WWE European Championship























WWE European Championship

WWF European Championship with all 5 plates.jpg
The WWF/WWE European Championship belt's final design with the WWF scratch logo[a]
(circa 2002)

Details
Promotion
WWE
Date established
February 26, 1997
Date retired
July 22, 2002
Other name(s)



  • WWF European Championship
    (1997–2002)

  • WWE European Championship
    (2002)












































The WWE European Championship was a professional wrestling championship competed for in World Wrestling Entertainment. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, multiple wrestlers held the European and WWE Intercontinental Championships within short spans of each other,[1][2] and three held both simultaneously, becoming "Eurocontinental champions".[3]


Established in 1997 as the "WWF European Championship", the title incurred a brief hiatus in 1999 due to then-champion Shane McMahon's desire to retire as an "undefeated champion". It was renamed in May 2002 when the WWF became the WWE before finally being unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship in July that year by Rob Van Dam, making him the final European Champion. Despite its name, only two holders were actually from Europe: the British Bulldog, who was the inaugural and longest-reigning champion, and William Regal. It became a prominent singles title of the Attitude Era, held by then-former world champions Shawn Michaels and Diamond Dallas Page, along with Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero, among others.[1] It was contested in the main event of the One Night Only pay-per-view in September 1997.




Contents






  • 1 History


    • 1.1 Inaugural tournament


    • 1.2 Eurocontinental Champions and unification




  • 2 Reigns


  • 3 Other media


  • 4 See also


  • 5 Notes


  • 6 References


  • 7 External links





History


In 1997 The British Bulldog was crowned the first WWF European Champion by winning a tournament that was held over several shows in Germany, culminating in a finals victory over Owen Hart. Upon winning the title, Shawn Michaels became the first Grand Slam Champion in WWE. Michaels is the only wrestler to have held both the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and the European title at the same time.


After winning the European title, both D'Lo Brown and Al Snow were billed from different parts of Europe each week while champion. During Snow's reign, he and "Head" dressed up as various ethnic stereotypes corresponding to the European location they were billed from, though not always in a politically or geographically correct manner. The title was retired briefly in April 1999 by then-champion Shane McMahon, who wanted to retire as an "undefeated champion". McMahon reintroduced the championship two months later and gave it to Mideon, who saw the title belt in Shane's travel bag and asked if he could have it.[1]



Inaugural tournament


























































































































































Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final
                 

The British Bulldog
Pin

Mankind


The British Bulldog
Pin

Vader


Vader
Pin

Rocky Maivia


The British Bulldog
Pin

Owen Hart


Owen Hart


Flash Funk


Owen Hart
CO

Bret Hart


Bret Hart
Sub

Hunter Hearst Helmsley



Eurocontinental Champions and unification





Kurt Angle as "Eurocontinental" Champion


The term "Eurocontinental Champion" is a portmanteau of European and Intercontinental, used to describe wrestlers who held both titles simultaneously.[3] Three wrestlers accomplished this feat. The first was D'Lo Brown, who defeated Mideon for the European title at Fully Loaded in 1999 and two nights later at a Monday Night Raw taping, defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the Intercontinental Championship. A month later at SummerSlam Jarrett defeated Brown to win both titles but awarded the European Championship to Mark Henry the following day.


On the February 10, 2000 edition of SmackDown Kurt Angle defeated Val Venis for the European Championship. Seventeen days later, at No Way Out, Angle defeated Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship and became the third Eurocontinental Champion. Angle held the titles until WrestleMania 2000, when he faced Jericho and Chris Benoit in a three-way dance for both titles. In a rarity, Angle lost both of his championships without being pinned or forced to submit; Benoit defeated Jericho in the first fall for the Intercontinental Championship and Jericho returned the favor in the second fall to take the European Championship.


In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to WWE and the title was renamed accordingly, though the physical belt was not updated to reflect the name change. The title was then unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match on the July 22, 2002 episode of Raw, when Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam defeated European Champion Jeff Hardy.[4]



Reigns



The British Bulldog was the inaugural champion and had the longest title reign with 206 days. William Regal and D'Lo Brown both had the most title reigns, each holding it four times.


The shortest reigns as European Champion were those of Jeff Jarrett and Chris Jericho, who each held the championship for roughly one day. Jeff Jarrett defeated D'Lo Brown for the European Championship (along with the Intercontinental Championship) at Summerslam 1999 and gave it to Mark Henry the following night on Raw. Chris Jericho defeated Kurt Angle in a triple threat match at Wrestlemania 2000 and lost the title to Eddie Guerrero on Raw the night after. Jeff Hardy was the youngest champion at 24, while Diamond Dallas Page was the oldest champion at 46. Rob Van Dam was the final champion.



Other media


The title appears in the video games WWF No Mercy, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWE Wrestlemania X8, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE '12, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15 , WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17 and WWE 2K18.



See also




  • NXT UK Tag Team Championship

  • NXT UK Women's Championship

  • WWE United Kingdom Championship



Notes





  1. ^ A WWE version of the belt never existed beyond replicas.




References





  1. ^ abc "WWE European Champion official history". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-09-12..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  2. ^ WWE.com: "History of the Intercontinental Championship"


  3. ^ ab "This Day In History: Foley'S (First) Retirement, Angle Becomes 'Eurocontinental' Champion, Hornswoggle Gets His Name And More". PWInsider.com. 2009-02-27. Retrieved 2012-08-13.


  4. ^ "Jeff Hardy's Europen Championship reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-09-21.




External links



  • WWE European Title History









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