What was the purpose of the WWF European championship?

[CM Steel]

About 14 years ago we saw the debut of the WWF/E's newest championship, the European belt. Which was won by the late great "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith in his home country over his brother-in-law the late Owen Hart (what a twist).

From then to 2002 when we saw the last of the European strap when it was unified with the IC championship. We've seen some interesting European champions from over the years. D'Lo Brown (5X), X-Pac, Perry Saturn William Regal (4X), even Shane McMahon. The European championship was third as far as championships went in the WWF/E at the time. It was the WCW TV championship of the WWF/E, it was just that WCW had better fueds over there third string championship.

For a rookie or a new WWF/E wrestler, the European (or the Hardcore belt) was the first championship that he had a shot for. But to some wrestling fans from that era, to them the European belt wasn't as preteigous as the top two championships in the IC belt & the World belt. The WWF/E was the first championship to be unified during the "Eric Bischoff era" in mid-2002 following with the Hardcore championship.

So in that whole 5 year span, what was really the purpose of the European championship?

 

[Tripleb2k1]

as is with any mid card title, being used to build up superstars with holding or competing for said title...after the brand extension, it no longer was a needed title

 

[Constipated Badger Bottom]

I think the Whole idea of the European title was to act as a stepping stone between that and the Intercontinental Title I think the whole idea was for a future star to win the European title lose that then win the Intercontinental title and then lose that and move up into the main event and then WWF championship

 

[shogunsrampage]

it was wwf/e equivalant to the tv title that wcw had..... basically it was for either the lower mid card guys or the upper mid card guys to have something to do.....in todays world.... u can prob say evan borne or someone like that would be the current european championship........wwe/f likely didnt want to copy muliptile orgs and just call it their tv title so they called it the european(going witht he whole world thing....world, intercontential.. and now having a european)

 

[The Dragon Saga]

The idea behind the European Championship was to give talent, like Perry Saturn and X-Pac and so forth, something to hold which would give them meaning as future Champions. It was a stepping stone, sadly not many that ever held it went on to do great things, asides from those like Shawn Michaels upon his return in the Summer of 2002 and Edge, who held it for a bit and may I add had a memorable and great feud with William Regal over the belt.

It's one which I miss, personally, from television. I guess some could argue, like many others, it was a staple of the Attitude Era and once that ended, as did the European Championship. Of course, it did make way for the US Championship, but due to the amount of wrestlers currently employed by WWE, something like the European Championship could do wonders if ever brought back.

 

[CraigThe13th]

Both your statements are correct. It was (along with the hardcore title) The first, easiest and lowest step as far as being a champion is concerned. I ranked it a little higher than the hardcore belt as literally anyone and everyone would and at the time did win it.

I wouldn't say the TV title had better feuds. It was around a lot longer and maybe had more prestige as it was what it said on the tin, The TV belt, it was defended on television and had a 15min tv time limit. Whereas the European belt was won in a tournament in Europe and thats where it's connection with Europe ends really,aside from the odd champion from there.

You kind of answered with the paragraph above it your own question. It was a belt for the rising stars and upper midcarders to lower mid carders. This brings me to what I think WWE should do now.

I think seeing as the same guys are on superstars every week, why don't they have a belt defended on superstars for guys given less chance to shine than those on raw or smackdown every week? TNA are doing a similar thing at the moment.

I miss 3rd tier titles, maybe a Superstars champion could at least give WWE what its lacking at the moment which is decent storylines and feuds for anyone outside the upper midcard. More could show what they can do and more people would watch superstars.

 

[DeathClutch]

WRONG!!!

The European Belt was created to keep Bulldog in WWE in late 96 hence how he was Tag Champion as well, as his contract was coming up and WWE wanted to keep him, so they promised him something that was his and the belt was only to ever to be defended in Europe which ultimately didn't.

Oh and Bulldog won the belt in Berlin, GERMANY NOT his home country.

After Bulldog left the belt was a lower card belt but hey it made Brown/Xpac have a long feud, give HHH his 2nd run at the ladder and give people like Eddie, Kurt their first taste of WWE gold.

 

[shogunsrampage]

Both your statements are correct. It was (along with the hardcore title) The first, easiest and lowest step as far as being a champion is concerned. I ranked it a little higher than the hardcore belt as literally anyone and everyone would and at the time did win it.

I wouldn't say the TV title had better feuds. It was around a lot longer and maybe had more prestige as it was what it said on the tin, The TV belt, it was defended on television and had a 15min tv time limit. Whereas the European belt was won in a tournament in Europe and thats where it's connection with Europe ends really,aside from the odd champion from there.

You kind of answered with the paragraph above it your own question. It was a belt for the rising stars and upper midcarders to lower mid carders. This brings me to what I think WWE should do now.

I think seeing as the same guys are on superstars every week, why don't they have a belt defended on superstars for guys given less chance to shine than those on raw or smackdown every week? TNA are doing a similar thing at the moment.

