WWE: Could The Hardcore Championship Make A Return?

Its been over 15 years since WWE has supported a Hardcore Championship. With a growing number of suggestions from current WWE superstars and countless fans to bring back the title, could WWE even bring back the belt in our current wrestling era?

Over the weekend, 205 Live superstar Mike Kanellis threw out this loaded statement on Twitter:

As you can see, there was quite the fan response to Kanellis’ declaration. In fact, there always seems to be a very impassioned response from fans when it comes to bringing back the Hardcore Championship.

The problem is, as many tend to point out, the perception around WWE is that the company has moved away from the kind of programming that promotes hardcore wrestling.

Is that actually true though?

Take a moment and think about it. Has WWE really moved away from hardcore wrestling so much so that bringing back the Hardcore Championship would be entirely out of the question?

I argue the answer to that is a resounding no.

WWE has been host to a litany of exceptional extreme matches over the course of the past few years.

Look no further than when CM Punk took on Chris Jericho at Extreme Rules 2012, Brock Lesnar faced off with John Cena and Seth Rollins at Royal Rumble 2015, or The Usos and The New Day destroyed one another at Hell in a Cell 2017 to see some amazing modern-era hardcore wrestling from WWE.

Actually, we even were just able to witness an all-time great extreme wrestling match at Evolution when Becky Lynch and Charlotte went to war under Last Woman Standing rules. Who says a revived Hardcore Championship would have to only be for the men anyways?

All of those matches are proof that WWE can still promote and feature hardcore wrestling even in the so-called “PG era”.

I believe then that leaves the only piece of the barbed-wire wrapped puzzle to question is which superstars would be fit to carry on the legacy of the Hardcore Championship?

For starters, look at any of the tremendously talented individuals still in WWE from the matches above. The New Day and The Usos have earned their extreme rules stripes multiple times in WWE at this point, while Seth Rollins has been no stranger to steel cages, balcony dives, or table breaks in his WWE tenure.

On top of that, Charlotte and Becky Lynch both just showcased how adept they are at swinging kendo sticks and steel chairs during their match at Evolution. Both women would be more than game to carry a revived Hardcore Championship.

Even beyond those competitors, WWE also has the new age hardcore icon Dean Ambrose to carry the title. Imagine all the insanity the newly dark and menacing Ambrose would bring to regularly televised hardcore matches.

Additionally, superstars such as Bray Wyatt, Sheamus, Finn Balor, and Sasha Banks have all shown an extreme side during their time in WWE. Any of them would make welcome additions to the competition for a newly minted Hardcore Championship.

At the end of the day, don’t be too hasty to write off any lobbying for the return of the Hardcore Championship as simply unrealistically yearning for a time long gone in WWE. As you can see, WWE is more than capable of putting on insanely entertaining extreme matches in today’s era with any number of the current superstars who are already carrying the hardcore torch passed down from the Tommy Dreamers and Ravens of yesteryear.