LPW Hardcore Championship


 * This article is about the LPW recognized title. For the non-canon championship, see LPW Hardcore Championship.

The Lords of Pain Wrestling (LPW) Hardcore Championship is a hardcore e-wrestling title in Lords of Pain Wrestling. Currently, it is the third highest ranked championship exclusive to the Insanity brand of Lords of Pain Wrestling. The title is contested under hardcore rules, which means:


 * No Disqualifications: All weapons and interference are legal.
 * Falls Count Anywhere: Pinfalls and submissions do not have to take place in the ring.
 * No Holds Barred: The only job for the referee is to end the match via pinfall or submission.

History
The LPW Hardcore Championship was originally called the PWA Hardcore Championship when it first appeared in the Psychotic Wrestling Alliance. Independent Pest was the first Hardcore Champion.

Bestest would win the Hardcore title and was drafted to Pyromania (now known as Inferno) when the first brand split occurred. Before the first Altered Reality, Bestest lost the title to Schizophrenia's Phantom Lord in an "Exploding Cage" Death match. After the match, Phantom Lord threw down the belt and declared that hardcore wrestling was dead. Phantom Lord vacated the title and declared himself as the first Television Champion.

At the inaugural Altered Reality, Pyro's Bestest and cYnical teamed up to challenge some of Schizo's finest to reclaim the TV title. Bestest and cYnical were successful in their quest and brought the title back to Pyromania. They renamed it the Hardcore Championship.

During the first Pyro show following Altered Reality, cYnical was able to defeat Bestest for the vacant title at Pyromania 2.1. At this time, cYnical's young stable named the Bad Mamma Jammas were quickly gaining recognition. Sheepster and Styxx of the BMJs won the PWA World Tag Team Championship at Pyromania 2.2, but cYnical was not impressed with the development of Styxx. cYnical offered a title shot to Styxx at Pyromania 3.1 to invigorate his career. In a shocking upset, Styxx was able to beat cYnical for the title and became the first dual champion in the promotion's history. Very few others have accomplished this feat.

At the Rumble in the Bronx, Morpheus defeated Styxx and three other competitors for the Hardcore title, beginning the most dominant reign in the title's history. "The Master of the Dream Realm" was so dominant, that he even defeated PWA International Heavyweight Champion Jaro at Pyromania 8.1 in a House of Pain Match (both titles were not on the line). Morpheus' victory was so impressive that the Hardcore Champion was ranked first overall in the inaugural Apex 25, even over the promotion's two World champions.

After his victory over Jaro, Morpheus was ambushed by The Paragon. Injured and bruised, Morpheus defended the title at Pyromania 8.2 against a rookie named Retribution. In a stunning upset, Retribution defeated the "Master of the Dream Realm" after driving him through a table from the top rope. Retribution would later be drafted to Schizo (now called Insanity), where he also became one-half of the LPW U.S. Tag Team Champions as a member of the Lost Prophets

On August 6, 2007, Zuma ended Retribution's 13-month title reign at Insanity LIVE from Columbia, South Carolina. Zuma's mix of hand-to-hand combat as well as his mastery of weapons made him a formidable opponent. While holding the Hardcore Championship, he also became a LPW U.S. Tag Team Champion as a member of The Entourage.

Throughout 2008, the Hardcore Championship suffered from an out of character standpoint, as three consecutive champions (Zuma, Vendetta, and Innilock) no showed their scheduled title defenses.

On July 23, 2008, Hatchet Ryda defeated Innilock at Dead Man's Hand. Despite losing to Inferno's LPW Television Champion, Mass Chaos, at Altered Reality IV in a Champion vs. Champion match, Hatchet quickly brought back prestige to the title by his willingness to defend against all comers, including the first and only title defense in Backstage Brawls. Hatchet would score a record five title defenses and held the title a record 390 days before losing it at Body Count to former Psych Ward friend, Andy Savana, in a Solitary Confinement fight. Later that night, Hatchet won the LPW World Heavyweight Championship in the DeathCube Match.

Andy Savana went on to hold the championship for 86 days, including a defense over Kafu before finally losing the championship to the up and coming Pope Fred. Pope Fred then engaged in a bloody feud with Phantom Lord over the championship. Including one defense over Phantom Lord. The feud turned into a real mess when Phantom Lord brought Zest into the mix. The feud never reached an ending as Pope Fred was injured by a masked man named Genocide. It was determined later on that Pope's Ocean 69 teammate Seth Omega and Phantom Lord would do battle for the now vacant championship.

Reigns

 * Main article: List of LPW Hardcore Champions


 * The LPW Hardcore Championship was introduced into LPW during the Golden Age, which then was called the Psychotic Wrestling Alliance (PWA).
 * The inaugural champion was Bestest.
 * Since introduced, there have been 15 champions.
 * No e-wrestler has held the title on multiple reigns.
 * The longest reigning champion was Hatchet Ryda who, after defeating Innilock at Dead Man's Hand, then held the title for, at this time, 12 consecutive shows (390 days).
 * The shortest reigning champion was Innilock who held the belt just 43 days.
 * The most title defenses belongs to Hatchet Ryda who had five successful title defenses against five different challengers (including Villiano 187, the only match at Backstage Brawls to be conducted for an offical LPW championship).
 * Seth Omega is the only one out of two LPW Hardcore Champions to have defeated the LPW Television Champion in Altered Reality history, winning at Altered Reality V.
 * The most represented nationality of champions, of which is known, is the United States of America with eight (Bestest, Zuma, Andy Savana, Pope Fred, Seth Omega, Son of Shockey, X and Big B. Brown). Australia (Styxx) and Canada (Retribution) follows with one.
 * Five different LPW Hardcore Champions have never claimed an official nationality. The five Parts Unknown champions include cYnical ("The Dark Side of Your Subconscious"), Morpheus (The Dream Realm) , Vendetta ("Parts Unknown") , Innilock ("Plain of Pain") , and Hatchet Ryda (Shangri-La).
 * The Hardcore Championship is the only title that has been defended exclusively on Pyromania, exclusively on LPW Insanity, and as a cross-brand title.

Current champion
The current champion is Cyborg Lincoln. He defeated Zenith for the title on March 25, 2012, at Insanity LIVE from Dublin.