A lot of people have endearing memories of growing up in a rural setting; they love snowfall and fireplaces and wide open ranges as far as the eye can see. I hated living in the country. It wasn't enough that there wasn't anything that I was remotely interested in anywhere nearby, but our cable provider could afford to be neglectful because my neighbors were busy doing things like making their 4-wheeler's better death machines or milking something. It is because of this blatant dead-beat approach to media that I had to rely solely on wrestling at face value.

Prior to WCW's emphasis on "Hardcore Wrestling" or the WWF's push of Mankind as the unfeeling abonination, the most hardcore act of sports entertainment was Jake "The Snake" Roberts allowing Damien to bite Randy Savage or Jimmy Snuka doing the Superfly Dive. WCW started emphasizing the Luchadores and they were doing amazing things; Rey Mysterio Jr and El Dandy doing incredible dives and flips. On WCW Saturday Night (Because Bob and Jim's Basement Cable didn't carry TNT until 1997) guys like Raven and Public Enemy were doing relatively risque things (things that are acceptable in church by today's standards) and WCW was branding it as "Hardcore." As the 90's progressed, ECW was becoming more and more "emulated" and the envelope was being pushed. In fact, I had heard of ECW while thumbing through the pages of Pro Wrestling Illustrated but because I didn't get any channel that carried ECW I thought of them as some wrestling I'll never get to watch due to circumstance.

On an episode of Nitro in the late 90's "Hardcore Hak" (Jim Fullingtonl The Sandman) showed up wrapped in barbed wire and swinging a cane. I want you to picture a kid sitting in front of his TV with his jaw agape, that was me. Hak had taken out Van Hammer and whatever tomato can he had steamrolled over that night and then proceeded to proclaim himself the King of Extreme. Hak and Bigelow "wrestled" for a few moments and Tony Schiavone Hugh Granted his way through the whole ordeal.

Hak wasn't memorable at all because WCW didn't know how to promote hardcore wrestling. Hardcore Wrestling in the 90's wasn't able who could take the highest leap or bleed the most, it was about taking something from nothing and making it great. WCW would have been better off taking one of Eric Bischoff's bonus checks and starting an indy promotion and calling it hardcore, it would have been much more enjoyable to watch. Hak was involved in the WCW Hardcore Battle Royale in the junk yard in which someone may have legitimately died because of the poor lighting and 500 square yard of hazard they were wrestling in. From what I remember of Hak, he was involved in Raven's "pity me" angle in which we discover Scotty's parents were loaded and Jim was trying to get Scotty help. Yes, Raven actually called Hak by his first name.

I hope you've remembered Hardcore Hak and maybe it took you back to a better time for a little while. If you don't remember Hak, YouTube him and don't blame the taste in your mouth on me!