The Great Eight: Top 8 WWF European Champions

I had the exact opposite issue with this list than I did with last week’s. I struggled to figure out eight!

The European Championship had a short life. It only lasted for five years before being unified with the Intercontinental Championship. As a kid growing up during the Monday Night Wars, I always liked the European and Television Championships. They gave the guys in the lower card a chance to be highlighted.

Sadly, the WWF never took the title too seriously and, in fact, retired it for two months before Shane McMahon gave it to Mideon. Not too different from Scott Hall throwing the WCW Television Championship in the Garbage only to have Jim Duggan find it and declare himself champion.

But despite its short history and lack of attention, there are still some champions to be celebrated. And that’s what we are doing today.

The Rest of the Intercontinental Championship List

Enough of you gave an upvote to see the rest of the list. So, here is the remaining top 25: 13. The Miz, 14. Shelton Benjamin, 15. Don Muraco, 16. Kofi Kingston 17. Jeff Jarret, 18. Edge, 19. The Rock, 20. Tito Santana, 21. Triple H, 22. Greg Valentine, 23. Christian, 24. Rick Rude, 25. Ken Shamrock

Fun Facts:

In its five years, there were 37 reigns over 27 individual champions.

Chris Jericho has the shortest reign at one day. (We aren’t counting Rob Van Dam’s unifying win as a reign.)

The British Bulldog has the record for the longest single reign (205 days) and most combined days (249 days)

William Regal and D’Lo Brown are tied with the most reigns, at four reigns each.

Ranking Explanation:

As per usual for championship rankings, my main criteria are length of reigns, number of reigns, what they did to elevate themselves and the belt, and historical precedence.

Plugs

I don’t use social media, but you can follow me on Spotify, where you’ll find playlists covering every decade from the 1950s to the 2000s. As well as several genre-specific playlists.

Disclaimer:

This is my list; if you don’t like it or have a different list, awesome! Please share your own list and opinions in the comments section. I welcome open discourse about this wacky art we all love. It is an art form, so it is subjective; we all have our opinions on it, and all of them are valid. So, if you want to share your thoughts and opinions, don’t insult others for their opinion. There is already enough negativity in the world; let’s not add to it. And with that, on to the list!

The List

8: Triple H

Both of Triple H’s runs started in dubious ways. The first was in a farce of a match against Shawn Michaels. Commissioner Slaughter had forced Michaels to defend his title against his buddy. But they pulled a fast one, and Michaels let Triple H win. He would lose the title without being in the match. When Goldust would dress up as Triple H and lose to Owen Hart. This led to Triple H beating an injured Hart to get the title back.

And welcome to the Russo years, folx! For all the praise the Attitude Era gets, there was a lot of bad mixed in there. But Triple H’s second reign with the belt is enough to get him on the list. He would hold the title for 120 days. During that time, he would have a legit match with Owen at WrestleMania XIV and again at In Your House 21: Unforgiven.

In the end, he would lose the title to D’Lo Brown in June of 1998, having a decent run and feud with Owen Hart. He used the title to get himself over and would soon be feuding with The Rock over the Intercontinental Championship.

7: Christian

Christian would beat Bradshaw to win the European Championship. He would only hold the title for three months, but those three months helped to establish Christian as a singles wrestler. He put in the work to set himself apart from Edge and put up great defences against The Hurricane. Al Snow, Jeff Hardy, and Tazz. He would lose the title to Diamond Dallas Page in January of 2002.

While his time with the title was short, his work to establish his singles career and use every second of time to get himself over, gives him a spot on this list.

6: Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy would begin his run with the European Championship by beating Eddie Guerrero. That’s not too shabby of a start. This reign started as the Hardy Boyz, though still together, were testing the waters as singles stars as well. Matt, like Christian, always seemed to be looked at as the lesser member of his team. So, he used his run as European Champion to try to prove everyone wrong.

Right after his win, he would have a Triple-Threat with Guerrero and Christian. This match kicked off a string of defenses against Edge, X-Pax, Billy Gunn, The Big Show, and The Hurricane. The Hurricane would be the one to dethrone Hardy in August of 2001.

Like Christian, his time with the belt wasn’t super long, but he used every moment to try and get himself higher up the card. Which I think he succeeded at. While he was already a celebrated tag team wrestler. This was the first of many singles championships for Matt Hardy.

