Hardcore Holly a fully licensed NASCAR driver came to the WWE in the mid-1990s under the title Spark Plug. During his time as Spark Plug Holly captured Tag Team gold alongside the 1-2-3 kid (now known as X-Pac). Holly had been through it all. He even held the NWA Tag Team Belts with Bart Gunn as the New Midnight Express. Holly came back to the WWE in the late 90s & after a brief stretch in the J.O.B. Squad, Holly developed a harder edge. With that, he focused his attention on the Hardcore Championship. He beat Al Snow at 1999 St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view to secure the vacant Hardcore Championship, lost it, regained it at WrestleMania XV, and again at WrestleMania 2000. Holly's toughness was used to his advantage again when he was selected to be a trainer on Tough Enough 2.

In the summer of 2002, Holly had surgery to correct spinal cord problems. It's a serious operation that requires one year of recovery time. Amazingly, in perhaps the best example yet of Holly's toughness, he refused all pain medication.