Grilling JR - Hardcore Holly [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today’s show is all about Robert William Howard, Jr - better known as Hardcore Holly. Born on January 29, 1963 in Glendale, California, he was raised with his older brother by his mother. His parents divorced at a young age. Bob wrote in his book, The Hardcore Truth, that his father wasn’t around but from what he knew, was a street fighter who got into trouble with bikers and the like. Growing up, perhaps ironically to what some of the narrative about him says, Bob didn’t like bullies. At six years old, he punched his brother’s friend in the mouth for playing practical jokes on him. Then he kicked him while he was down. This was all in front of the other kid’s mom.

(Hardcore Holly has never been afraid of a fight in his life, has he?)

After his mother remarried, the family relocated to Ventura, California and then to Grants Pass, Oregon, where Holly attended Grants Pass High School. Holly said his mom taught him about hard work, growing up. After graduating, he worked in a beer warehouse before moving to Mobile, Alabama with the mother of his daughter, Stephanie. Howard spent several years working as a mechanic for Meineke (supplementing his income by boxing in bars) before joining Taylor Wharton as a pipe cutter, where he trained as a welder. Howard later moved to Cowin Equipment, where he worked as a mechanic and welder.

(Bob Holly worked in the WWF for a 16-year run, which is pretty incredible. How much of that had to do with his work ethic and consistency?)

Holly trained under Bob Sweetan and Rip Tyler, and debuted in 1987 in the Mobile area in the World Wrestling Organization promotion where he held titles on and off, including the WWO Tag Team Championship with Ron Starr. He teamed regularly with Robert Gibson, perhaps a bit ironic given he would later be part of the new Midnight Express.

Early on in his career...Bob wrestled a bear. The bear complained afterward about Bob being too stiff. Just kidding. But, believe it or not - that was actually Bob Holly’s worry! “I didn’t think I could take the bear. I just thought it would be a good story...something entertaining. I know it sounds ridiculous but I was afraid I might hurt the bear and feel terrible.” The match didn’t go well for Holly and the bear bit him on top of the head. BYE BYE.

(What can be said about the history of wrestling bears as an attraction?)

As Bob got his start, he wrestled in Memphis and then in the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance). While he was working in Memphis, according to his book, he wasn’t exactly making money. It was so bad, Holly stepped away from the ring in 1992 to get a real job.

What can be said about the paydays in territories like that being lousy? That seems to be a pretty common story from the Memphis territory...but was it like that everywhere?

In 1990 Holly began making television appearances in World Championship Wrestling, being utilized primarily as enhancement talent.

(Did you first meet Bob in WCW or in WWF?)

His first match came on July 30 in Gainesville, Georgia, when he was defeated via submission by United States Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger. Holly then wrestled in a six-man match in Marietta, Georgia on August 6, teaming with "Powerhouse" Tim Parker and Brad Bratton against Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Barry Windham. On August 13 Holly faced Flair in a singles match that aired on World Championship Wrestling, losing via submission. After an absence of several months, he made a final appearance at a World Championship Wrestling taping on January 21 teaming with Dave Johnson in an unsuccessful effort against The Freebirds in a match that aired February 9, 1991.

Two months later Bob Holly made his initial appearance in the World Wrestling Federation. Again, he was a jobber. His sole match was a teaming with Mike Sample in a loss to The Bushwhackers on the March 30, 1991 edition of WWF Superstars (match was taped on March 11 in Pensacola, Florida).

After this, Holly joined Jim Cornette's new Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion and made his debut at the company's very first television taping on October 30 in Greenville, South Carolina, defeating Tim Frye. There, he was billed as a snobby West Coast character, called "Hollywood" Bob Holly. He received a televised push while with the company.

(Did you have a chance to see him at all in Smoky Mountain?)

On our Bob Holly episode of Something To Wrestle - which is almost four hours by the way, super in depth - Bruce said Jim Cornette put in a good word for him. Holly wrote in his book that Paul Bearer, Percy Pringle III himself, was the one who brought his tapes to the company’s attention. JJ Dillon was in charge of talent at the time. Basically, he seemed to get high marks across the board.

(Did you have people who brought tapes to you, like this? How could you find the energy to watch MORE wrestling when you were already so engrossed in it?)

