to SmackDown! from ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 WWE Supplemental Draft. Despite this, he returned to the ring on RAW on September 24, 2007, defeating Cody Rhodes^[18], starting a "respect" feud in which Holly continually defeated Rhodes on the two following episodes of RAW and a Dark match at No Mercy. On the October 22, edition of RAW, Holly turned face saving Cody Rhodes from the post-match assault of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. On the 29th October episode of Raw, Holly and Rhodes emerged victorious in a tag team match against Benjamin and Haas. They earned a shot at the World Tag Team titles by defeating Paul London and Brian Kendrick and The Highlanders in a WWE.com exclusive match after an Alabama Slam. However, Holly and Rhodes lost their title match against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch at Survivor Series.^[19]

Personal life

Holly was married to former WWE, WCW and TNA valet Cathy Dingman. He and his current wife, Sandra Howard, reside in Mobile, Alabama.^[20]

In July 2005, Holly opened the Bob Holly Wrestling Academy, a professional wrestling school, in Mobile.^[21]

Wrestling facts

• Finishing and signature moves

• Alabama slam, often seeing Holly spin the elevated opponent before completing the slam^[2]
• Hollycaust / Falcon Arrow (Sitout suplex slam) - 1999-2003
• Full nelson - 2002-2004
• Knife-edged chop
• Standing dropkick
• Kick to the midsection of a rope-hung opponent also referenced as the "Overhead Cam"
• Half nelson slam / Full nelson slam
• Leg drop / Diving leg drop
• Flying clothesline
• Back elbow strike

• Managers

• Jim Cornette
• Paul Heyman (ECW)

• Nicknames

• "The Alabama Slamma"^[2]
• "Hollywood" Bob Holly
• "The Big Shot"

• Entrance theme

• "How Do you Like Me Now?" composed by Jim Johnston

Championships and accomplishments

• NWA New York

• NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Bart Gunn

• World Wrestling Federation

• WWF Hardcore Championship (6 times)^[3]
• WWF World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with 1-2-3 Kid (1)^[22] and Crash Holly (1)^[23]

• World Wrestling Organization

• WWO Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ron Starr
• WWO United States Championship (1 time)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 391 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.^[24]

References

External links

• WWE Profile
• TV.com Profile
• Hardcore Holly at IMDb
• Solie's Title Histories