WWE Hardcore Championship was one of the biggest attractions throughout the Attitude Era. The Attitude Era is considered the best time period in WWE history and a lot of things made it great, the wrestlers, the rivalries, everything was so amazing during the time. The Hardcore title was also a huge attraction of the mentioned time.
WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg who got the privilege of holding the famous Hardcore title once recently talked about this championship and explained when and how the title started to decline. In spite of being immensely popular among the fans, it died in August, 2002. Speaking on his “Oh, You Didn’t Know? Podcast, Road Dogg revealed;
WWE Hall Of Famer Unveils The Truth Behind the Decline Of The WWE Hardcore Championship
“Now we’ve gone too far,” James said of the switch to anyone having the ability to challenge for the Hardcore Championship 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “It totally lost its luster. … When they went away from the violence of it is when it went away, you know what I mean?” said former six times WWE Tag Team Champion Road Dogg Jesse James.
“That’s what it was. And look — from a business standpoint, especially now that it’s a publicly-traded company, it’s just crazy to have too much of that going on all the time, you know what I mean?” James went on to talk about how it became important for WWE to limit the amount of gratuitous violence on TV, as well as finding the right place to use hardcore stipulations for the greatest effect.
Road Dogg Discusses The Downfall Of The WWE Hardcore Championship
“I totally could make the argument [not normalizing] the hardcore stuff for corporate responsibility reasons,” James continued. “Also, you know, people ain’t going to pay for that all the time. And I think some people will, and there will be a spot for it, and it’ll utilize it at the right times, and it’ll mean something then.”
The best part of the Hardcore title was the Hardcore matches. That was right, the title had to be defended in hardcore matches only. It was also one of the first titles that was defended 24/7 and the new 24/7 title that is now vacated followed the same model, however, it never matched the greatness of the Hardcore title.
But the title was not actually designed to be like this. It was just another lower mid card title apart from the European title which was active during the time. But at the beginning of the Ruthless Aggression Era, WWE abolished the lower mid card division with the introduction of the Brand Split and both European title and Hardcore title were removed. 21 years have passed, WWE is still unable to make a proper lower mid card division.
credit “Oh, You Didn’t Know?” Podcast
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription