Robert William Howard (born January 29, 1963) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Hardcore Holly.
After debuting in 1988, Holly worked for World Organization of Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and other independent promotions, before joining WWE full-time in 1994. Initially portraying the character of a NASCAR driver, Thurman "Sparky" Plugg, his name was soon changed to Bob "Spark Plug" Holly. In 1998, under the name of Bombastic Bob, he formed a team with Bart Gunn known as The Midnight Express. Towards the end of that same year, Howard reverted to the Bob Holly name as he joined the stable titled The J.O.B. Squad.
After the disintegration of The J.O.B. Squad in early 1999, Howard won his first singles title in WWE and shortly after he became known simply as Hardcore Holly, developing a stern and punishing persona in the process. After taking up the Hardcore Holly gimmick, he was joined by on-screen cousins Crash in 1999 and Molly in 2000. In 2002, Hardcore Holly suffered a broken neck during a match with Brock Lesnar, which sidelined him for over a year. Upon his return, he engaged in a major feud with Lesnar for the WWE Championship and minor feuds with other wrestlers, such as Mr. Kennedy and Rob Van Dam. He later formed a tag team combination with Cody Rhodes in 2007. Holly was released from WWE in 2009, wrestling only intermittently on the independent circuit afterwards. In 2013, he published his autobiography, The Hardcore Truth: The Bob Holly Story.
Championships held by Holly over the course of his career include the WWF/E World Tag Team Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, and WWF Hardcore Championship.
Early life Robert William Howard was born on January 29, 1963 in Glendale, California, where he and his older brother were raised by his mother. After his mother remarried, the family relocated to Ventura, California and then to Grants Pass, Oregon, where Howard attended Grants Pass High School. After graduating, Howard worked in a beer warehouse before moving to Mobile, Alabama with the mother of his daughter, Stephanie. Howard spent several years working as a mechanic for Meineke (supplementing his income by boxing in bars) before joining Taylor Wharton as a pipe cutter, where he trained as a welder. Howard later moved to Cowin Equipment, where he worked as a mechanic and welder.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1988–1990) Holly trained under Bob Sweetan, Marcelle Pringle, and Rip Tyler, and debuted in 1988 in the Mobile area in the World Organization Of Wrestling promotion where he held titles on and off, including the WOW Tag Team Championship with Ron Starr when they defeated the Rock 'n' Roll Express. From there, he wrestled in Memphis and then in the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) with moderate success.
World Championship Wrestling (1990–1991) In 1990, Holly began making television appearances in World Championship Wrestling under the name "Bob Holly", being utilized primarily as a jobber. His first match came on July 30 in Gainesville, Georgia, when he was defeated via submission by WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger. Holly then wrestled in a six-man match in Marietta, Georgia on August 6, teaming with Tim "Powerhouse" Parker and Brad Bratton against Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Barry Windham. On August 13, Holly faced Flair in a singles match that aired on World Championship Wrestling, losing via submission. After an absence of several months, he made a final appearance at a World Championship Wrestling taping on January 21 teaming with Dave Johnson in an unsuccessful effort against The Freebirds in a match that aired February 9, 1991.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1991–1992) Holly joined Jim Cornette's new Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion and made his debut at the company's very first television taping on October 30 in Greenville, South Carolina, defeating Tim Frye. Billed as "Hollywood" Bob Holly, he received a televised push and portrayed a snobbish-street thug, West Coast character. Afterward, he worked for Buck Robley and The NWF out of Louisiana. He teamed with Robert Gibson there as the Rock N Roll Express. In 1993, Holly did not wrestle at all that year and took a hiatus.
World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment (1994–2009)
Spark Plug (1994–1997)
In 1991, Holly made his initial appearance in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Again, he was portrayed as a jobber using the name "Bob Holly". His sole match was teaming with Mike Sample in a loss to The Bushwhackers on the March 30 edition of WWF Superstars (match was taped on March 11 in Pensacola, Florida).
Holly returned to the WWF on January 11, 1994. He competed in the 1994 Royal Rumble match, lasting over 21 minutes. His initial gimmick was that of a NASCAR driver turned wrestler called Thurman "Sparky" Plugg. By late summer 1994, Holly changed his name to Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly. According to Holly, he went to Vince McMahon and asked him to change his name because he didn't like the name Thurman and his friends and family were teasing him over it, but wanted to keep the NASCAR gimmick, and McMahon agreed.
Holly alongside 1-2-3 Kid took part at WWF World Tag Team Championship Tournament (1995). After defeating Well Dunn and Heavenly Bodies, they reached the finals, which was held at the Royal Rumble in January 1995. There, Holly and the 1–2–3 Kid defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka to crown new WWF Tag Team Champions. Their title reign lasted only one day, however, as the next day, on WWF Monday Night Raw, the duo lost the tag team title to The Smoking Gunns.
