BOB HOLLY

'Robert William "Bob" Howard' (born January 29, 1963) is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name, 'Bob "Hardcore" Holly'. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its ''SmackDown!'' brand, although he is currently inactive due to an arm injury.

Contents

Career

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Smackdown

ECW

Return to SmackDown

Wrestling facts

Championships and accomplishments

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

Career

He trained under Stan Frazier, Eddie Sullivan, Marcelle Pringle and Rip Tyler and debuted in 1987 in Mobile/Pensacola area in the World Organization of Wrestling where he held titles on and off including the WOW Tag Team Championship with Ron Starr.
From there he wrestled in Memphis and then in the NWA with moderate success before briefly going to Smoky Mountain Wrestling in early 1992 where he wrestled as '"Hollywood" Bob Howard' before adopting the ring name '"Superstar" Bob Holly'.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Holly debuted in the World Wrestling Federation on January 11, 1994. His initial gimmick was that of a NASCAR driver turned wrestler, and saw him adopt the ring name ''"Sparky" Thurman Plugg', a.k.a. STP which was quickly changed to 'Bob "Spark Plug" Holly' when the STP motor oil company complained to the WWF.

At the 1995 Royal Rumble, Holly and the 1-2-3 Kid defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka in the finals of a tournament to crown new WWF Tag Team Champions. However, their title reign would only last one day, as the next day, on a live taping of WWF Monday Night RAW, Holly and the Kid lost the tag team titles to The Smokin' Gunns.
On the April 26, 1995 episode of ''WWF Action Zone'', Holly defeated Jeff Jarrett in a match with the WWF Intercontinental Championship on the line. However, as Jarrett's foot was on the rope during the three count, the Intercontinental Championship was declared vacant and Holly's title reign was not recognized. Later in the show, Jarrett defeated Holly to win the vacant title.
In February 1998, Holly and Bart Gunn joined forces with Jim Cornette as part of Jeff Jarrett's National Wrestling Alliance stable. Holly, renamed "'Bombastic Bob'", and Gunn, renamed "Bodacious Bart" were known collectively as The New Midnight Express. The New Midnight Express defeated The Headbangers for the NWA World Tag Team Championship on March 30, 1998, and held the titles until August 14 of that year, when they were defeated by The Border Patrol.
Later in 1998, Holly competed in the WWF Brawl For All, losing in the opening round to former tag partner and eventual winner Bart Gunn.
In 1999, Holly entered the race for the WWF's new Hardcore Title, billing himself as 'Hardcore Holly'. As part of his new gimmick, he formed an alliance/rivalry with The Big Show, a real super heavyweight embarrassed by Holly's delusions of grandeur. He then teamed up with an on-screen cousin Crash Holly, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championships. In 2000, another on-screen "cousin" Molly Holly was introduced. Earlier that same year, Holly missed several months of ring time due to a legit broken arm, suffered at the hands of an errant moonsault from Kurt Angle.^[1]

Smackdown

In 2002 Holly turned heel on the now ''WWE SmackDown!'' and began a short feud with then face and newcomer, Randy Orton. When then face, Crash Holly drafted from ''RAW'' to ''Smackdown!'' he reunited with Hardcore Holly. As a result Hardcore Holly turned face again.
Holly suffered a broken neck during a 2002 match against Brock Lesnar.^[2] Holly was wrestling a very stiff match against Lesnar and sandbagged an attempted powerbomb by Lesnar in mid-air so that Lesnar couldn't get him all the way up.^[3] This led to Lesnar powerbombing Holly neck-first onto the mat. He had a thirteen month hiatus from wrestling after surgery.
Holly returned at the Survivor Series in November 2003 for revenge. He went on to challenge Lesnar for the WWE Championship at the 2004 Royal Rumble. To prove that he could take down Brock, Holly defeated the Big Show in a street fight on ''Smackdown!''. At the Royal Rumble, Holly could not overpower Lesnar and was eventually defeated.
After this he would form short-lived tag teams with Billy Gunn, and later Charlie Haas in the hunt for the WWE Tag Team Championship gold, in which he was unsuccessful with both partners. He also failed to claim the WWE Championship from John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a Hardcore match.
At the November 21, 2004 ''SmackDown!'' house show in Syracuse, New York, Hardcore Holly was involved in a tag team match with René Dupreé when Holly broke kayfabe during the match and legitimately attacked Dupree, punching and kicking the other wrestler over a speeding ticket that Dupreé had picked up whilst in Holly's rental car. Dupreé gave Holly consent to "take it out on him" in the ring, but was still fined $10,000 and told by owner Vince McMahon that he was on his "last strike" with the company.^[4]
Holly next went into singles competition trying to acquire the United States Championship from Champion Orlando Jordan. After being defeated twice by Jordan (through cheating tactics), Holly finally managed to pick up a win (but not the title) over Jordan via DQ on ''WWE Velocity'', which aired on August 6, 2005. In September 2005, Holly began another short-lived singles feud with the metrosexual Sylvan, addressing him by the sobriquets "Sylvy-an", "Sylvester" and "Sylvia"; this feud would end with Holly winning a falls count anywhere match during an edition of ''SmackDown!''. Holly then entered a short feud with "Smackdown!" newcomer, Mr. Kennedy. This feud climaxed on October 9, 2005 at No Mercy, where Mr. Kennedy defeated Holly after a Green Bay Plunge. After the match, Sylvan once again came out and attacked an injured Holly.
Holly had then been undergoing several surgeries to repair nagging injuries. He was hospitalized after a staph infection developed in an arm wound. The infection was possibly career-threatening as doctors were worried at one point that the arm may have to be amputated.^[5] The subsequent treatments were a success, however, and Holly would make his in-ring WWE return at a ''RAW''/''SmackDown!'' supershow tapings on July 31, 2006 in a dark match, defeating Simon Dean.

