The WWE European Championship was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

competed for in

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, multiple wrestlers held the European and

WWF Intercontinental Championship The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, currently defended on the SmackDown brand division. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE's main roste ...

s within short spans of each other, and four held both simultaneously, becoming "Eurocontinental champions". Established in 1997 as the "WWF European Championship", the title incurred a brief hiatus in 1999 due to then-champion

Shane McMahon Shane Brandon McMahon (; born January 15, 1970) is an American businessman and professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he was a wrestler, producer and minority owner. He is the founder and executive chairman of Idean ...

's desire to retire as an "undefeated champion". It was renamed in May 2002 when the WWF became the WWE before finally being unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship in July that year. Despite its name, only two holders were actually from Europe: the British Bulldog, who was the inaugural and longest-reigning champion, and

William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is known for his over 20 years spent in WWE, as both a performer and an on-screen authority, and for his ti ...

. It became a prominent singles title of the

Attitude Era The Attitude Era was a term used by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE) to describe the company's programming from November 9, 1997 to May 6, 2002. It started during the Monday Night Wars, a pe ...

, held by then-former

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Shawn Michaels Michael Shawn Hickenbottom (born July 22, 1965), better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative. Widely regarded as one of ...

and

Diamond Dallas Page Dallas Page (born Page Joseph Falkinburg Jr., April 5, 1956), better known by his ring name Diamond Dallas Page (often stylized as DDP), is an American actor and retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. In the course of his wrest ...

, along with

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as on ...

Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler, Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 100 kg, Olympic gold medalist in American freestyle wrestling, and former Collegiate wrestling, ...

Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the Jeri ...

, and

Eddie Guerrero Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes (October 9, 1967 – November 13, 2005) was an American professional wrestler. He was a prominent member of the Guerrero wrestling family, being the son of first-generation wrestler Gory Guerrero. Eddie Guerrero is ...

, among others.

History

In 1997,

the British Bulldog David Smith (27 November 1962 – 18 May 2002) was an English professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Born in Golborne, Lancashire, Smith is best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Entertainment, Worl ...

was crowned the first WWF European Champion by winning a tournament that was held over several shows in Germany, culminating in a finals victory over

Owen Hart Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) was a Canadian-American professional wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrest ...

. Upon winning the title,

became the first Grand Slam Champion in WWE. Michaels is the only wrestler to have held both the

WWF World Heavyweight Championship The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, representing the Raw brand division. It is one of two world titles on WWE's main roster, alongside SmackDown's ...

and the European title at the same time. After winning the European title, both

D'Lo Brown Accie Julius Connor (born October 22, 1970), better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown (also formatted as D-Lo Brown), is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling and WWE. Brown is also known for h ...

and

Al Snow Allen Ray Sarven (born July 18, 1963) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Al Snow. He is best known as a wrestler for Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Wrestling Entertainment. Sn ...

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 title was retired briefly in April 1999 by then-champion

, who wanted to retire as an "undefeated champion". McMahon reintroduced the championship two months later and gave it to

Mideon Dennis Knight (born December 26, 1968) is an American chef and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling between 1992 and 1994 under the ring name Tex Slazenger and with the World Wrestl ...

, who saw the title belt in Shane's travel bag and asked if he could have it.

Inaugural tournament

Eurocontinental Champions and unification

The term "Eurocontinenental Champion" is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words Three wrestlers accomplished this feat. The first was

, who defeated

for the European title at Fully Loaded in 1999 and two nights later at a ''

Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

'' taping, defeated

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he also serves as Director of Business Development. Beginning his career in his father J ...

to win the Intercontinental Championship. A month later at

SummerSlam SummerSlam is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's secon ...

Jarrett defeated Brown to win both titles but awarded the European Championship to

Mark Henry Mark Jerrold Henry (born June 12, 1971) is an American former powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a commentator/analyst, coach, and talent scout. He is b ...

the following day. On the February 10, 2000 edition of ''SmackDown!''

defeated

Val Venis Sean Allen Morley (born March 6, 1971), better known by the ring name Val Venis, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE) from ...

for the European Championship. Seventeen days later, at No Way Out, Angle defeated

for the Intercontinental Championship and became the third Eurocontinental Champion. Angle held the titles until

WrestleMania 2000 WrestleMania 2000 (sequentially known as WrestleMania 16) was the 16th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) List of WWE pay-per-view events, event produced by the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took p ...

