Athletes - Bob Holly

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	Athletes - Bob Holly

Robert William Howard, (born January 29, 1963), is an American professional wrestler, best known by his ring name, Bob "Hardcore" Holly. He performs for World Wrestling Entertainment on the SmackDown! brand.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Bob "Hardcore" Holly has been a WWE wrestler for over ten years and is currently one of the longest tenured wrestlers on the WWE roster.

Holly's original gimmick was that of a race car driver, under the stage name Thurman "Sparky" Plug and later "Spark Plug" Bob Holly. In April 1995, on an episode of WWF Action Zone, Holly defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the Intercontinental Title. However, Jarrett's foot was on the rope during the three count, and the IC title was declared vacant. Jeff Jarrett defeated Holly in a rematch to recapture the Intercontinental Championship.

In what would begin as his first repackaging from the "Spark Plug" gimmick, Holly was teamed up with Bart Gunn to form the New Midnight Express as Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart respectively. They were managed by Jim Cornette as part of Jeff Jarrett's short-lived NWA stable in the WWF.

Later in 1998, Holly competed in the WWF's "Brawl For All," losing in the opening round to former tag partner and eventual winner Bart Gunn.

Several years after his incredibly short Intercontinental Title reign, 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.

Holly suffered a broken neck during a 2002 match against Brock Lesnar, who powerbombed Holly neck-first onto the mat. He had a thirteen month hiatus from wrestling after surgery.

Holly returned at the Survivor Series in November of the following year 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. At the Royal Rumble, Brock retained his title.

Later in 2004, he formed a tag team with Billy Gunn.

He formed a short-lived tag team with Charlie Haas in the hunt for the WWE Tag-Team Championship gold until Haas was released by the WWE on July 5, 2005.

In July 2005, Holly opened the Bob Holly Academy, a professional wrestling school, in Mobile.

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 a feud with the metrosexual Sylvan, addressing him by the sobriquets "Sylvester" and "Sylvia."

Holly has been absent from in-ring action since the SmackDown! following Taboo Tuesday 2005, when he was a guest referee in a tag match featuring Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy vs. John Bradshaw Layfield and Christian. He has recently been undergoing several surgeries to repair nagging injuries.

Reputation

Holly has gained something of a reputation as a bully following unstaged incidents, such as his brutal treatment of Tough Enough III contestant Matt Cappotelli and his vindictive attack on the face of René Duprée during a match as punishment after Dupree got into a traffic accident with Holly's rental car and neglected to own up to it, resulting in monetary damages and legal issues for Holly. Some believe him to be a real life "enforcer" used by Vince McMahon to punish poor behavior on the part of young wrestlers. While some fans were highly critical of Holly's actions, others defended his actions as the typical means of conflict resolution within the wrestling industry, which is not unionized and poorly regulated and therefore lacks conventional mechanisms for addressing grievances.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Bob Holly ]

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