10 Best WWE European Champions

Back in the quote-unquote good old days of the Attitude Era, WWE didn’t have quite as impressive a European presence.

Whereas nowadays we have NXT UK – complete with UK-based Takeover events - and a bevy of European tours and talent such as Aleister Black, Becky Lynch, Cesaro and Finn Balor, back in the late 90s and early 2000s, WWE rarely visited these shores for any prolonged period of time.

The company were doing so well in the United States, that there was no real need to depart for the often exhausting excursions.

WWE did, however, create a special European Championship which was ostensibly for the benefit their overseas fans, who were just as hooked on the product as their American counterparts.

The championship was established on February 26 1997 - this day 24 years ago - and the inaugural champion was decided in a classic match between the British Bulldog and Owen Hart in the main event of a Raw hosted in Berlin, Germany (although the match didn't actually air until March 3...)

Over the next five or so years the title would see more ups and downs than WWE’s stock price. The European Championship was at various times held by legends and Hall of Famers, being defended at WrestleManias and placed in the centre of important storylines.

Overall, the European Championship left a complicated legacy during its brief existence in the wrestling world. With that said, determining the merits of each individual champion can be a tricky business.

Here are the ten best WWE European Champions...

10. Triple H

WWE

The Cerebral Assassin is no stranger to championship gold, having racked up an impressive 14 World title reigns, five Intercontinental Championships and three Tag Team titles. Throw in a Royal Rumble, King of the Ring and a couple of Slammy’s and you have an illustrious career befitting one of the greatest to lace a pair of boots.

Before solidifying himself as World Title material, though, Triple H had to climb the ranks like everyone else, putting a shift in and showing he could wear a belt, elevating himself, the title and his opponents when entrusted with the responsibility.

The Game got his chance in the fall of ’97, when he captured the European Title in an absolute non-match with DX stablemate Shawn Michaels.

Trips initially lost the title without really losing it himself, with Owen Hart beating The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, who was dressed as Triple H, massive fake nose and all.

It wouldn’t be too long until The King of Kings regained the title from Owen, going on to hold it for a not inconsiderable 120 days before dropping it and moving swiftly on to bigger and better things.

For his programme with Owen and the odd decent defence here and there, Triple H cracks the top ten.

9. Al Snow

WWE

Going from Triple H to Al Snow is what some would call a ‘hard left turn’, but the fact that Al ranks higher than Hunter is not as alien as you may think.

While Snow, another Attitude Era mainstay who got over thanks to a novel gimmick and his versatility, didn’t hold the European Championship for long, he did what many from the time did a lot better than some today: he made whatever television time he did have count.

After winning the title, Snow proceeded to come out each week as a new amalgamation of a European stereotype.

There was the David Hasselhoff-loving, lederhosen-wearing, sausage-eating German. There was a beret-wearing, poodle-walking, baguette-eating Frenchman. There was the, erm, leather jack and glasses wearing Greek…

Anyway, while the continental cosplay didn’t exactly lead to much upward mobility, it is a fondly remembered gimmick and contributed to one of the more standout European Title reigns of the time.

8. Owen Hart

WWE

The King of Harts made a damn fine European Champion, as he combined his personality and charisma with a natural wrestling ability and inherent credibility.

It almost never happened as, like extended family member Davey Boy Smith, Owen was close to calling it quits in the wake of the Montreal Screwjob. With brother Bret moving onto the land where the big boys played, Owen was thinking about joining him, provided that he could get out of his contract.

Unfortunately for Owen, he couldn’t, with Vince and company deciding he was too valuable an asset to let go to the competition. Now that he was staying, though, WWE knew they had to do something with The Rocket and began hatching plans to make him a champion.

When he pinned Goldust and became European Champion, Owen immediately enhanced the perception of the title. With Owen as champ, good matches were guaranteed and the person that took it from him would be elevated in the eyes of the fans, too.

While many of Owen’s title defences took place on smaller shows like Shotgun Saturday Night against such luminaries as Jesus Castillo – yeah, me neither – it was really his feud with the future Mr. Stephanie McMahon that made him such a great champion in the all-too-brief time he held it.

7. Kurt Angle

WWE

The meteoric rise of Kurt Angle was something to behold at the dawn of the new millennium.

The Olympic Gold Medallist took to professional wrestling like a duck to water, displaying incredible athleticism, charisma and natural instincts and timing.

Given his pedigree and how quick fans took to hating the man who preached the three I’s, it was no wonder that WWE went about further decorating the man that would become one of the best to lace  a pair of boots.

In the midst of an impressive undefeated streak, Angle felled Val Venis  for the European Title on the February 10th, 2000 episode of Smackdown.

It was not until seventeen days later, at the No Way Out pay-per-view, that Angle’s European Title reign would blossom, with the Hall of Famer beating Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental strap and becoming the ‘Eurocontinental Champion’.

Angle was a hoot as the clean cut but cocky double champion and defended both titles in the same match on house shows. When he tried the same at WrestleMania 2000, he found himself title-less after Jericho and Chris Benoit pinned each other in successive matches where Angle wasn’t involved in the decision.

All of which gave Angle more to complain about, as he continued to get under the skin of the WWE fans on his way to an unparalleled career on top.

6. X-Pac

WWE

Fresh off a FedEx firing from Eric Bischoff and WCW, Sean Waltman resurfaced in WWE the night after WrestleMania XIV, quickly aligning himself with Triple H and the New Age Outlaws to form the latest incarnation of those cheeky poop joke provocateurs, DX.

After engaging in an entertaining feud with Jeff Jarrett, the newly named X-Pac would set his sights on D’Lo Brown and his European gold, capturing the title on the September 15th, 1998 Raw.