Holly returned to the WWF on January 11, 1994. His initial gimmick was that of a NASCAR driver-turned-wrestler. But his name left a lot to be desired. Thurman "Sparky" Plugg. “My friends call me Sparky,” he said in the vignettes that aired. And he wrote in his book, not surprisingly, that he hated the name. Holly told Sean Oliver on YouShoot that he was on a plane. A fan figured out he was a wrestler. They asked his name but he didn’t want to tell them. The fan kept asking him over, and over. He whispered “Thurman Plugg” and said the fan BUSTED OUT LAUGHING.

He went to Vince after several months and requested the change. By August, he was going by Bob "Spark Plug" Holly.

(Can someone get over with the name Thurman Plugg? Why do people get these weird, mega-nerdy names from Vince?)

He competed in the 1994 Royal Rumble match, lasting over 21 minutes. For the first several months, he picked up victories in the opening segments on the card, wrestling mostly house shows and not really feuding with anyone.

Sparky Plugg was supposed to have a Wrestlemania X match on March 20, teaming with Tatanka, the Smoking Gunns, and the 1-2-3 Kid vs. the Headshrinkers, IRS, Jeff Jarrett, & Rick Martel. However, their entire match was cut from the show due to time constraints. Notably, one of the matches that went long that night was the Ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon. The match itself was one of the best matches in history - but apparently, Randy Savage eviscerated HBK and Razor backstage for costing other guys their spot on the card.

(What is your take on the situation? Shawn and Razor gave us one of the best matches ever - and yet, they also stole time from ten other wrestlers. Justified? Or...Not cool?)

Holly traveled with Rick Martel in the early period of his career, which was at the point Martel probably would have been one of the most tenured people and respected people in the locker room.

(Who would have been some of the good mentors in the 90s to new talent?)

94 was mostly uneventful for Holly. He wasn’t on the card for Summerslam and worked a dark match at Survivor Series. But he would end up in the tag-team championship tournament finals, teaming with the 1-2-3 Kid.

At the Royal Rumble in January 1995, 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. It might seem unusual, but the idea was for Bam Bam to suffer a humiliating loss in front of Lawrence Taylor to set up their Wrestlemania 11 program. Holly and the Kid lost the belts to the Smoking Gunns the next night on Raw.

(Did the company decide that Kid and Holly would be a bigger “loss” for Bigelow and Tatanka than if they lost against the Gunns?)

So, how about this. I’ll bet that a lot of our listeners didn’t know Bob Holly won the Intercontinental Championship from Jeff Jarrett in 95. The WWE doesn’t recognize the title win, though, because the decision was reversed. Here’s what happened. On the May 7, 1995 (taped April 26, 1995) episode of WWF Action Zone, Holly pinned WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett in a title match, but as Jarrett had his foot on the ropes, the decision was overturned and the title vacated. Later on in the show, Jarrett defeated Holly in a rematch for the vacant title after pinning Holly with a roll-up.

Holly then competed in the 1995 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Mantaur to qualify before losing to The Roadie in the quarterfinals.

(The company seems to be flirting with the idea of pushing Holly during his first few years. Do you know if that was considered and if not, maybe, why wasn’t it?)

There’s a famous story that Holly has told several times but that the Kliq has disputed. But if you’re a follower of 90s WWF, you know that backstage, the Kliq is at its prime. Diesel, Shawn, Razor, Hunter, and Kidd were a major source of influence. And for a hardcore Alabama guy who didn’t take shit off of anyone, Bob Holly would up crossing paths with them. While on a tour in Europe, Holly said his “food card” had been torn up by someone backstage. This basically meant he wasn’t going to have a meal to eat that night. Holly was mad and wanted to know who did it. Randy Savage indicated to him that Shawn was responsible. As Holly tells the story, he told Shawn not to “fuck with me or fuck with my food” and said he would cut his fingers off with bolt cutters if he did it again. Then, he said Razor tried to stand up to him and Holly basically told him to take another step and be knocked out. After that, Holly said he walked up to Nash and when Nash tried to start shit with him, he drew an X on his chin with his finger and told him that was where he was going to hit him. This is a mostly summarized version of the events Bob said happened.

But in several different Kayfabe Commentary interviews, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall disputed that story. Nash said if he had done that, he would have had his bag shit in and then been fired by the end of the night. Razor said it never happened. It’s not like they’re going to admit to being punked out, if that really happened, though.

