The History Of The WWE European Championship

When Shawn Michaels also became WWF Champion at Survivor Series ’97, the European Title became an immediate afterthought. With Davey Boy walking out of the promotion in support of Bret following the infamous Montreal Screwjob, the WWF needed a new direction for its third singles belt. What they opted to do over the next several months caused almost irreparable damage to the title.

First, Triple H beat his D Generation X running buddy on Raw in a 77-second abomination. On-screen commissioner Sgt. Slaughter was fed up of DX’s antics and elected to punish the duo by placing them in a one-on-one match for the title. After first acting like they might fight, Michaels and Hunter reverted to type and began larking around. Michaels then intentionally laid down for his partner, handing him the title.

The belt endured another credibility-shattering episode in January when Hunter seemingly weaseled his way out of a title match against Owen Hart on Raw by employing resident cosplay act TAFKA Goldust to wrestle as Hunter-dust in his stead. When Owen beat Goldie with a sharpshooter, Slaughter decided that Owen was the new champion. It was utter nonsense. In under a year, the European Title had gone from the focal point of an all-time classic match to just another worthless prop to be passed around.

Year two of the title’s existence started badly when Triple H became a two-time champion following a 52-second match with Owen on the March 16, 1998 Raw. Owen was scheduled to defend the belt against Hunter at WrestleMania but was goaded into putting the belt up for grabs sooner, despite suffering from an injured ankle. Hunter locked a submission on the injured foot right away and referee Tim White called it off for the sake of Owen’s future career. As an angle it was fine. That it happened in such close proximity to the other two farcical title switches left a bad taste.

Hunter held onto the gold for another four months until coming a cropper against Nation of Domination underling D-Lo Brown on the July 20, 1998 episode of Raw. Distractions from Mark Henry and a Rock Bottom from Nation leader The Rock allowed Brown to pick up the surprise win. Rather than devalue the title, Brown’s win actually elevated it. He carried the gold with such pride and worked so hard in the ring that the title’s stock improved.

D-Lo traded the strap with DX member X-Pac in September and October, a rivalry that ended with Pac as a two-time champion following a spirited encounter at Judgment Day ’98. It was expected that Pac would defend the title at December’s Capital Carnage pay-per-view from London but instead, he challenged The Rock for his newly won WWF Championship. It was a slap in the face for the European Title that rather undermined its reason for existing in the first place. The fact was, domestic business had picked up so much that the WWF did not need to fall back on its overseas audience anymore.

4 years ago by Tempest

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