I miss 3rd tier titles, maybe a Superstars champion could at least give WWE what its lacking at the moment which is decent storylines and feuds for anyone outside the upper midcard. More could show what they can do and more people would watch superstars.

i think ppl argue that the tv had better fueds due to how nwa and wcw booked the title(until later years).... nwa then later wcw always ALWAYS valued their titles highly... and almost made their titles as prestigous as the world title.... sting would occasionally drop down from the me scene to regain the u.s. title and tv title ..they would bring me down to the lower titles to make them seem more presitigous while wwf/e uses there titles as a stepping stone to the next level(well they use to)

when wcw creatd the ranking system( i think it was between 92-94.... def ended b4 nitro) ..the u.s champ was always 1(the world champ didnt count as it was who is contending for his belt)....and if im not mistaken the tv champ was 3 or 4 with the number 1 contender to the us either just ahead of him or behind him.... in wwe u would never see that..... could u imagine seeing kofi ranked ahead of adr or miz(w ould neverrr happen)

 

[CM Steel]

The idea behind the European Championship was to give talent, like Perry Saturn and X-Pac and so forth, something to hold which would give them meaning as future Champions. It was a stepping stone, sadly not many that ever held it went on to do great things, asides from those like Shawn Michaels upon his return in the Summer of 2002 and Edge, who held it for a bit and may I add had a memorable and great feud with William Regal over the belt.

It's one which I miss, personally, from television. I guess some could argue, like many others, it was a staple of the Attitude Era and once that ended, as did the European Championship. Of course, it did make way for the US Championship, but due to the amount of wrestlers currently employed by WWE, something like the European Championship could do wonders if ever brought back.

Edge never held the European championship! He fueded with William Regal over the IC championship. Edge had only one shot at the European championship and that was in 2001 against Matt Hardy when he held it.

I think that you had Al Snow in mind when you brought up a fued with William Regal over the European championship.

 

[MMK]

The European Title was not created simply to make British Bulldog happy. In fact, only a year after the title was created, they let him walk to WCW. Bulldog was not that high of a priority to them.

The real reason they created the European Title, was because at the time WWF was losing popularity in the United States to WCW, but WWF was by far still number one internationanlly. Even at the peek of NWO's popularity, WWF was still way way ahead of WCW here in Canada. And it was the same story in other countries all over the World. Only in America was WCW #1. So Vince started taking advantage of WCW's one weakness: the international market. That's why they created the European Title. It's also why they held ppv's like "Canadian Stampede".

It was all part of a larger strategy by the WWF to market itself as the more international company of the two. And it was a smart strategy by Vince and WWF. WCW didn't make it's product available to many people outside the United States. WCW tv wasn't even available here in Canada until 1997. They very rarely if ever traveled outside the United States. WCW was managed very much in the same style as the old territory days of wrestling. WWF on the other frequently traveled not only Europe, but all over the world. And thus the creation of the European title was a continuation of their stranglehold on the international wrestling fan base.

 

[DethMetal]

The same as the purpose of the U.S. title, TNA TV title, Cruiserweight title, Lightweight, Hardcore, and just about every other midcard belt there is and was; to give guys who aren't seen as ready to grab the brass ring a title to chase and some credibility.

 

[My Couch Pulls Out But I Don't]

WRONG!!!

The European Belt was created to keep Bulldog in WWE in late 96 hence how he was Tag Champion as well, as his contract was coming up and WWE wanted to keep him, so they promised him something that was his and the belt was only to ever to be defended in Europe which ultimately didn't.

Oh and Bulldog won the belt in Berlin, GERMANY NOT his home country.

After Bulldog left the belt was a lower card belt but hey it made Brown/Xpac have a long feud, give HHH his 2nd run at the ladder and give people like Eddie, Kurt their first taste of WWE gold.

You are correct. In fact, the only time Bulldog had the title in his home country was 1997 One Night Only....when he defended it against HBK and lost it.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

It was the equivalent of the WCW TV Title and it was a pretty big deal as it was the first NEW title in the WWF for around 20 years when it was introduced.

It was the level below the IC belt, giving lower-to-mid card wrestlers something to aspire to and feud over. Rather than just having 2 lower card wrestlers feuding over something random, having the title in there made them so much more relevant.

It also gave new/rookie WWF wrestlers their first taste of gold. If they were going to be pushed and not ready for the IC title yet, the European belt was the first championship they could hold and increase their crediblity/status and TV time as a champion.

I personally liked it and as there are plenty of WWE superstars who are not main event material and maybe not IC title standard, I think a European title equivalent would be pretty useful now.

 

[whoopin' ass]

i think part of it was just to have another title too. if you look at WCW at that time, they had the WCW title, US, TV, Hardcore, Tag team, Cruiserweight, Cruiserweight tag team, Womans... i think WWF added it and the Hardcore title to have a few more champs. It had a few perks too - good marketing for Europe, let HBK become a Grand Slam champ and gave the lower card guys a title to chase.

 

[The Crock]

It was used as a lower-tiered midcard belt. Mostly used for up and comers or older guys to give them some gold, to give them something meaningful to carry. You have to think of it this way, a lot of the guys who carried the belt were often overshadowed, i.e. X-Pac, that way they had their moment and their chance to maybe start their ascent higher up the card. The fans will instantly take a guy who has a belt more seriously. It obviously worked because many former European Champions went on to do better things, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Jeff Hardy, RVD, Christian, and even William Regal. That belt legitimized some of those guys. It helped them along. It brought them to a higher level, especially since there were some AWESOME feuds over the European Championship.