Hello again fellow men and women of good ol Europe or where ever it is you are from reading this today, celebrating the good ol European championship title belt from WWF. Here is another list suggested to me by James Davie.
Hope you enjoy this list and if you do bookmark my blog and share!
10) Al Snow
For those who don't know, after Al Snow won the European Championship in 2000, he started having a different entrance music/routine based around stereotypes of European countries, complete with ridiculous outfits for both himself and Head. He was only champ for a month until William Regal took it off of him. It was easily some of the goofiest, funniest stuff we ever got out of the Attitude Era and for that alone is why he is here at number 10 on my list i remember those times well so fun.
9) Kurt Angle
1x champion (54-day reign) The European Championship was used as a way to officially launch WWE's push of Kurt Angle in February 2000, when he defeated Val Venis on an episode of Smackdown to win his first piece of solo gold in the company. A few weeks later, Angle defeated Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental strap at the No Way Out pay-per-view, making the former Olympian one of WWE's few illustrious Eurocontinental Champions. The stint as champion marked Angle's only reign with the Euro belt, but the title more than served its purpose since Kurt was rocketed up WWE's card shortly thereafter.
8) Matt Hardy
1x champion (125-day reign) In April 2001, brothers and tag team partners Jeff and Matt Hardy both won individual championships, with Jeff winning the Intercontinental title and Matt, a few weeks later, grabbing the Euro strap. Matt's 125-day stint as European Champion would end up being the second longest individual reign in company history, and the longest reign for an American born wrestler. Matt also won the title in epic fashion, getting an assist from his then-real life girlfriend Lita and pinning Eddie Guerrero on an April 26, 2001 episode of Smackdown. By the time he dropped the European Championship to The Hurricane on the August 27, 2001 edition of Raw, Hardy had turned heel and began his entertaining run as Matt Hardy V1. Matt would later go on to have higher profile feuds but his initial success as a solo wrestler can be traced back to his Euro title days.
7) HBK
1x champion (82-day reign) The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels was already on his way to being among the greatest WWE superstars of all time when he defeated the inaugural European Champion, British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith) in Birmingham, England, in the main event at the One Night Only pay-per-view (only airing in Canada and Europe) on September 20, 1997. Michaels victory was a controversial one both at the event and in real life. The Birmingham crowd nearly revolted when Michaels won, littering the ring with garbage. Michaels rarely defended the championship, as the belt, still in its infancy at that point, was mostly used by him as a prop. When he was finally ordered to defend it by WWE Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter, he intentionally laid down for his buddy Triple H. Michaels European reign certainly wasn't glorious, but it was significant in many ways. Michaels reign as European Champion made him WWEs first-ever Grand Slam Champion (having previously won the WWE World Championship, World Tag Team Championship and Intercontinental Championship) and also demonstrated The Heartbreak Kid as the peak of his backstage political powers.
6) X-Pac
2x champion (134-day combined reign) Sean X-Pac Waltman kicked off his epic return to the WWE in 1998 by joining the D-Generation X stable alongside his long-time real life buddy, Triple H. As a part of DX, X-Pac was consistently in the upper mid-card portion of WWEs roster, but without a solo championship to call his own until he defeated D'Lo Brown for the European strap on the September 21, 1998 episode of Raw. Unfortunately, X-Pac had the indignity being the first WWE superstar to lose a title to a McMahon, when he was pinned by Shane McMahon in a tag team match that pitted X-Pac and Triple H against Shane and Kane, airing on the February 15, 1999 episode of Raw. Per the stipulations of the match, if Kane or Shane pinned X-Pac, they would win the championship. X-Pac lost the title thanks to some shenanigans involving his presumed allies.