, when he faced Jericho and

Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit (; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career including most notably the WWE, World Wrestlin ...

in a three-way dance for both titles. In a rarity, Angle lost both of his championships without being pinned or forced to submit; Benoit defeated Jericho in the first fall for the Intercontinental Championship and Jericho defeated Benoit in the second fall to take the European Championship. In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to WWE and the title was renamed accordingly, though the physical belt was not updated to reflect the name change. The title was then unified with the

WWE Intercontinental Championship The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, currently defended on the SmackDown brand division. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE's main roster ...

in a

ladder match A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one in which an item (usually a title belt) is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. The ladder itself becom ...

on the July 22, 2002 episode of ''Raw'', when Intercontinental Champion

Rob Van Dam Robert Alexander Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970) is an American professional wrestler and actor better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD). He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling ...

defeated European Champion

Jeff Hardy Jeffrey Nero Hardy (born August 31, 1977) is an American professional wrestler and musician. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Hardy is widely considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time and is regarded ...

Reigns

The British Bulldog was the inaugural champion, and had the longest title reign at 206 days. William Regal and

both had the most title reigns, each holding it four times.

was the youngest champion at 24, while

was the oldest champion at 46.

was the final champion. The title was retired on the July 22, 2002 episode of Monday Night Raw when WWE Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam defeated European Champion Jeff Hardy in a ladder match to unify the European title into the Intercontinental title.>

Other media

The title appears in the video games '' WWF No Mercy'', '' WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role'', ''

WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It ''WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It'', known in Japan as , is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's, and published by THQ for PlayStation 2, and was released in November 2001. It is the third game in the ''WWF SmackDown!'' series, b ...

'', '' WWE WrestleMania X8'', ''

WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth ''WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth'' (known as ''Exciting Pro Wrestling 4'' in Japan) is a professional wrestling video game released on the PlayStation 2 console by THQ and developed by Yuke's. It is the fourth game in the ''WWE SmackDown!'' vide ...

'', ''

WWE '12 ''WWE '12'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by THQ for PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. It was released on November 22, 2011, in North America, November 25 in Europe, and on January 26, 2012, in Japan. ...

'', ''

WWE '13 ''WWE '13'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by THQ for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. It was released on October 30, 2012, in North America and November 2, 2012, in United Kingdom. It is the fourteent ...

'', ''

WWE 2K14 ''WWE 2K14'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by 2K Sports for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released on October 29, 2013, in North America, October 30, 2013, in Japan, October 31, 2013, in Austr ...

'', '' WWE 2K15'', ''

WWE 2K16 ''WWE 2K16'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by 2K Sports for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It is the sequel to ''WWE 2K15'', and was succeeded by ''WWE 2K17''. ...

'', ''

WWE 2K17 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

'', ''

WWE 2K18 ''WWE 2K18'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by 2K Sports. It is the nineteenth installment in the WWE game series (fifth under the ''WWE 2K'' banner) and a follow-up to '' WWE 2K17''. It was released wor ...

,'' ''

WWE 2K19 ''WWE 2K19'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by 2K Sports. It was released worldwide on October 9, 2018, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the twentieth overall game in the ''WW ...

'', ''

WWE 2K20 ''WWE 2K20'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It was released worldwide on October 22, 2019, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the twenty-first installment of ...

and

WWE 2K22 ''WWE 2K22'' is a 2022 professional wrestling sports video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It is the twenty-second overall installment of the video game series based on WWE, the ninth game under the ''WWE 2K'' banne ...

.''

Notes

References

External links

WWE European Championship history at WWE.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wwe European Championship WWE championships Continental professional wrestling championships

History

Inaugural tournament

Eurocontinental Champions and unification

Reigns

Other media

See also

Notes

References

External links