Loved that time when Brock put that bully Hardcore Holly back in his place during a match in 2002. He was having none of Holly's BS.
You can clearly see something's wrong during the match.
( Brock also accidentally broke Holly's neck during a botched power bomb at 6:45.. )
Checked some backstory, and Holly used to really stiff younger talent like Renee Dupree and Matt Capotelli (during Tough Enough) and was known to bully people in the Locker Room, so what Brock did was justified.
The third season of Tough Enough sported co-winners John Morrison and Matt Cappotelli. Since its inception in 2001, Tough Enough has been a reasonably successful breeding ground for WWE.
Notable names that have gone through the Tough Enough system are John Morrison, Ryback, Maven, The Miz, Jackie Gayda, Nidia, and, more recently, Velveteen Dream, Sonya Deville, and Mandy Rose.
Bob Holly was one of the trainers for the Tough Enough rookies, along with Bill DeMott and Al Snow. It’s no secret that Bob has carried a ‘mean guy’ attitude throughout his career, but he may have taken it too far one day on set for Tough Enough III.
The rookies had a tag team match, and Bob Holly took part in it. The purpose was to help the young rookies out and teach them a thing or two. The only thing Bob Holly really taught Matt Cappotelli and the rookies that day was that the business is confusing and can hurt… a lot.
What Happened?Matt Cappotelli was on the opposite side of the ring as Bob Holly was introduced into the match with a tag. Bob walked up to Matt and delivered a really stiff kick to the ribs, following up with a series of punches to the back of Matt’s neck, as hard as he could.
It got nastier from there, and it began to resemble a real-life street fight more than a professional wrestling match. Bob took Matt into the corner, laying kicks into his face, leaving him bloodied and bruised.
On the day the episode aired, displaying the relentless beat down to the world, a black-eyed Cappotelli shared his thoughts throughout the show.
“Bob Holly basically beat me down from head-to-toe from the minute I stepped into the ring and was pretty relentless with everything,” Matt said.
One of the rookies watching from the apron had his say, “I see Bob’s boot just go straight into Matt’s jaw, and you can just see blood coming from his mouth, and the next boot goes right into Matt’s eye… and he was confused, and I was confused, too…”
Bob Holly stands by what he did. “I’m being rough for a reason, not because I want to be, not because I can – I’m trying to teach them that professional wrestling is not an easy game.”
Matt Cappotelli, to his credit, shook Bob’s hand after the match despite everything that had just happened to him.
X-Pac says he saw the footage and thought it was a bit much. Al Snow responds in agreement.
Al Snow continued, “Matt didn’t do anything, Matt just came in and then Bob just, whatever frame of mind he was in, just hauled off, just blasted him and knocked him, completely knocked him out, and then proceeded to just keep beating him up.”
The Death of Matt Cappotelli
