WWE European Championship

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WWE European Championship
Details
Promotion World Wrestling Entertainment
Date created February 26, 1997
Date retired July 22, 2002
Other name(s)
  • WWF European Championship

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

Contents

The WWE European Championship was originally known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) European Championship and was placed below the coveted WWF Intercontinental Championship, and therefore seen as a "stepping stone" towards the IC title and beyond. 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. With Shawn Michaels winning the belt, it 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.

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.

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.

 

  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  

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