His first reign would be short-lived, however, as Brown regained the belt two weeks later in a return match on Raw.

Proving that during this era the shorter the title reign, the better, the former 1-2-3 Kid won the belt once again at In Your House: Judgement Day in a grand match.

One of the good things about X-Pac’s reign as European Champion is that you were almost always guaranteed a good and entertaining match, whether he was in there with an ultimate fighter (Ken Shamrock), prison guard (Big Boss Man) or actual Vampire (Gangrel).

A good champion who could have done even more with the belt, had he been given the time and not had to drop it to Vince’s third favourite child.

5. Eddie Guerrero

WWE

Eddie Guerrero had an auspicious start in WWE.

After jumping from the sinking ship that was WCW, Guerrero – along with Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn – caused a stir by attacking WWE wrestlers and being treated as a genuine threat from the off.

Then the next time they appeared on television, the quartet lost all of their matches and, worse, poor Eddie dislocated his elbow while performing a routine Frog Splash. It was a disheartening situation, the pain and worry etched over his face.

But you can’t keep a good Guerrero down, and Eddie rallied, coming into his own as a personality while temporarily on the side-lines. When he returned to the ring, he quickly captured the European Championship from Chris Jericho and started an onscreen relationship with Chyna.

Eddie was a fighting champion, defending in good matches against eclectic opponents such as his fellow Radicalz members, Rikishi and Essa Rios.

Latino Heat’s 100+ day run as European Champion is a fondly-remembered part of his early WWE days.

4. Matt Hardy

WWE

The Sensei of Mattitude has proven time and time again that he can make anything, whether it’s a match, angle or title, mean something if he is given the time and freedom to get it over. See every mad thing he has done in the Broken Universe as proof.

In his early days as a WWE superstar, Matt had to work hard to distinguish himself, from his brother Jeff if not the rest of his co-workers. As with Edge and Christian, management clearly always saw the ultra-unique Jeff as the potential singles star, whereas question marks remained over the comparatively conservative Matt.

Proving himself as a worth singles champion, Matt had a great run with the European Title in the spring and summer of ’01, taking it from Eddie Guerrero, who was enjoying a second, briefer reign with the gold.

A true fighting champion, marvellous Matt’s title defences were an ever-present and, although he never had a classic match while holding it, he had countless good ones and the fact that he actually defended and cared about the title meant that the fans ended up doing so too.

When The Hurricane finally took it from him after 122 days, it was seen as a bigger deal than it might have been were it not for the efforts of the elder Hardy.

3. D-Lo Brown

WWE

Onto number three and you’re looking at the real deal now. You’re looking at a man who is gonna kick your sorry ass down the street. I’m sure you used to think you owned the streets, but you should probably pack your bags because your arse is dead meat.

That’s right, it’s D’Lo Brown! Unlike many of the entries on this list, D’Lo is probably the one who is most likely to be remembered because of his European Championship glory, not in spite of it.

Over a joint record four reigns, D’Lo – who really is underrated by just about everyone not named Jim Ross – defended the title in a number of great matches, many of which were show-stealers in a time not exactly remembered for an abundance of great in-ring action.

Highlights included the previously mentioned series of matches with X-Pac and a great SummerSlam ’98 opener with Val Venis.

Aside from the matches, what made D’Lo stand out was the head wobble, chest protector gimmick and the fact that he was the first 'Eurocontinental' Champion. That’s right, while that wily Olympian Kurt Angle may have made a bigger deal about it, he was pipped to the accomplishment by Brown.

If you want to see the European Championship when it meant something, watch D’Lo Brown when he held the belt!

2. William Regal

WWE

As British wrestling fans of a certain era, obviously we love William Regal. Whether he was a Real Man’s Man, getting his tea peed in or kissing a billionaire’s bare backside, he was always good value and made you want to watch whatever he was involved in.

That Regal returned to the company to have the run that he did have is something of a minor miracle, since substance abuse issues had hampered his initial run in ’98 and subsequently led to WCW issuing a pink slip. If WCW decided your personal demons were too bad to do business with you, you knew you had a bit of a problem.

But Regal also knew that he needed to get help and to help himself and quickly went back to work, cleaning up and proving his worth in WWE’s developmental leagues. After a bit of time to get rid of the ring rust, Regal reappeared on television as the snobbish Goodwill Ambassador.

Now that WWE had a true European star eager to prove themselves in their ranks, it only made sense that he would go after the title most closely aligned with his homeland.

After defeating Al Snow for the title, Regal quickly went about defending against all comes and briefly found himself in the main event mix, competing with Steve Austin, The Rock and Kurt Angle. That he was in there with the best in the biz was a good omen for both Regal and the championship he held, whether he won the matches or not

Regal would lose the belt to Crash Holly and Test before being elevated to Intercontinental level, but he returned to the European Title scene once again in 2002, having half decent matches in the days of RUTHLESS AGGRESSION.

A fine champion and a fine man!

1. The British Bulldog

WWE

So here we are, the best European Champion of all time, saving the best for last. Well, actually, we’re saving the first for last because the first is the best and that is the inaugural titleholder, ‘The British Bulldog’ Davey Boy Smith.

A true superhero to children in the UK, Smith was already well established by the time he defeated Owen Hart in that tournament final in Germany. Davey Boy became a legend when he beat Bret Hart for IC gold on these shores in the stupendously good main event of SummerSlam ’92.

In the time between those two triumphs, Bulldog had left the company for a stint in Atlanta, returned, bounced up and down the card, formed a successful tag team with Owen and headlined several European tours.

It seems obvious that the European Title was dreamed up with Davey Boy in mind and for good reason: he was over, he was marketable and he could work. Plus, the belt just looked really, really cool around his waist!