WWE European Championship

File:WWEeurobelt.jpg

The WWE European Championship belt

The WWE European Championship is an inactive title competed for in World Wrestling Entertainment. Despite its name, only two holders of the WWF/WWE version of European Championship were actually from Europe: the British Bulldog and William Regal.

History

The title was first seen in 1963, a few months after the company's birth when it was known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation. It was a fictitious title, awarded to newcomer Hans Mortier (of German origin) in order to elevate his status and get him over. The title was rarely defended, and finally abandoned in early 1964. This version of the European Championship is not recognized in the title history of the belt.

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Shawn Michaels as WWF Champion and European Champion

The next time the belt came into existence was in order to create more belts for wrestlers to compete for. The European Championship was placed below the coveted WWF Intercontinental Championship, and therefore seen as a "stepping stone" towards the IC title and beyond. Many people saw it as the WWF's version of the WCW World Television Championship, though unlike that belt, the European title was competed for during house shows, and not typically featured in matches with time limits. Four wrestlers have won both the European and WCW Television championships: William Regal (as "Lord Steven Regal" in WCW), Diamond Dallas Page, Perry Saturn, and Chris Jericho. Four people would hold the European and Intercontinental Championships at the same time: D'Lo Brown, Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, and Rob Van Dam.

The WWF European Championship, as it was then known, emerged in 1997 when The British Bulldog became the first Champion after winning a tournament that was held over several shows in Germany. Shawn Michaels's winning the belt made him the first Grand Slam Champion in the WWE. Michaels is the only wrestler to have held both the WWF/WWE title 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.

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Shane McMahon a former European Champion

The belt was retired briefly in April 1999 by then current 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.

The WWE European Championship, as it was next known, was retired in a ladder match on July 22, 2002 when Rob Van Dam put his WWE Intercontinental Championship on the line, along with Jeff Hardy's European Championship. By winning that match, Rob Van Dam merged the two titles together, and continued to hold the Intercontinental Title.

European Championship tournament

The tournament was held from February 20 through 26, 1997 in Germany. The first two rounds were held at various house shows in the country through February 25, with the finals coming at a Monday Night RAW taping on February 26. The episode of RAW with the final match aired on March 3 1997.

Match locations

February 20 – Aschaffenburg February 21 – Chemnitz February 22 – Dresden February 23 – Cologne

February 24 – Oberhausen February 25 – Hamburg February 26 – Berlin

Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

2/20

British Bulldog

Pin

Mankind

2/24

British Bulldog

Pin

Vader

2/21

Rocky Maivia

Vader

Pin

2/26

British Bulldog

Pin

Owen Hart

2/22

Flash Funk

Owen Hart

Pin

2/25

Owen Hart

CO

Bret Hart

2/23

Bret Hart

Sub

Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Statistics

Record:	Record holder:	Record number:	Notes:
Most reigns	D'Lo Brown & William Regal	Four	Brown originally took this record after winning the title for a 3rd time from Mideon on July 25, 1999. His 4th title win came on September 26 of that year, by defeating Mark Henry. Regal tied the record on May 6, 2002, after beating Spike Dudley.
Longest reign	The British Bulldog	206 days	The Bulldog became the inaugural European champ after beating Owen Hart in the tournament finals on February 26, 1997. He held the title until September 20, 1997, when he lost it to Shawn Michaels.
Shortest reign	Rob Van Dam	ca. 0 seconds	Van Dam beat Jeff Hardy on July 22, 2002, in a ladder match, to unify the European and Intercontinental championships. This technically means that Van Dam's reign as champion ended as soon as he won the title. If discounted, Jeff Jarrett and Chris Jericho would share the record, both of which were champions for only 1 day.
Oldest champion	Diamond Dallas Page	45 years	DDP won the title from Christian on January 29, 2002. He would lose the title to William Regal on March 19, 2002.
Youngest champion	Jeff Hardy	24 years	Won from William Regal on July 8, 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 53 days before Hardy's 25th birthday.
Heaviest champion	Mark Henry	400 lb	Henry was awarded the belt by Jeff Jarrett on August 23, 1999, for helping Jarrett beat D'Lo Brown for the Intercontinental and European titles. He lost the title to Brown on September 26 of that year.
Lightest champion	Spike Dudley	5 ft 7 in; 135 lb	Dudley won the title from William Regal on April 8, 2002. He lost it back to Regal on May 6 of that year.

Reference

• The History of WWE (for European title tournament results)

See also

• List of WWE European Champions
• List of WWE European Championship reigns by length

External links

• WWE European Title History