Easily the most chaotic championship in the Attitude Era is the WWE Hardcore Championship. When Crash Holly captured the Hardcore Title for the first time in February 2000, the 24/7 rule was in effect, and with a referee present, a sanctioned championship match could take place at any time or any place.
However, in 2002 the Hardcore Championship would retire when Rob Van Dam defeated Tommy Dreamer to unify the Hardcore Title into his Intercontinental Championship. Nonetheless, the Hardcore Title left some lasting memories with some violent matches and wacky title changes.
11 Shawn Stasiak
Shawn Stasiak is the son of former WWE Champion Stan Stasiak, and Stasiak came to WWE in 2001 as part of the Invasion storyline. However, Stasiak was an atrocious performer and was a jobber throughout his WWE career.
The unpredictability of the Hardcore Championship saw Stasiak win the Hardcore Title 15 times. None of his reigns are memorable as he lost the title, the same day he won it, which is not a good look. He won the Hardcore Championship on live events which happened frequently.
10 Justin Credible
Former ECW Champion Justin Credible was an integral part of ECW before they were purchased by WWE in 2001. Credible formed an unlikely alliance with X-Pac and Albert, and the trio was known as X-Factor.
The faction was short-lived with Credible naturally going to side with The Alliance during the dreadful Invasion angle. Moreover, in 2002, Credible captured the Hardcore Championship eight times. Seven of his brief runs happened on live events but his second reign occurred on the May 6, 2002, edition of Raw by pinning Raven but Crash Holly swiftly ended his championship reign. Like Stasiak, Credible never held the title for at least a day.
9 Johnny Stamboli
The chaotic nature of the Hardcore Championship meant it was hard to keep track of constant title changes with the 24/7 rule in effect. Johnny Stamboli is a three-time WWE Hardcore Champion but he did nothing spectacular with the belt.
Stamboli interrupted Bradshaw's Hardcore Title match with Christopher Nowinski on the July 15, 2002, episode of Raw to win the title. Alas, Bradshaw regained the title when he pinned him backstage. They traded the title a week later on Raw and Stamboli's third and final reign came at the expense of Jeff Hardy with Tommy Dreamer ending his brief reign.
8 Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy was allowed to shine as a singles star on Raw with his brother Matt a proud member of SmackDown. The Charismatic Enigma briefly held the European Championship in 2002 but turned his attentions to the Hardcore Championship.
Hardy's feud with Rob Van Dam over the Hardcore Title the year prior was simply sensational with both men taking ladder matches to new heights. Unfortunately, a low moment happened to Hardy after he won his third Hardcore Championship from Bradshaw, Johnny Stamboli was waiting in the wings and abruptly ended his reign. Hardy never held the gold again and it was one of the shortest title reigns in his illustrious WWE career.
7 Rob Van Dam
One of the greatest Hardcore Champions in WWE history is Rob Van Dam. RVD captured the gold four times and he has the third-longest reign cumulatively at 134 days behind Steve Blackman and Big Boss Man.
However, Van Dam has a knack for competing in title unification bouts and after retiring from the European Championship in a remarkable ladder match with Jeff Hardy, he was tasked once more to put the Hardcore Title to bed. RVD was the Intercontinental Champion and he defended the championship against fellow ECW alumni and good friend Tommy Dreamer. Van Dam bested Dreamer in an underrated Hardcore Title match on the August 29, 2002 edition of Raw.
The Hardcore Championship was retired and RVD's victory was counted as his fourth Hardcore Championship reign, thus he was the final Hardcore Champion.
6 Raven
ECW original Raven joined WWE in late 2000 and Raven immediately imposed himself in the Hardcore Championship title picture. Raven was a magnificent ECW Champion but he never held the WWE Title as he was treated as a mid-low card performer.
However, no man in history has won the Hardcore Championship more than Raven, who captured the gold a record 27 times. His last batch of reigns with the tattered championship in 2002 predominately happened on live events, which treated the fans to entertainment. Ultimately, Raven was shortly gone from WWE once the Hardcore Championship was no more but he deserves a lot of credit for making the Hardcore Championship mean something.
5 Steven Richards
Whilst Steven Richards does not have the most Hardcore Championship reigns, he certainly has a nice statistic next to his name. Richards is a 21-time Hardcore Champion but he is the final Hardcore Champion under the WWF banner. He is also the final man to win a championship on a WWF PPV.
At Insurrextion 2002, Richards lost the Hardcore Title to Booker T, who dropped the title to Crash but won it back from Crash, and Richards walked out with the Hardcore Championship. Richards is extremely tough and added something to the Hardcore division. Alas, despite holding the championship 21 times, the former Right to Censor leader's reigns added up to 35 days, which sums up the nature of the Hardcore Championship.
4 Crash Holly
"The Houdini of Hardcore" Crash Holly was a genius as he is the mastermind that kickstarted the 24/7 Hardcore Championship rule in February 2000. The Elroy Jetson look-alike had been a part of memorable skits that involved the Hardcore Championship changing hands.
Unfortunately, when Crash won the title a few more times in 2002 to take his tally up to an impressive 22, the title had lost the gloss that it once had back at its height in 2000 and 2001. As a credit to his legacy though, what Crash did with the Hardcore Championship is what R-Truth is currently doing with the 24/7 Championship, which is a successor of the Hardcore Title by taking part in funny championship changes in any location and at any time.
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2 Tommy Dreamer
The Innovator of Violence, Tommy Dreamer is technically the final Hardcore Champion but WWE recognizes RVD as the final Hardcore Champion. Nevertheless, Dreamer with his trademark kendo stick wreaked havoc in the fast-paced Hardcore Championship division.
Dreamer captured the Hardcore Championship 14 times but only held the championship for 14 days. However, Dreamer customized the Hardcore Championship for the final time which was the European Title but had a New York Yonkers spin to it. Dreamer had the privilege of being the final Hardcore Champion to win the championship under the 24/7 rule in a Hardcore Battle Royal as Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff waived off the 24/7 rule. The Hardcore Championship meant a lot to Dreamer as he was visibly emotional when RVD unified the title with his Intercontinental Championship.
1 Bradshaw
Like Jeff Hardy, Bradshaw was separated from his long-term tag team partner Faarooq in the 2002 Draft Lottery. However, it gave Bradshaw the chance to thrive as a singles competitor. Bradshaw did not pass up the opportunity presented to him as he was right at home in the Hardcore division.
Bradshaw is an 18-time Hardcore Champion and all of his reigns came in a two-month span from June-August 2002. Bradshaw defeated Steven Richards on the June 3rd episode of Raw in front of his hometown fans in Dallas, Texas for his first reign which was his longest at 19 days. The Texan was no stranger to ballroom brawls which made him a legitimate threat.
Like Dreamer, Bradshaw customized the Hardcore Championship in his 11th reign on the gold, and the title was renamed as the "WWE Texas Hardcore Championship." He was one of the final Hardcore Champions and Bradshaw would be WWE Champion just two years, which is a crazy thought, considering that Bradshaw was in the Hardcore division.