(Did you ever hear about this story or altercation? Could you see it happening? And, where does a rib stop being a joke and start to become a foul play?)

If you watched the WWF New Generation in 1995, you probably saw Bob Holly doing more than just wrestling. Throughout his appearances, we would be treated to videos or montages of him racing his actual WWF Race Car. The bright red car, with the number 15, was an actual race car that Holly said Vince McMahon purchased! On the Bob Holly episode of STW, Bruce said Vince might have put as much as $500,000 into the racing team. It seemed like the hopes were pretty high, but out of the first four races of the year...Holly was black flagged four times. In racing lingo, that means he was ejected from the race. Apparently, one of those times, he climbed the flag bearer’s tower and tried to fight him. There was also instances of him trying to fight other drivers. As funny as all of this would have been for a wrestling angle, Bruce Prichard said it was a shoot and they had to get him to calm down!

According to interviews and his book, Holly said the WWF eventually withdrew their association with the “All Pro Series.” Vince decided to pull Holly’s leg, saying he would sell the race car to Holly. But, when Vince sold it to him, he charged him…$100. Holly thought that was really cool of Vince.

(Could this have been one of the great missed opportunities - a race car driver who loses his temper and beats people up? Do you have any interesting memories or insights into the “WWF Racing Team”?)

He was then the first WWF pay-per-view opponent of Hunter Hearst Helmsley, losing to him at SummerSlam 95. At Survivor Series, Holly was a part of the Underdogs team along with Marty Jannetty, Hakushi, and Barry Horowitz. They were defeated by the Body Donnas team of Skip, Doctor of Desire Tom Prichard, Rad Radford, and the 1–2–3 Kid.

Despite lasting nearly 40 minutes in the Royal Rumble 96, Holly was featured much less prominently during 1996 and even the following year. On house shows, Holly did the honors for most all of his opponents, ranging from the heel 123 Kid to Steve Austin to Bradshaw. The night after Wrestlemania 12, Holly was the opponent for the debuting Mankind! When Mick Foley got the Mandible Claw on him, Holly looked like he was almost vomiting or going into a seizure. The moment got Mankind over as a horrifying opponent for viewers.

(Is Holly being produced to get him to spew spit and puke out during the move - or did he just do that on his own? It was great.)

At the 1996 Survivor Series in Madison Square Garden, Holly was in the opening elimination match on the Free For All - the 30 minute countdown program that aired on the Preview Channel. A concept completely foreign in 2021.

In 1997, Holly was even less involved with the company. He wrote in his book that the only reason he had bookings at this point was because Sid went to Pat Patterson and asked for him to be put back on the road. But even then, he wrestled very few matches on television. In fact, one of the only notable matches he wrestled was defeating Brian Pillman on Raw is War, August 4, from Bethlehem, PA. Because of the win (by count out), Pillman had to continue wearing a dress.

Holly was gone from the company until early 1998.

In February 1998, a newly blonde Holly and Bart Gunn joined forces with Jim Cornette as part of Jeff Jarrett's National Wrestling Alliance stable. Holly, renamed "Bombastic Bob", and Gunn, renamed "Bodacious Bart" were known collectively as The New Midnight Express. The team defeated The Headbangers for the NWA World Tag Team Championship on March 30, 1998 and held the titles until August 14 of that year, when they were defeated by The Border Patrol. They challenged the New Age Outlaws for the World Tag Team Championship at the King of the Ring pay-per-view, but were unsuccessful.

(How do you recall the New Midnight Express and the NWA stable gimmicks coming to be? And at what point were they dead?)

In mid-1998, Holly competed in the dubious WWF Brawl for All. He was eliminated in the first round by the eventual winner, Bart Gunn, who defeated him on points; But Holly has the distinction of being the only one of Gunn's opponents he was unable to knock out.

In November 1998, Al Snow, Bob Holly and Scorpio united and formed The J.O.B. Squad. During that same month on an edition of Raw, they helped Mankind defeat Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man in a triple threat match. In early 1999, after dwindling down to only two members, Snow wrestled against himself on an edition of Raw before Holly came down to the ring to prevent Snow from hurting himself, which led to the formal breakup of the J.O.B. Squad.