5) Eddie Guerrero
2x champion (134-day combined reign) Eddie Guerreros initial 111-day reign as European Champion went a long way in establishing his character and making him a top performer in the WWE during the early/mid-2000s. After coming in with much fanfare as one of four WCW defects dubbed The Radicals, he won his first championship from Chris Jericho on an April 3, 2000 episode of Raw, with the help of Chyna. The budding romance between the two sparked the beginning of the Latino Heat gimmick for the character, which featured such standout moments as Guerrero defending the strap against Essa Rios wearing a bowtie and tuxedo pants at the 2000 Backlash pay-per-view event. And after the title had been devalued to some extent by a succession of short reigns, Guerrero established the European Championship as a valuable commodity in the WWE.
4) Triple H
2x champion (160-day combined reign) Going back to a time when secondary titles were not beneath a wrestler as great as Triple H, he won the European Championship on a December 1997 edition of Raw when his D-Generation X teammate Shawn Michaels was "forced" into defending the Euro strap against Helmsley by Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter. Michaels intentionally laid down for his buddy, officially making the moment Triple H's very first taste of solo gold in the WWE. Triple H's reign as European Championship was used to fan the flames of what was left of the DX/Hart Foundation feud. With Bret Hart defecting to WCW, Triple H faced off with Owen Hart on multiple occasions for the title. In one bizarre instance, Triple H lost the championship to Owen without being involved in the match when on an January 26, episode of Raw, Goldust dressed up as Hunter and was pinned by Owen. Commissioner Slaughter ruled that Goldust was a viable stand-in for Triple H and the victory stood for Owen. Triple H defeated Owen two months later on a March 17 episode of Raw, kicking off a 120-day reign with the belt.
3) D-Lo Brown
4x champion (140-day combined reign) What Ric Flair was to the big gold belt, D'Lo Brown was to the European Championship. After defeating Triple H for the title on the July 20, 1998 episode of Raw (further advancing the long-running rivalry between D'Lo's Nation of Domination stable and Hunters D-Generation X), Brown kicked off the first of four reigns as European Champion, tied for the most in WWE history. He never had a single reign that lasted longer than 64 days, but Brown brought a certain level of credibility to the title and made it an integral part of WWEs mid-card during the late 90s. During his stints as champion, Brown would be introduced as hailing from different parts of Europe, making him the first WWE superstar to adopt that gimmick (it was later used to weirder effect by Al Snow during his reign in 2000). After defeating Mideon at the Fully Loaded pay-per-view event in July 1999, Brown became WWEs first ever Eurocontinental champion, meaning he held both European and Intercontinental titles. Brown was the first to accomplish so many things with the European Championship, its difficult not to place him near the top of this list.
2) William Regal
4x champion (179-day combined reign) William Regal, one of the few European champions to actually hail from Europe (England), used the strap as a prop to establish himself as a very solid mid-carder in the early 2000s. Hes tied with D'Lo Brown for having the most reigns as champion (four), and his 179-day combined reign is the second longest in company history. He won his first Euro Championship (and first WWE singles title) on the October 16, 2000 episode of Raw by beating Al Snow clean as a sheet with the Regal Stretch. Regal was one of the higher profile superstars to hold the title during its dying days. He eventually used his face time as champ to get over enough to be a consistent contender for the Intercontinental title.
1) British Bulldog
2x champion (253-day combined reign) Davey Boy Smith, aka, the British Bulldog, was WWEs original European Champion, being awarded the strap after pinning Owen Hart during the companys inaugural tournament during a taping of Raw in Germany in February, 1997. The Bulldog went on to have the longest single reign as champion, holding the belt for 206 days before backstage politics struck. He did however defeat D'Lo Brown for his second European Championship on the October 26, 1999 episode of Smackdown. He lost the belt about a month later to Val Venis at the December 1999 Armageddon PPV. Smith suffered from a painkiller addiction and was admitted into rehab in 2000 before being released by the WWE shortly thereafter. He died from a heart attack in May 2002, tragically ending one of the greatest wrestling careers from the past 30 years. Smith achieved every major title in the WWE besides either "World" championships. In terms of the European Championship, he has the longest individual and combined-reigns in WWE history. He was a fighting champion who made the title mean something. He's perhaps the greatest European Champion of all-time.
What do you think of my list? Yay? Nay? Let me know!
Stay shiny and come back again for more!
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