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Book It
3-25-02
Last week in Book It I talked about how wrestlers can use gimmicks to build on their strengths or hide their faults. This week I want to work with a wrestler that needs no gimmick. When you look at guys like Steve Austin, Triple H, and Ric Flair you don't see them doing gimmicks because they have larger than life personalities as it is. They may tweak their persona to play a heel or play a face, but they are still not really relying on a gimmick. Regardless of his attitude, when we see Ric Flair on the TV, we are essentially seeing the real Ric Flair. Steve Austin and Rock are just exaggerating their own naturally marketable personalities for the entertainment of fans. Diamond Dallas Page has that same kind of personality, but the writing staff insists on saddling him with a lame gimmick that the fans just don't buy (see previous Book It for more on DDP.)
That said, I'd like to talk about a long time WWF superstar that has never really lived up to his potential in the WWF, but has recently come back in to the spotlight in a different way. Bob "Hardcore" Holly has had his share of gimmicks in the WWF. The infamous one is of course "Sparky Plugg", the NASCAR driver that loves to wrestle (Bob is actually a licensed NASCAR driver). This would have been bad even in the gimmick-filled '80s, but this happened in the very cynical '90s. Bob was doomed from the start.
His other gimmick was "The Super Heavyweight 'Hardcore' Holly." Bob was a heel at the time and his simple gimmick was that he would only wrestle in the Super Heavyweight class (think Rikishi). Bob and later Crash Holly were both announced as weighing in at over 400 pounds, and they'd bring a scale to the ring to make sure their opponents measured up. When their opponents didn't, the Hollys would refuse to wrestle or they would use the scale as a weapon. It was a simple gimmick that built on Holly's natural no nonsense attitude and arrogance.
In all honesty, Bob doesn't need an elaborate booking plan to get his career back on track. He could show up in the WWF tonight and resume his Super Heavyweight gimmick and do just fine. However, I feel the iron is hot for Bob to make a comeback and move up the WWF ladder a few notches.
This Book It relies on two things that happened recently with Bob. First, he hasn't been seen in the WWF for a while because of an arm injury he suffered during a match with Kurt Angle over a year ago. If you didn't see the match, as I recall Kurt Angle mislanded on a moonsault and landed on Holly's arm, breaking it. That didn't stop the match from continuing as Holly fought back the pain and continued to wrestle. Since the match happened at a Smackdown taping, the fact that Holly had broken his arm during the match made Internet fans tune in when it was finally broadcast to see it happen. Sure enough, there was Bob Holly wrestling with a broken arm. He already had the nickname "Hardcore" at that point, but a lot of fans felt that that was the night he earned it.
More recently Bob has taken over for Tazz as the hard-assed trainer on Tough Enough 2. If you're not watching the show or reading or recaps then you really should be. Holly's segments are some of the most amusing. Bob has taken a dislike to one of the contestants, Hawk. Hawk is a big goofy looking guy and for whatever reason Bob really doesn't like him, so he yells at him and kicks the snot out of him during training. From watching the show you get the feeling that in real life Bob is kind of a hard-nosed asshole. Still, he's an entertaining asshole.
It's a no-brainer that Holly's first feud back should be Kurt Angle. Holly has a legitimate reason for being mad at Angle (broken arm) and Kurt is so over right now that he should be able to carry the feud while short-term memory fans reacquaint themselves with Bob. Step one will be to establish Bob as the face, so let's say that Angle is up to his usual heel antics and is giving someone (Crash?) a post match beat down. Holly can run in to make the save, fans cheer and Angle runs off. Angle can cut a promo on Bob talking about "how dare he try to screw with him" after what Kurt did to him last time. They can show the footage of Kurt breaking Bob's arm. Holly responds with his own promo about how tough he is and how Kurt may have broken his arm but didn't force him to quit the match.
They book a match at the next pay per view. Over the next few weeks, Angle talks about how he's going to make Holly submit with the ankle lock and Holly says that there is no way Angle can make him quit. A week before the pay per view, the match is changed to an "I Quit" match.
In every promo, Holly basically comes across as a legitimate tough guy that just really wants to fight Angle. His attitude is similar to that of Steve Austin. He's a tough guy that you really don't want to piss off, and Angle has pissed him off.
The pay per view match rolls around and the two fight. Angle can carry anyone to a good match and Holly is a decent worker so it should be good. During the match, Angle dominates. When Angle gets Holly in the ankle lock, Holly doesn't submit. Angle tries and tries but no matter what he can't get Holly to say "I quit." Frustrated, Kurt goes all "Rock circa 1999 Royal Rumble vs. Mick Foley" on Holly and starts hitting him with chairs. Holly takes the beating but is clearly not winning the match. Then in a sudden turn around, Holly slaps his own submission move (figure four, ankle lock, titty twister, whatever…) on Angle and Angle submits. Holly gets the win, his revenge and Kurt doesn't lose much heat since he did dominate most of the match.
Once that feud is out of the way and Holly has built up his tough guy credibility, I'd like to turn him heel. Since his persona is really that of the hard-nosed asshole, it's easy enough to turn him heel by matching him up with a babyface instead of uber-heel Kurt Angle. Depending on how the fan response is to Holly during his feud with Angle, there are a few options for his next feud. If the fans just give Holly a lukewarm response to Holly, then he should stay in his mid-card role and feud with guys like Maven and Al Snow. He can claim that Maven may have won Tough Enough 1 but Holly wasn't an instructor; Maven doesn't know the meaning of Tough. Bam, he's got an instant feud and Holly is the arrogant heel. If the fans like Holly and the WWF feel he deserves a bigger push, then his next feud should be Steve Austin.
The night after defeating Kurt Angle, Holly goes to the ring and talks about how tough he is. He can also talk about now that he has defeated Kurt Angle there is some one else he has a problem with in the WWF. "There are some guys that for whatever reason just piss me off. Like that big dumb goof from Tough Enough, Hawk. He's a guy that doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. He thought he was tough, but in the end, he quit, just like a little bitch. There is another big dumb goof running around the WWF talking about how tough he is. This guy doesn't know the meaning of the word tough, but I'm going to show him. Steve Austin, get your dumb ass out here."
Needless to say that one does not say such things about Stone Cold, so as sure as the fans will suddenly boo Bob Holly, Stone Cold will run to the ring to kick Holly's ass. Holly can be waiting with a chair. Crash Holly can attack Steve Austin as well. Holly gets the better of Austin on that night, but a blood feud is born. No gimmicks, just two guys fighting to get the best of each other. And really, isn't that all you need?
Based on that, in just two or three months Hardcore Holly is back in the WWF and has mixed it up with two of the biggest stars in the game. He can create a feud with just about anyone based on "I just don't like that guy." Holly is a talented wrestler that knows the biz and has the skills to be a major player. His naturally arrogant persona makes him a great heel, no gimmicks needed.
