Weight: 242 lbs
Finishing Move: The Alabama Slam
Titles Held: 2x WWE Tag Team Champ, 6x WWE Hardcore Champ
Manager/Valet(s): Jim Cornette, Molly Holly
Other Aliases: Thurman "Sparky" Plugg, Bob "Spark Plug" Holly, Bombastic Bob
Real Name: Bob Howard
Hardcore Holly first appeared as racecar driver Thurman "Sparky" Plugg, who was quickly renamed Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly. He came close to winning the IC belt from Jeff Jarrett in 1994, but a tape revealed Jarrett's foot on the rope, and the title was held up. Jarrett beat Holly in the rematch. Holly became a jobber throughout 1995, 96, and 97. However, Jim Cornette teamed him with Bart Gunn in early 1998 to form The New Midnight Express, in which Holly was renamed Bombastic Bob. That team didn't last long, and Holly joined Al Snow's J.O.B. Squad, teaming with Scorpio. In early 1999, the Hardcore Title was held up when The Road Dogg was injured. The top two contenders were Snow and Holly, who fought at IYH: St. Valentine Day's Massacre. Holly beat Snow, but lost the belt a few weeks later to Billy Gunn. He won the belt back at WrestleMania XV in a Triple Threat Match against Snow and Gunn. He lost the Hardcore Title to Snow at IYH: Backlash, and after an unsuccessful rematch, went for King of the Ring. He was DQed in the first round, but the next night, was chokeslammed four times by Kane. He began to think of himself as a super heavyweight like Kane, The Big Show, and Viscera. Over time, he brought in his cousin, Crash Holly, who was his tag team partner. They fought each other constantly during and after their matches, but won a tag title from Mankind and The Rock. However, a couple of weeks later, they lost it to Mankind and Al Snow. They continued teaming throughout the winter of 99/2000, but eventually went separate ways.
Hardcore went after the IC belt, and then after the Hardcore belt, which was being defended 24/7 by Crash. Hardcore won it at the end of the Hardcore Battle Royal at WrestleMania 2000, but lost it the next night to Crash. After several other attempts, including an unsuccessful one at Backlash. He qualified for King of the Ring against Faarooq but lost in the next round to Crash. After KOTR, he broke his arm in a match against Kurt Angle. He returned in November, attacking Angle for revenge. At Survivor Series, he lost a European Title Match to William Regal by DQ. He got his rematch at Armageddon, but lost once again.
Hardcore went after Raven in the Hardcore Title, and managed to win it briefly at a few house shows. In the spring, he helped Crash "defend" Molly by going after Spike Dudley who had been hanging out with her. The other Dudleys got involved, and Spike and Molly were caught in the middle. The feud ended when the Dudleys started fighting amongst themselves. Hardcore had to leave to have another arm operation, and was out for almost another year.
He returned after the roster split of April 2002, and was drafted to Vince McMahon's Smackdown brand. He tore into rookie Randy Orton, and also feuded with Val Venis. He continued working on Velocity for the next few months, and was also a trainer for Tough Enough III. However, he had a match with WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in September 2002 and got dropped on his head with a powerbomb, breaking his neck.
He was out for an entire year, and came back with the purpose of breaking Lesnar's neck. He joined the team of Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Bradshaw and John Cena to take on Brock, Big Show, Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones and A-Train. Holly was the first man eliminated when he was DQed for going after Brock before the match. Holly continued his quest to break Brock's neck and got his chance at the 2004 Royal Rumble. However, Brock beat Hardcore emphatically.