The is a former Title competed for in World Wrestling Entertainment .
The title was first seen in 1963, a few months after the company's birth when it was known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation. It was a fictitious title, awarded to newcomer Hans Mortier (of German origin) in order to elevate his status and get him Over . The title was rarely defended, and finally abandoned in early 1964. This version of the European Championship is not recognized in the title history of the belt.
The next time the belt came into existence was in order to create more belts for wrestlers to compete for. The European Championship was placed below the coveted WWE Intercontinental Championship , and therefore seen as a "stepping stone" towards the IC title and beyond. Many people saw it as WWE's version of the WCW World Television Title , though unlike that belt, the European title was competed for during house shows, and not typically featured in matches with time limits.
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 ended in Germany .
The belt was retired briefly in April 1999 by then current champion, Shane McMahon . Shane McMahon reintroduced the belt only two months later and gave it to Mideon .
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, and continued to hold the Intercontinental Title.
- The youngest person to win the title was D'Lo Brown , who won his first title on July 14 , 1998 , from Triple H , at the age of 25.
- The oldest person to win the title was Diamond Dallas Page , who lost his only title to William Regal on March 21 , 2002 , at the age of 45.
- Shawn Michaels 's winning the belt made him the first Grand Slam Champion in the WWE.
- The British Bulldog had the longest reign with the European championship. He was champion from February 26 , 1997 , after winning the tournament finals for the belt, unil September 20 , 1997 , when he lost the title to Shawn Michaels , for a total reign of 206 days as champion. This was his first reign as European Champion.
- Rob Van Dam is the shortest reigning champion ever. After winning the title from Jeff Hardy on July 22 , 2002 , the belt was automatically unified with the Intercontinental title and abandoned. However, whether this can be officially considered as a title reign is disputed. If discounted, the shortest reigns would be by Jeff Jarrett and Chris Jericho , both of whom were champions for one day.
- ---Jarrett defeated D'Lo Brown on August 22 , 1999 and gave the belt to Mark Henry The Next Day .
- ---Jericho pinned Chris Benoit to win Kurt Angle 's European title on April 2 , 2000 and lost it to Eddie Guerrero The Next Day .
- Both D'Lo Brown and William Regal share the record for most reigns as European Champion. Each won the belt 4 times.
- 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 loaction they were billed from.
- 4 wrestlers have won both the European and (as "Lord Steven Regal" in WCW), Diamond Dallas Page , Perry Saturn , and Chris Jericho .
- Four people have held the European and Intercontinental Championships at the same time. The first person was D'Lo Brown when he won the Intercontinental Title on July 27 , 1999 . Jeff Jarrett was the second person when he defeated Brown at August 22 , 1999 for both titles. Kurt Angle was the third person to accomplish this when he won the Intercontinental Title at February 27 , 2000 , where he declared himself the "First EuroContinental" Champion (saying that D'Lo Brown didn't count). Rob Van Dam is the final person to have held this title when he defeated Jeff Hardy for the European Championship in a Unification Match with the Intercontinental Championship at July 22 , 2002 .
- Only two holders of the European Championship were actually and William Regal who are both British .
- The late Eddie Guerrero is the only Hispanic-American to hold the European Championship.
- If the European Championship is ever revived, the superstars who need to win it in order to become a , The Big Show , Ric Flair , Chris Benoit and Edge . Pedro Morales , Kevin Nash , The Rock , Stone Cold Steve Austin , and Bret Hart also fit in this category, but they are all, at the very least, semi-retired.
- There have only been 27 wrestlers who have held the championship individually
- The WWF/E European Championship lasted 1615 days until it was retired.
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