Born Robert William "Bob" Howard on January 29, 1963, wrestler Hardcore Holly was trained by Stan Frazier, Eddie Sullivan, Marcelle Pringle and Rip Tyler. In 1987, he debuted in the World Organization of Wrestling, where he held the WOW Tag Team Championship with Ron Starr. In 1994, he debuted in the World Wrestling Federation, where his initial gimmick was that of a NASCAR driver turned wrestler called Thurman "Sparky" Plugg. A year later, he and the 1-2-3 Kid defeated tag team Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka, thus becoming new WWF Tag Team Champions. In 1995, Hardcore Holly teamed up with Bart Gunn and named themselves Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart, and was collectively known as The New Midnight Express, who later defeated The Headbangers the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

In 1999, Holly teamed up with onscreen cousin Crash Holly, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championships. A year later, he broke his arms after fighting with Kurt Angle. In 2002, Holly returned to Smackdown! and faced Randy Orton. He also suffered a broken neck during a match with Brock Lesnar. After over a year of recovery period, Holly returned at the Survivor Series for revenge. However, at the Royal Rumble, Holly could still not defeat Lesnar.

Holly underwent several surgeries in 2006, after a staph infection developed in a right arm wound. The infection was so bad that the doctors were opting for an amputation at one point. However, the treatments soon proved to be a success and Holly went back to wrestling.

Holly then made a surprise appearance at Extreme Championship Wrestling house show event on August 21, 2006 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In the event, he defeated Balls Mahoney and made his ECW television debut the next night. In his September 2006 fight, he sustained a severe laceration after landing on the metal railing of a table. Despite the injury, he was still able to fight for the next ten minutes of the match. He was soon brought out of the ring for stitching.

On Raw's 15th anniversary episode on December 10, 2007, Holly and Cody Rhodes defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch for the World Tag Team Championship.



(Photo courtesy of WWE)