Later that month at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House, Bob Holly defeated Snow for the WWF Hardcore Championship to permanently end the J.O.B. Squad. A week later on Raw, for his title defense match against former partner Bart Gunn, Holly formally changed his name to Hardcore Holly.

(Was it the hardcore matches, or Bob’s toughness, or a combination of the two that led to this new name? How did you like the change for him?)

Holly dropped the championship to Billy Gunn on the March 15, 1999 edition of Raw, but regained the title two weeks later at WrestleMania XV, in a triple threat hardcore match also involving Al Snow.

(It seems like Bob Holly has found his way back into the company’s graces here. Is that correct?)

He lost the title to Al Snow at Backlash. At King of the Ring, while being interviewed by Terry Taylor, Holly debuted his new catchphrase 'WHO CARES?!' after asking Taylor who in the hell he was. It didn’t really stick.

But the Hardcore Holly gimmick was about to take a big step forward.

On the August 16, 1999 edition of Raw, Holly introduced his on-screen "cousin" Crash Holly, portrayed by the late Michael John Lockwood. They unsuccessfully challenged for the WWF Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam. Though simultaneously arguing over who was the better Holly, they won the WWF Tag Team Championship on the October 18, 1999 edition of Raw, by defeating...the Rock 'n' Sock Connection (after Triple H interfered). They lost the titles two weeks later to Mankind and Al Snow on the November 4 edition of SmackDown!

Holly said Crash kept him entertained and seemed to like the guy, in shoot interviews. But at the time, the duo was unproven.

(How did Bob Holly feel about the Holly family gimmick at first? He was coming off of his strongest singles push yet - were there hesitations, maybe?)

The Holly Cousins and Too Cool defeated Edge, Christian and The Hardy Boyz in a traditional four-on-four elimination match at Survivor Series, where Hardcore Holly was the sole survivor. That was a big deal once upon a time. Maybe it still is.

On the November 18, 1999 edition of SmackDown!, Holly challenged The Big Show for the WWF Championship, but was defeated. In early 2000, Hardcore Holly pursued the Intercontinental Championship, losing a match against Chyna due to interference from Chris Jericho. He then lost a Triple Threat Match against Chyna and Jericho for the championship at the Royal Rumble, which was won by Jericho. He lost two more subsequent matches to Jericho for the title, ending their feud.

(How did Hardcore feel about working with, and even putting over, Chyna?)

After Crash Holly won the Hardcore Championship on the February 24, 2000 episode of SmackDown!, the cousins began feuding over the title. Holly won the Hardcore Championship in a "hardcore" 13-man battle royal at WrestleMania 2000. But this wasn’t supposed to happen. By all accounts, including Hardcore Holly himself, Crash was supposed to retain the title at the end of the battle royal. But botched timing on what was supposed to be a two-count led to Hardcore accidentally pinning Crash and winning at the end. When the PA crew hit Crash’s music, fortunately, it worked as it was also Hardcore Holly’s theme song.

The next night's Raw featured a singles match between Hardcore and Crash. In an unexpected move, the Elroy Jetson lookalike regained the strap less than 24 hours after losing it.

(Would there have been heat over something like this? Who gets blamed?)

He then sporadically challenged for both the Intercontinental and Hardcore championships the following months. But a freak accident happened on the June 29, 2000 edition of Smackdown that would sideline the Hardcore Alabama native. In a match with Kurt Angle, Angle went up for the moonsault - but he was to hit the move. Usually, he missed the move but while preparing for the match, Holly told Sean Oliver at Kayfabe Commentaries that he told Kurt he should hit it this time. Kurt wasn’t convinced but they did the spot. As soon as Holly saw him jump, he said he leaned in to protect his ribs. Angle’s shin hit Holly’s forearm and snapped it in two. Angle went for the cover to go home - but Holly kicked out and finished the match!

(That’s obviously a level of toughness few people could imagine having...but that’s also really dangerous, isn’t it?)

(Any heat here on anybody - or just an honest accident?)

Holly then missed several months of ring time. After his return, later in 2000, another on-screen cousin, Molly Holly was introduced, portrayed by Nora Greenwald. At the time, The Holly Cousins were involved in a feud with T & A, and Molly became the foil for Trish Stratus.

(Did you like seeing the Holly Cousin storyline expand here? How good of a vehicle was this for the debuting Molly?)