5: X-Pac

X-Pac would win his first European Championship from D’Lo Brown (in my old hometown arena, the Arco Arena. I went to a Nitro there for my 12th birthday!) His first reign would only be for a couple of weeks, when he would lose it back to D’Lo.

His second reign is what gets him in the number 5 spot. He would once again beat D’lo Brown at In Your House 25: Judgement Day, and go on to hold it for 119 days. He’d go on to have some good matches with Steve Blackman, Taka Michinoku, Steven Regal, Ken Shamrock, Al Snow, and The Big Boss Man. He also had some good house show matches with Jeff Jarret and Owen Hart, but sadly never had a televised match with them during this run.

He would lose the title to Shane McMahon in a tag match when Shane pinned him. Yup, that lovely Russo trope of a singles title being lost in a tag match. And the less said about Shane’s run, the better.

Regardless of how it ended, X-Pac’s four-month reign provided a lot of fun in the lower card, and he is well deserving of his spot on this list.

4: Eddie Guerrero

One night after Chris Jericho won the European Championship at WrestleMania 2000, Eddie Guerrero beat him for the title.

Any list that can contain Eddie Guerrero will usually have Eddie Guerrero. The only thing that kept him out of the top 25 Intercontinental Champions is that he only had two very short reigns with the belt.

While he had about the same number of days as the European Champion, the field is a lot less competitive. After winning the title, he would have great matches with Chris Jericho, Essa Rios (in a match that actually got Essa Rios onto a PPV!) Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, The British Bulldog, and Kurt Angle.

He’d finally lose the title to Perry Saturn at Fully Loaded 2000. Which makes me miss the days when such a lower-card feud could get a bit of shine on a low-priority PPV. While I don’t mind five match cards. They could use the Saturday Night’s Main Event shows like the old In Your Houses. Have one big match for the main event, and then give lower and midcard feuds a chance to shine.

Rant aside, Guerrero is one of the best to ever do it. And he added a lot to the importance of the European championship. Earning him the fourth spot on the list.

3: D’Lo Brown

The fact that D’Lo was allowed a win over Triple H says a lot about him. While 1998 Triple H wasn’t the main eventer he’d become in a couple of years. He was still involved in the biggest feuds in the company at the time.

Honestly, Brown is pretty underrated. He was never going to be a World Champion; he lacked the mic skills. But he could have been used better in the mid-card. If he had come around a few years later, I could see him filling the same spot Shelton Benjamin did. Just a step below the Main Event, and credible enough to have a title shot here or there.

As it stands, he is tied for most European Championship wins, and the title really worked for guys like him. It gave some shine, and he was able to pull off decent matches with most everyone on the roster at the time. The only reason he is three instead of two is that Regal edges him out with in-ring and charisma. But they could just be 2 and 2a.

2: William Regal

Speaking of William Regal, here is one of only two actual Europeans to hold the European Championship. Regal was given four reigns and holds the number two spot in combined days as champion with 173.

His ability to work with anyone and make them look good (looking at you, Goldberg), and his range of character (being able to switch from comedy and serious, without losing credibility) make him one of the most underrated wrestlers ever.

If he could have stayed clean, I think Regal would have had at least one reign as World Champion. But as it stands, he is one of the best European Champions of all time. He is probably the second most talented wrestler to hold the title, after Eddie Guerrero. And he always worked hard to not only make himself look good, but everyone else around him look good as well.

1: The British Bulldog

The original, the longest reigning, and most combined days as champion. The British Bulldog was the perfect choice for the first champion. The WWF was more popular in Europe than in the US at the time. And Davey Boy was super over, not just in England, but across Europe.

While not the most talented wrestler, Bulldog was no slouch and could be carried to a great match. Unfortunately, as it did for many wrestlers during this time, drugs would prevent Bulldog from reaching his full potential.

As it stands, he still had an impressive resume and more than deserves his spot on this list. His first run as European Champion helped to establish the title, and with better booking, the title could have held that prestige.

I don’t think you can talk about the European Championships’ or Bulldog’s legacy without talking about the other. They will be forever linked, and that gives him the number one spot on this list.

Preview:

Tune in next week, when we cover the top eight WWE United States Champions!