WWE Buy or Sell: Bringing Back The Hardcore Championship

The Attitude Era was known for big stars, big matches, and wildly absurd stunts.  Somewhere in all the great components of the Attitude Era was a championship that was exciting and fun, the Hardcore Championship.  Considering the love of Attitude Era nostalgia, would it be a good idea to bring the Hardcore Championship back?

The Hardcore Championship was a title originally introduced as a present to Mankind, meant to be a joke that everyone was in on except for the champion.  The championship was known for its iconic look, as it appeared to have been assembled with old championship plate fragments and tape.

What first started as a joke with what was an unappealing championship, would later draw the interest of other mid-card superstars.  Eventually the Hardcore Championship would adopt 24/7 rules where the title could change hands at any moment as long as a referee was present.

The unpredictability of the Hardcore Championship led to funny, surprising backstage segments.  With that said, is it time to bring an added injection of excitement back to the mid-card by way of the Hardcore Championship?

The positive to bringing back the Hardcore Championship is the unpredictability of what can happen at any given moment.  This exciting element would be a major asset for a show like WWE Raw that has three hours to fill weekly and sometimes has difficulty keeping an audience engaged for the entire show.

Another added element of the Hardcore Championship is well…the hardcore part.  WWE has become a very family friendly show, but the added use of chairs, kendo sticks, and trash cans might be able to add some edge to the product.

Also, the Hardcore Champion never needs to be traded from Raw to WWE SmackDown Live or vice versa, because of monthly dual branded pay-per-views.  Since superstars from both the red and blue brand will be present at every pey=per-view (Hardcore Champion included), the championship can change shows by the champion simply being pinned by a member of another show.

While there is a lot to like about possibly bringing back the Hardcore Championship, there are also concerns.  Sometimes there are things that just don’t need to be recreated because finding the original magic that made something special is easier said than done.

The Hardcore Championship was successful in part to the lack of limitations with WWE’s product at the time.  WWE was not a publicly traded company during the Attitude Era and was not trying to appeal as much to younger fans.

Now there are strict rules involving blood or “blading” as well as chair shots to the head of a superstar.  Because of safety improvements it might also be more difficult to sell a superstar being knocked out quickly from a shot somewhere other than the head.

As great as a return of the Hardcore Championship sounds, I am going to SELL the idea of the championship returning to WWE.  We have all seen movies that have waited too long to do a sequel and by the time the sequel comes out the elements that made the original a classic are gone, and that would be the same with the Hardcore Championship.

The Hardcore Championship in the way that the WWE Universe remembers it had fun moments because of the era that it was a part of.  There could be an alternative to the Hardcore Championship that can bring some of the exciting elements of old.

The Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship is a humorous copycat of the Hardcore Championship as a part of DDT Pro-Wrestling.  Just like the Hardcore Championship was inspiration for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, the latter championship can be used as an inspiration for a new WWE Championship.

A 24/7 championship that is used for comedy segments which is another way to elevate talent.  There are funny superstars like Zack Ryder, Tyler Breeze, and Fandango that could really benefit from a championship built around their comedic strengths.

I will leave you with one final analogy to put things into perspective.  DX was better during the Attitude Era, but we are still glad that the stable returned despite the product being PG.

Because of the product being PG there was no possible way that they could top what they previously did, but it did force the WWE writers to get more creative with their content.  So while the final product was not better than the original, most fans felt it was good and were glad that they reunited.

Next: Roman Reigns: The Song Remains The Same

The same can be said for a 24/7 championship, it must be adjusted to the current era of wrestling.  The Hardcore Championship will hold a place in the time capsule of WWE, but its time is done and now it is time for something new.