On the May 7, 1995 (taped April 26, 1995) episode of WWF Action Zone, Holly pinned WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett in a title match, but as Jarrett had his foot on the ropes the title was vacated. Later on in the show, Jarrett defeated Holly in a rematch for the vacant title after pinning Holly with a roll-up. Holly's title win is no longer recognized by WWE. Holly then competed in the 1995 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Mantaur to qualify before losing to The Roadie in the quarterfinals. He was then the first WWF pay-per-view opponent of Hunter Hearst Helmsley, losing to him at SummerSlam.
At Survivor Series, Holly was part of the Underdogs team along with Marty Jannetty, Hakushi, and Barry Horowitz. They were defeated by the Body Donnas team of Skip, Doctor of Desire Tom Prichard, Rad Radford and the 1–2–3 Kid.
Despite lasting nearly 40 minutes in the Royal Rumble, Holly made very few television appearances in the WWF throughout 1996 and 1997. In 1997 he scored two victories over Owen Hart on the May 19 episode of Raw by pinfall and Brian Pillman on the August 4 episode of Raw by count-out. Afterwards, Holly was inactive during the rest of 1997 and temporarily went back to welding.
The Midnight Express (1998)
In February 1998, Holly returned after a six-month hiatus with newly blonde hair, and together with 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 Midnight Express. The tag team 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. They challenged the New Age Outlaws for the WWF Tag Team Championship at the King of the Ring pay-per-view, but were unsuccessful.
In mid-1998, Holly competed in the WWF Brawl for All, a 16-man shootfighting tournament. He was eliminated in the first round by the eventual winner, Bart Gunn, who defeated him on points; Holly has the distinction of being the only one of Gunn's opponents he was unable to knock out. They disbanded in July and Holly went on his own, working in lower card matches on Shotgun Saturday Night.
J.O.B. Squad (1998–1999)
In November 1998, Al Snow, Holly, and Scorpio united and formed the J.O.B. Squad (later members of the stable also included Gillberg and The Blue Meanie). During that same month on an edition of Raw, they helped Mankind defeat Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man in a triple threat match, as Mankind (though not a member of the stable) became a close associate. At 1998's Survivor Series pay-per-view, Holly and Scorpio defeated The Legion of Doom (Animal and Droz) in a warmup match. Two months later at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Holly and Scorpio notably defeated Too Much in one of the warmup matches.
In February 1999, the members gradually drifted apart: Scorpio was released by the WWF, Gillberg was later phased out of storylines, and The Blue Meanie allied with Goldust; thus, after dwindling down to only two members, Snow wrestled against himself on an edition of Raw before Holly came down to the ring to prevent Snow from hurting himself. The two fought and it led to the formal breakup of the J.O.B. Squad. Later that month at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House, Holly defeated Snow for the WWF Hardcore Championship to permanently end the J.O.B. Squad. A week later on Raw, for his title defense match against former partner Bart Gunn, Holly formally changed his name to Hardcore Holly.
Hardcore Champion and the Holly Cousins (1999–2001)
Holly dropped the championship to Billy Gunn on the March 15, 1999 edition of Raw, but regained the title two weeks later at WrestleMania XV, in a triple threat hardcore match also involving Al Snow. He lost the title to Al Snow at Backlash, and soon began referring to himself as "The Big Shot", feuding with Big Show and Kane. On the August 16, 1999 edition of Raw, Holly introduced his on-screen "cousin" Crash Holly, where both ended up taunting and fighting each other, projecting a rather strained cousins relationship.
They unsuccessfully challenged for the WWF Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam. Although simultaneously arguing over who was the better Holly, they won the WWF Tag Team Championship on the October 18, 1999 edition of Raw, by defeating the Rock 'n' Sock Connection, after Triple H interfered. They lost the titles two weeks later to Mankind and Al Snow on the November 4 edition of SmackDown! The Holly Cousins and Too Cool defeated Edge, Christian and The Hardy Boyz in a traditional four-on-four elimination match at Survivor Series, where Holly was the lone survivor.
On the November 18, 1999 edition of SmackDown!, Holly challenged The Big Show for the WWF Championship, but was defeated. In early 2000, Hardcore Holly pursued the Intercontinental Championship, losing a match against Chyna due to interference from Chris Jericho. He then lost a Triple Threat Match against Chyna and Jericho for the championship at the Royal Rumble, which was won by Jericho. He lost two more subsequent matches to Jericho for the title, ending their feud.