List of WWE European Champions

Kurt Angle, seen here with both the WWF European Championship and WWF Intercontinental Championship, in 2000. Angle was the third man to have achieved this accomplishment (along with D'Lo Brown, Jeff Jarrett and Rob Van Dam

The WWE European Championship is a former professional wrestling title competed for in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The title was created on February 26, 1997.[1] The first champion was The British Bulldog who defeated Owen Hart in a tournament final.[2] The title was first abandoned in 1999 when Shane McMahon kept the belt in a duffel bag.[3] The title was later found by Mideon, which made the belt once again in use.[4] The title was finally retired on July 22, 2002 when WWE Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam defeated European Champion Jeff Hardy to unify the European title into the Intercontinental title.[5] There have been a total of 27 recognized champions who have had a combined 37 official reigns. This is a chronological list of wrestlers that have been WWE European Champion by ring name.

WWE.com does not list Rob Van Dam's win over Jeff Hardy for European Championship in their title history, however it is acknowledged in RVD's profile and is listed as a title reign in WWE's official encyclopedia.[6][7]

Title history

Names

Name Years
WWF European Championship February 1997 – May 2002
WWE European Championship May 2002 – July 2002

Reigns

No. Champion Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref.
1 The British Bulldog 1 February 26, 1997[1] 206 Berlin, Germany Raw Aired March 3. Defeated Owen Hart in a tournament final to become the first champion. [2]
2 Shawn Michaels 1 September 20, 1997 82 Birmingham, England One Night Only Becomes first Grand Slam Champion with this win. [8]
3 Triple H 1 December 11, 1997 40 Lowell, MA Raw Aired December 22. Michaels was ordered to defend the title against Helmsley by WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter. Michaels intentionally lost the match. [9]
4 Owen Hart 1 January 20, 1998 55 Davis, CA Raw is War Aired January 26. Defeated The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust, who was dressed as Triple H. Commissioner Slaughter awards the title to Hart considering Goldust as a substitution for Triple H. [10]
5 Triple H 2 March 16, 1998 120 Phoenix, AZ Raw is War [11]
6 D'Lo Brown 1 July 14, 1998 63 Binghamton, NY Raw is War Aired July 20. [12]
7 X-Pac 1 September 15, 1998 14 Sacramento, CA Raw is War Aired September 21. [13]
8 D'Lo Brown 2 September 29, 1998 19 East Lansing, MI Raw is War Aired October 5. [14]
9 X-Pac 2 October 18, 1998 120 Rosemont, IL Judgment Day: In Your House [15]
10 Shane McMahon 1 February 15, 1999 43 Birmingham, AL Raw is War Defeated X-Pac in a tag team match with Shane McMahon and Kane vs. Triple H and X-Pac. [3]
— Deactivated — March 30, 1999 — Uniondale, NY Sunday Night Heat McMahon "retired as champion." Aired April 4. [3]
11 Mideon 1 June 21, 1999 34 Memphis, TN Raw is War Shane McMahon awarded Mideon the title after he found the title in McMahon's duffel bag. [4]
12 D'Lo Brown 3 July 25, 1999 28 Buffalo, NY Fully Loaded Became the first wrestler to hold the European Championship and the WWF Intercontinental Championship at the same time. [16]
13 Jeff Jarrett 1 August 22, 1999 1 Minneapolis, MN SummerSlam Also for Brown's Intercontinental Championship. [17]
14 Mark Henry 1 August 23, 1999 34 Ames, IA Raw is War Jarrett gave the title to Henry as a gift for his assisting Jarrett in defeating Brown at SummerSlam. [18]
15 D'Lo Brown 4 September 26, 1999 30 Charlotte, NC Unforgiven [19]
16 The British Bulldog 2 October 26, 1999 47 Springfield, MA SmackDown Aired October 28. [20]
17 Val Venis 1 December 12, 1999 58 Sunrise, FL Armageddon This was a Triple Threat match also involving D'Lo Brown. [21]
18 Kurt Angle 1 February 8, 2000 54 Austin, TX SmackDown Aired February 10. [22]
19 Chris Jericho 1 April 2, 2000 1 Anaheim, CA WrestleMania 2000 Won second fall of two fall Triple Threat Match against Angle and Chris Benoit (first fall was for Intercontinental Championship); pinned Benoit to claim championship. [23]
20 Eddie Guerrero 1 April 3, 2000 111 Los Angeles, CA Raw is War [24]
21 Perry Saturn 1 July 23, 2000 37 Dallas, TX Fully Loaded [25]
22 Al Snow 1 August 29, 2000 48 Fayetteville, NC SmackDown! Aired August 31. [26]
23 William Regal 1 October 16, 2000 47 Detroit, MI Raw is War [27]
24 Crash Holly 1 December 2, 2000 2 Sheffield, England Rebellion [28]
25 William Regal 2 December 4, 2000 49 East Rutherford, NJ Raw is War [29]
26 Test 1 January 22, 2001 69 Lafayette, LA Raw is War [30]
27 Eddie Guerrero 2 April 1, 2001 23 Houston, TX WrestleMania X-Seven [31]
28 Matt Hardy 1 April 24, 2001 125 Denver, CO SmackDown Aired April 26. [32]
29 The Hurricane 1 August 27, 2001 56 Grand Rapids, MI Raw [33]
30 Bradshaw 1 October 22, 2001 8 Kansas City, MO Raw [34]
31 Christian 1 October 30, 2001 91 Cincinnati, OH SmackDown Aired November 1. [35]
32 Diamond Dallas Page 1 January 29, 2002 49 Norfolk, VA SmackDown Aired January 31. [36]
33 William Regal 3 March 19, 2002 20 Ottawa, ON SmackDown Aired March 21. Title became exclusive to Raw when Regal was drafted to Raw brand on March 26, 2002. [37]
34 Spike Dudley 1 April 8, 2002 28 Phoenix, AZ Raw Renamed the WWE European Championship on May 5, 2002 [38][39]
35 William Regal 4 May 6, 2002 63 Hartford, CT Raw [40]
36 Jeff Hardy 1 July 8, 2002 14 Philadelphia, PA Raw [5]
37 Unified — July 22, 2002 — Grand Rapids, MI Raw Rob Van Dam unified the European Championship with the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