Hardcore Holly returned to action on the November 13, 2000 edition of Raw, where he, Crash Holly and The Undertaker defeated Edge, Christian, and Kurt Angle in a six-man tag match.

At Survivor Series, Holly faced William Regal for the WWF European Championship but lost by disqualification. Holly got a rematch at the title at Armageddon but was defeated by Regal.

(Once again it seems like Holly is on the cusp of breaking through to the next level in singles action...but the brakes are hit (Boom). Do you have any insight into what kept him from getting through to the next level?)

At the Royal Rumble 2001, Holly competed in the 30-man Royal Rumble match but was eliminated by The Undertaker.

In February, Holly won the Hardcore title three more times, but each time re-lost the title moments later under the "24/7 Hardcore rule."

But, just as you’d expect there to be some type of Mania match for him...there wasn’t. Hardcore didn’t have a match at Wrestlemania 17.

(Why do you think that happened? Do you think he deserved a spot on the card or is that a bad practice?)

Holly competed in the King of the Ring tournament but lost to Kurt Angle in the first round.

The rest of 2001 would see Holly working non-televised matches against incoming WCW talent. By September, Holly made his last appearance of the year in the ring.

In early 2002, Hardcore worked as a trainer for Tough Enough Season II, a reality television show produced by WWE and MTV at the time. During his tenure as a Tough Enough trainer, Holly gained a reputation as being a "bully" due to his tendency to work "stiff" with the rookie Tough Enough contestants, including legitimately injuring them on several occasions.

(It wasn’t until Season 3 that he beat the shit out of Matt Cappotelli...we will get there in a second...but...what were your feelings on Hardcore’s stiff style with the trainees? Didn’t that help weed out the people who weren’t...Tough Enough?)

His first match back with the company was on March 15, 2002 at Wrestlemania X-8 Fan Axxess! He pinned the Hardcore Champion, Maven, with a woman in the crowd as the guest referee. Bob Holly once again was left off of the main Wrestlemania card in 2002.

In 2002, Holly turned heel on SmackDown! and began a short feud with rookie Randy Orton. He then had a minor feud with Kurt Angle after eliminating him from a battle royal, turning him face again. But Holly suffered a broken neck during a 2002 match against Brock Lesnar, when he was powerbombed neck first on the mat. He had a thirteen-month hiatus from wrestling after surgery.

The internet had a field day with this. Rumor and innuendo was that Brock dropped Hardcore Holly on his head because Holly was “sandbagging” him, or, not helping him get his weight up. Even though the internet had its opinion, Bob Holly did not share it:

“Things happen, and it just happened,” Holly said in an interview. “The timing was off, and it wasn’t malicious, it wasn’t intended to happen, and Brock and I are good friends in and out of the ring. So, we had a good working relationship. I enjoyed working with him. After it happened, he felt bad, and he called me after my surgery and he’d check on me periodically and see how I was doing. So, for these people that think they know what happened, they don’t.”

(Was there any serious backstage belief at the time that Brock deliberately hurt Hardcore?)

While awaiting surgery, Holly made a guest appearance on Tough Enough III. The show caused some controversy when, during the course of a practice match, laid into competitor Matt Cappotelli. He did not let up, although Cappotelli made it worse by trying to escape and getting himself potatoes even more. It was a big controversy of the season, with Cappotelli being left bleeding. Cappotelli later said that there was no ill-feeling between the two because of the incident. Tragically, Cappotelli’s career was sidelined before he could truly get started, as he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. On June 29, 2018, he died.

(What was the backstage belief on the Cappotelli incident? What did Vince think when he heard about it? What did it say about Matt Cappotelli that he toughed it out and didn’t complain?)

Holly returned at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November 2003 for revenge on Brock. He challenged Lesnar to a match for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. It was, by far, his most prominent placement on the card up until that point, but he wrote in his book that Brock didn’t see Holly as on his level and wouldn’t agree to put together a strong match. Brock basically squashed Holly at the Rumble.

(Brock also did this to Dean Ambrose at Wrestlemania, Cain Velasquez at Crown Jewel...does he have a problem making people look good who are not named Undertaker or Goldberg?)

During 2004 and early 2005, he formed short-lived tag teams with Billy Gunn, and later Charlie Haas in the hunt for the Tag Team Championship, but was unsuccessful with both partners. He also failed to claim the WWE Championship from John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a hardcore match.