ECW

Holly made a surprise appearance at WWE's Extreme Championship Wrestling house show event on August 21, 2006 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, defeating Balls Mahoney. Holly made his ECW television debut the next night, August 22, appearing in a promo with Paul Heyman, and later attacking Rob Van Dam and Danny Doring during a match. Holly, as a heel, would soon join with Heyman and his other associates to feud with RVD and others.
In late September 2006, Holly received 24 stitches from WWE Doctor Louis Rios in his back after suffering a severe laceration there during an Extreme Rules match against Rob Van Dam when he landed on the metal railing of a table he was suplexing Van Dam out of the ring and through during an ECW show in Tulsa, Oklahoma.^[6] Holly attained the injury early in the match but continued to wrestle for at least another 15 minutes with blood running down his back, despite his recent infections. After the match, as he was being helped out of the ring, he received a standing ovation from fans. The legit incident caused fans to cheer Holly in the following weeks, leading to a face turn and a feud with Paul Heyman's other enforcer Test. His latest run as a face was short lived as he eventually turned on Rob Van Dam when they were partners in a tag match.
When Sabu was found unconscious in the back before the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember, he was chosen as his replacement. Holly entered with Rob Van Dam as the first of two combatants. He was the second to be eliminated, he was eliminated by Test by a Running big boot.
Following which he entered into a feud with CM Punk where by Holly, now a Tweener showed his endurance by surviving Punk's Anaconda Vice. Holly then gave Punk his first loss in ECW, Punk had been undefeated for half a year. After Test replaced Holly in a match against ECW champion Bobby Lashley, Holly vowed he would become champion whether he faced Test or Lashley. Holly then was one of ECW superstars entered in the Royal Rumble 2007, although he put up a good fight, he was eliminated by The Great Khali. Holly soon after that became the #1 contender for Lashley's ECW Championship and faced off against Lashley unsuccessfully.
On April 3, 2007, Holly faced Snitsky and lost. After the match, Snitsky wedged Holly's arm between the steel steps and repeatedly hit the steps with a steel chair, resulting in a (kayfabe) broken arm. ^[7] Hardcore Holly had surgery on April 16 to release a nerve entrapment in his elbow and will miss around 3-4 months. ^[8]

Return to SmackDown

Holly was drafted back to Smackdown! from ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 WWE Supplemental Draft, but he has yet to make his return to SmackDown television.

Wrestling facts

★ 'Finishing and signature moves'
:
★ '''Alabama Slam''' (Double leg slam, often seeing Holly spin the elevated opponent before completing the slam)
:
★ '''Hollycaust / Falcon Arrow''' (Sitout suplex slam) - 1999-2003
:
★ 'Full nelson' - 2002-2004
:
★ Backhand chop
:
★ Flying clothesline
:
★ Dropkick
:
★ Half nelson slam / Full nelson slam
:
★ Leg drop
:
★ Kick to the midsection of a rope-hung opponent
:
★ Diving leg drop
:
★ Forearm smash

★ 'Managers'
:
★ Jim Cornette
:
★ Paul Heyman (In ECW)

★ 'Nicknames'
:
★ "The Alabama Slamma"
:
★ "Hollywood" Bob Holly
:
★ Bob "Spark Plug" Holly
:
★ "The Big Shot"
:
★ Thurman "Sparky" Plugg

★ 'Entrance theme'
:
★ "How Do you Like Me Now?" composed by Jim Johnston

Championships and accomplishments

★ 'NWA New York'
:
★ NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Bart Gunn

★ 'World Wrestling Federation'
:
★ WWF Hardcore Championship (6 times)
:
★ WWF World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with 1-2-3 Kid (1) and Crash Holly (1)

★ 'World Wrestling Organization'
:
★ WWO Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ron Starr
:
★ WWO United States Championship (1 time)

★ 'Pro Wrestling Illustrated'
:
★ ''PWI'' ranked him # '391' of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.

Personal life

Holly and his wife, Sandra Howard, reside in Mobile, Alabama.
In July 2005, Holly opened the Bob Holly Academy, a professional wrestling school, in Mobile.

Filmography

★ ''Operation Sandman'' (2000) as "Sturner"

★ ''MTV's The 70s House'' (2005) in episode "Dodge Ball"

References

1. WrestlingGoneWrong.com - Kurt Angle breaks Hardcore Holly's arm
2. WrestlingGoneWrong.com - Brock Lesnar breaks Hardcore Holly's neck
3. SlashWrestling.com news post
4. pwtorch.com Ask the Torch: Holly beats up Dupree, Steph's future, TNA Finishers, Barbed Wire Ban By Wade Keller, Torch editor Jan 24, 2005.
5. wwe.com - Hardcore Holly returning for the fans By Brett Hoffman August 3, 2006
6. wwe.com - Holly injured By Jen Hunt September 26, 2006
7. wwe.com - Holly out April 4, 2007
8. wwe.com - Injury updates, April 11, 2007



★ Solie's title histories

External links

★ WWE.com Profile

★ TV.com Profile

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