Hardcore

Sometime in the late '90s, the WWF was losing fans to more graphically violent and extreme wrestling companies. Fans, it seemed, preferred seeing guys beat the hell out of each other legally with foreign objects. Never above pandering to their fans, the WWF finally created their Hardcore division (and a Hardcore Championship, to be defended 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no less). This awkwardly produced, hourlong compilation tries to give historical perspective to the mutant, controversial wing of pro wrestling, while highlighting some of the more famous matches that took place over the past couple of years. You could argue that the strength of the WWF over the years has been the writing, the ongoing soap operas, and that Hardcore matches simply opt for easy sensationalism... but that's another essay. If you want to see men (and, in one instance, women) beat each other with broomsticks, pipes, beer mugs, and boxes of tampons, or choke one another with garden hoses, this is the tape for you. The appeal of this stuff is it usually ends up outside of the ring. For example, the funniest match has Al Snow battling the Big Boss Man in a bar across the street from the arena (talk about bar room brawls!). As one wrestler says, "Hardcore is like watching a car crash: you don't want to look, but once you do, you can't look away." --Dave McCoy