But if we’re talking about Hardcore Holly and the year 2004...we really have to talk about Rene Dupree. As the story goes from Hardcore, Dupree got a speeding ticket in a car registered in Bob's name (and forgot to tell him). Keep in mind that Dupree is a kid - about 20 years old. Holly then had to go to court and get the issue straightened out, and it cost him money and time to do so. According to Dupree, he offered to pay Holly double of whatever it was that he owed him but that wasn't good enough (in his autobiography Holly claims that Dupree never offered to pay or even apologized for getting the ticket). So, before a November 22nd, 2004 house show Holly told Dupree that he better 'learn how to fight' because they were 'fixin' to go'.

Holly and Charlie Haas clashed with Dupree and Kenzo Suzuki later that night in what was essentially a glorified excuse for Holly to exact his revenge. Dupree even said Big Johnny set the match up knowing what would happen. Holly blasted Dupree with a hellish chair shot and laid in a few more stiff punches to Dupree's head and face. Dupree managed to flee but Holly followed him backstage and beat the s*** out of him again. Holly was fined $10,000 for his actions but had no regrets and said he'd do it again.

We’ve talked about this in the archives and you said that you don’t endorse it, but it’s sort of an old school principle situation. (If this had happened in the 70s or 80s, what would have happened to Dupree - same thing or more?)

In mid-2005, Holly went into singles competition trying to acquire the United States Championship from 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. Holly then entered a short feud with SmackDown! newcomer, Mr. Kennedy. This feud climaxed on October 9, 2005 at No Mercy, where Kennedy defeated Holly after a Green Bay Plunge.

Holly would end up having some notable heat with Kennedy. We will explore that shortly.

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 undergo amputation. The subsequent treatments were a success, however.

(Have staph infections always been an issue for wrestlers as long as you can remember? Any memories of Bob’s issues?)

By now, as we all know, Bob Holly looked a lot different than he did when he first entered the company. He’s jakked to the gills - which he openly admits was not entirely natural. But also, he’s working a much more aggressive style. One of the things Holly did was a vicious knife edge chop. He strikes with a viciousness that matches any of the greats. At the 2006 Royal Rumble, he, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit lit Daniel Puder on fire. Puder said in shoot interviews that he thought he was taken advantage of. And others who have taken chops from Bob have talked about how much they hurt.

“Bob’s chops are notorious for hurting like hell. Up until that point, I could only speculate. Two minutes later, having been on the receiving end of about a dozen of Bob’s finest, I could confirm that yes, they do indeed hurt like hell. My chest, which was now bleeding, seconded the opinion. The crowd popped for each chop with increasing fervor but by the last, they were wincing in pain along with me.” - Ross Williams, co-author of The Hardcore Truth. And wrestler.

(Where do you stand on chops and on Bob Holly’s? The Royal Rumble 2006 spot where Puder gets beat up...did you maybe tell the guys to break the kid in, a little? Or would that have been someone else?)

Since we’re talking about his moveset, Bob delivers one of the best dropkicks in the business. It’s usually completed by his signature pose. We’re talking about Jim Brunzell level, here. I don’t really have a question about that but would be remiss not to mention it.

(Who throws the best dropkick, in your opinion?)

Holly made a surprise appearance at WWE's ECW 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 (RVD) and Danny Doring during a match. Holly, now as a heel, joined with Heyman and his other associates to feud with RVD and others.

Hardcore Holly and ECW seemed like the perfect fit. And for viewers of the program on September 26, 2006, they would be treated to one of the more memorable hardcore moments from within the company. As Hardcore battled RVD in an Extreme Rules match in Tulsa, there was a spot where he suplexed RVD through a table. How this doesn’t happen more often is pretty surprising: the metal frame of the table sliced his back open. He stood up and blood just started pouring out of it. Of course, Bob Holly finished the match. The cut required 24 stitches to mend. Holly, who lost the bout, received a standing ovation and was cheered in the weeks after because of the gruesome spot.

(Would this have been a show you would have been producing or watching? What did you think when you saw the injury? Today, that would be the end of the match right?)

The legitimate incident caused fans to cheer Holly in the following weeks, leading him to become a face character and a feud with Paul Heyman's other enforcer Test. His 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 locker room area before the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember, Holly 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. As much as we love Hardcore Holly on this episode, fans were not happy that he was replacing Sabu at an ECW pay-per-view.