Combined reigns

Rank Champion No. of reigns Combined days
1 The British Bulldog 2 253
2 William Regal 4 179
3 Triple H 2 160
4 D'Lo Brown 4 140
5 Eddie Guerrero 2 134
X-Pac 2 134
7 Matt Hardy 1 125
8 Christian 1 91
9 Shawn Michaels 1 82
10 Test 1 69
11 Val Venis 1 58
12 The Hurricane 1 56
13 Owen Hart 1 55
14 Kurt Angle 1 54
15 Diamond Dallas Page 1 49
16 Al Snow 1 48
17 Shane McMahon 1 43
18 Perry Saturn 1 37
19 Mideon 1 34
Mark Henry 1 34
21 Spike Dudley 1 28
22 Jeff Hardy 1 14
23 Bradshaw 1 8
24 Crash Holly 1 2
25 Jeff Jarrett 1 1
Chris Jericho 1 1
27 Rob Van Dam 1 <1

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "History of the European Championship". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  2. 1 2 "The British Bulldog's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  3. 1 2 3 "Shane McMahon's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  4. 1 2 "Mideon's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  5. 1 2 "Jeff Hardy's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  6. ↑ "Rob Van Dam's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2009-04-30. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  7. ↑ Brian Shields, Kevin Sullivan, WWE Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to World Wrestling Entertainment, (Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Incorporated, 2009), ISBN 0-7566-4190-X
  8. ↑ "Shawn Michaels' first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  9. ↑ "Triple H's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  10. ↑ "Owen Hart's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  11. ↑ "Triple H's second reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  12. ↑ "D'Lo Brown's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  13. ↑ "X-Pac's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  14. ↑ "D'Lo Brown's second reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  15. ↑ "X-Pac's second reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  16. ↑ "D'Lo Brown's third reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  17. ↑ "Jeff Jarrett's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  18. ↑ "Mark Henry's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  19. ↑ "D'Lo Brown's fourth reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  20. ↑ "The British Bulldog's second reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  21. ↑ "Val Venis' first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  22. ↑ "Kurt Angle's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  23. ↑ "Chris Jericho's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  24. ↑ "Eddie Guerrero's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  25. ↑ "Perry Saturn's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  26. ↑ "Al Snow's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  27. ↑ "William Regal's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  28. ↑ "Crash Holly's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  29. ↑ "William Regal's second reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  30. ↑ "Test's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  31. ↑ "Eddie Guerrero's second reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  32. ↑ "Matt Hardy's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  33. ↑ "The Hurricane's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  34. ↑ "Bradshaw's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  35. ↑ "Christian's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  36. ↑ "Diamond Dallas Page's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  37. ↑ "William Regal's third reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  38. ↑ "European Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  39. ↑ "Spike Dudley's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  40. ↑ "William Regal's fourth reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-08-02.

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