Thursday, June 26, 2008

Hardcore Holly, part 5

Bob Holly was drafted back to SmackDown! from ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 WWE Supplemental Draft.

Holly returned to the ring on WWE RAW on September 24, 2007, defeating Cody Rhodes( son of Dusty Rhodes), starting a "respect" feud in which Holly constantly defeated Rhodes on the two following episodes of WWE RAW and a Dark match at No Mercy. On the October 22, edition of WWE RAW, Holly turned face saving Cody Rhodes from the post-match assault of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. On the 29th October episode of WWE RAW, Holly and Rhodes emerged victorious in a tag team match against Benjamin and Haas. They earned a shot at the World Tag Team titles by defeating Paul London and Brian Kendrick and The Highlanders in a WWE.com exclusive match after an Alabama Slam. However, Holly and Rhodes lost their title match against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch at Survivor Series.

On December 10, 2007, on the WWE RAW 15th Anniversary episode, Holly along with Rhodes defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch for the World Tag Team Championship. The following week, Holly and Rhodes retained their titles, in their first title defense, against Cade and Murdoch. They have since successfully defended their World Tag Team Championship titles against Carlito and Santino Marella, and Paul London and Brian Kendrick.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Hardcore Holly, part 4


Bob Holly then underwent several surgeries to repair nagging injuries. He was hospitalized after a staph infection developed in a right arm wound. The infection was possibly career-threatening, as doctors were worried at one point that the arm may have to be amputated. The subsequent treatments were a success, however, and Holly made his in-ring WWE return at a RAW/SmackDown! supershow tapings on July 31, 2006 in a dark match, defeating Simon Dean.

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, soon joined with Heyman and his other associates to feud with RVD and others.

On September 26, 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. Holly attained the injury early in the match but continued to wrestle for at least another 10 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 legitimate 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 second to 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 (kayfabe) 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.

Subsequently, 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 World 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, but was eliminated by The Great Khali. Holly soon became the #1 contender for Lashley's ECW Championship and faced off against Lashley, albeit unsuccessfully.

On April 3, 2007, Holly lost to Snitsky. 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. Hardcore Holly had surgery on April 16 because of a staph infection and missed around 5 months.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Hardcore Holly, part 3


In 2002, Bob Holly turned heel on SmackDown! and began a short feud with then-face and newcomer, Randy Orton.When then-face Crash Holly was 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. 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. 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 him 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.

Holly next went into singles competition trying to acquire the United States Championship from Champion Orlando Jordan. After being defeated twice by Jordan, Holly finally managed to pick up a non-title win over Jordan via disqualification 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 ended 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.

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