Subsequently, he entered into a feud with CM Punk whereby Holly, now a tweener, showed his endurance by surviving Punk's Anaconda Vice submission hold. 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 World 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, but was eliminated by The Great Khali. Holly soon became the number one contender for Lashley's ECW Championship and faced off against Lashley, but he never won it.

(Do you think more could have been done with Hardcore Holly and the new ECW? Could he have worked as a top heel on the brand?)

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 storyline broken arm.  Holly had surgery on April 16 because of a staph infection and missed around five months.

Holly was drafted back to SmackDown! from ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the Supplemental Draft. Despite this, he returned to the ring as a member of the Raw brand on September 24, 2007, defeating Cody Rhodes, and starting a "respect" feud in which Holly defeated Rhodes on the two following episodes of Raw. On the October 22 episode of Raw, Holly became a fan favorite by saving Rhodes from the post-match assault of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. On the October 29 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 Championship by defeating Paul London and Brian Kendrick and The Highlanders in a WWE.com exclusive match after an Alabama Slam. Holly and Rhodes lost their title match, however, against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch at Survivor Series.

(Do you think Cody and Holly worked well as a team?)

Cody tweeted in 2019 that he felt Bob was a good mentor for him. He said Holly took him to the gym, “a lot.” Was protective of him in the ring. And “didn’t sugarcoat how green and unprepared” he was. Cody wrote that he needed that. But apparently at the time, things weren’t totally good between these two.

On December 10, 2007, on the Raw 15th Anniversary episode, Holly along with Rhodes defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch for the World Tag Team Championship. The following week, Holly and Rhodes retained their title, in their first title defense, against Cade and Murdoch. They successfully defended their title against the teams of Carlito and Santino Marella and Paul London and Brian Kendrick. Holly participated in the 2008 Royal Rumble match and lasted thirteen minutes, but was eliminated by Umaga. On June 29 at Night of Champions, Rhodes turned on Holly by defeating him with Ted DiBiase in a handicap match to crown the new team as champions.

Hardcore Holly said toward the end of their pairing, he felt like there was animosity that had developed between the two. Holly said fans would chant his name in matches despite the goal being to get Cody over. And toward the end, he said Cody wouldn’t talk to him anymore.

(Do you know what happened between these two or why they had a falling out? Any indicators that they’ve reconciled?)

Following Night of Champions, Holly was inactive from WWE television for seven months. He was winding down his time with the company. But there was one more big controversy.

The allegations backstage were that Holly was caught taking a handful of pain pills out of Ken Kennedy’s gym bag. Holly has insisted that Kennedy told him he could borrow from the bag. But, other wrestlers apparently brought the news to Kennedy. By the time he found out, either because of others egging him on or because Holly’s version of events was misremembered, Kennedy made a deal out. From there, the rumor and innuendo was that Holly’s bag was taped and someone wrote “thief” on it. John Laurinaitis heard about Holly’s outburst and had a closed door meeting with him. Holly was then sent to drug rehab.

(What did you hear about this situation? Was it common for wrestlers to let each other take pain pills from gym bags?

Holly had harsh words for those involved and for years, said he would go to jail if he saw Ken Kennedy - something I believe wholeheartedly. He also called Mike Bucci, aka Simon Dean, a stooge. In a social media post in 2013, Simon Dean responded and completely buried him. Here’s what Simon had to get out of his system:

“Personally, he was despised by all who ever met him for being an a–hole bully who sucked the air out of every room he ever came into. Every person I ever knew in WWE hated the guy, with good reason. He was always miserable and treated everyone like crap. From taking liberties on Matt Capottelli (and to this day , how anyone can condone what happened, is truly insane) to beating up his fellow-drug-addict-loser-travel partner Rene Dupree, Bob showed his true colors, unless of course, the victims name was Brock Lesner, and then we all know how that worked out.

“He was also the biggest ‘stooge’ in company history as he spent more time on the road and TV in Johnny’s office than Johnny’s suit coat did! If you blinked the wrong way or sneezed , good old Plug was off to the races to Johnny, Vince, Taker or JBL..didn’t matter who, that was how he stirred up sh** constantly for no reason, hence the reason he was there for so long. I don’t care about stating the obvious , due to the fact I’m not going back to WWE either, so I guess that makes me and Bob equal…

“In thinking about it, I don’t actually hate Bob. I pity him. You know why? Because of his ruined legacy and how he went out. Is Bob working as an agent or trainer? No. Is he in TNA or any other company? No. Even the few indys that had him never wanted him back. His ‘wrestling industry christmas card list’ is probably 5 people long and no one has ever had a good word to say about him. Every agent who ever had his matches hated dealing with him and his lousy attitude.

“Finally, lets all take a look at how Robert was cast off from the gates of the WWE. Did creative have nothing for him? No. Did he refuse a new contract? No. Did he get injured. No. His dismisal came after he was basically found crawling around backstage STEALING drugs from his ‘brothers’. This had been going on for a while, so finally someone (Ken Kennedy, and good for him) decided to tell the office that Sticky Fingers had to go. And that was that…

(Doubt that we will be doing a Simon Dean show anytime soon. Was this sour grapes from Simon? Or, did people really have this perspective about Holly?)

Holly was released from his WWE contract on January 16, 2009, ending his 15-year tenure with the company. But he said it wasn’t because of the Kennedy scandal.

“Johnny Ace and I talked about it and I said I wasn’t happy continuing if I was just going to be used as a job guy. When you’re always putting some other guy over, you don’t get any programs, you don’t get to work pay per views and you don’t get to make the money. I felt they could have been using me much better, building to something with other guys and letting them learn from me over a period of time rather than just having some green newcomer go out there, get a quick win over me and then move on without learning anything. It doesn’t help anyone in the long run and sure didn’t help me. I told Johnny that I’d stick around if they were prepared to get behind me and start using me in a more meaningful manner. Well, turns out that creative weren’t, they had other priorities now, so I decided I’d be better off off-screen. The door is open though, there weren’t any bridges burned.”

(Do you have any second hand knowledge of what Holly left the company for? Was it the drug controversy or just him wanting a better place on the card?)

Holly continues to wrestle on the independents or at least, did until the pandemic began. Hopefully will again soon. He totally shaved his head and sports a large new tattoo that covers his shoulder and chest, similar to how the Rock’s did - except it’s a different type of tribal design.

(Will Bob Holly get into the Hall of Fame someday? What will his legacy be?)

QUESTIONS.

Ringside Rant asks...Bob was always known as a hard guy on the younger talent. Was that bob just being an old school guy or was it on purpose to tough guys up

Fernando asks...What faction in today’s wrestling does JR think Hardcore Holly would fit in with?

Travis asks...What do you think  bob was lacking  that kept him  from being  a bigger  star or even  a world  champion during  his career I have always been a fan of his and I have  met  his twice and he couldn't have  been  any nicer both times

Francis asks….Was he the benchmark to see if you can handle being an wrestler?

Francis has an IDEA. Was there any idea to make him an main eventer and give him the belt?

Mike Mills asks...Holly has the infamous creative pitch that many people know about now. Did you hear of any other pitches he had to creative?

Also, any thoughts on pairing him with Sid? They traveled together and would've loved to see Sid/Holly as a team

Sean Woolford asks...Was JR in the meeting where Holly told VKM to let him win the belt and beat everybody?

Double R asks..in his book, Bob is quite open about $ amounts for PPV payoffs, some are as low as 1k. Given these amounts how do you justify the payoffs for mid & low card workers? Once they take out tax, transport, meals etc there isn’t much left for living expenses, housing & savings

Aaron asks...In hindsight, do you think the Hardcore Holly gimmick hindered Bob from moving further up the card? With that name it's tough to not keep booking him in the Hardcore matches.

Do you think if he'd just been "Bob Holly" he'd have been more in contention for a title run?

Justin asks...Could you have seen a guy like holly being more successful in the 70s or 80s , given his personality?

Kory Hurt asks...which is worse, spark plug or bombastic bob?

LoneLee asks...How do you like him now?

Michael Gavin Ali asks..who got the idea of Crash Holly

Steve Costa asks...Is it true that if a wrestler got Vince's bad side he would put them in a match vs Hardcore Holly and have Holly work stiff against him?

Steven Lornie asks...Do you think a veteran like Bob would be great for the young and slightly naïve youngsters in AEW? Teach them more about ring psychology than doing ten back flips in quick succession.