PW Boards European Championship Tournament

Omackeral

Thought I might as well go ahead and round off the series with a lesser prestigious title but one that was around for the duration of the hottest periods in wrestling, the Attitude Era. Debuting on February 26, 1997 after an 8 man single-elimination tournament in Germany after a series of WWF television tapings, the British Bulldog defeated Owen Hart in a classic to become the first European champion. This would start a 5 1/2 year existence of the belt dedicated to the continent of Europe. There have been 27 overall champions of this belt with 37 reigns altogether. Some of the greatest names in the modern era have held the title including Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero and, erm, Mideon.


Since number-wise we have an unfriendly amount of tournament participants, all multiple time champions will receive a bye into the quarter finals.


Rules for Round 1

*All draws are made using a random number generator.

*First to attain 3 votes will progress.

Omackeral

Round 1 Match

Shawn Michaels

The First Ever Grand Slam Champion








vs




Owen Hart

The Black Hart

Omackeral

I'll kick us off by casting a vote for Owen Hart. Had a decent feud with Hunter for the title and competed for it at WrestleMania 14. Also had a cracker of a match for the belt in Germany vs Davey Boy in the tournament final.

gerrybbadd

Always pissed me right off that the Irish flag wasn't on the bedlt, but the Italian flag is there twice!

Owen for me. Shawn had no interest in the belt and took it off Davey to annoy him. Owen was a far better champ

Blue_Dabadee

Owen Hart

connemara man

Owen Hart just because

brianregan09

Owen Hart mostly because of his feuds with HHH

Angron

Owen for me. My main memory of HBK with the title was farcically dropping it to HHH.

Moneymaker

Shawn because that "match" with Hunter cracked me up.

Omackeral

The Hart Foundation triumphs over D-Generation X as the Sole Survivor topples the Showstopper. Next up it's one underachiever vs one over achiever.

---

Test

The T in T&A






vs




Diamond Dallas Page

''That's Not a Bad Thing. That's a... Good Thing!''

Moneymaker

Neither set the world on fire, but i'll go for Test as the feud and matches with Eddie were pretty solid.

Omackeral

Think I'll go with Test myself, have an irrational dislike of DDP from back then (felt he was a pure mark) as evidenced when he jumped into the crowd after beating Christian at WM X8. Test defended the title on possibly the greatest ever Wrestling card of all time at Mania 17. Agree with MM though, neither will win this.

brianregan09

To be honest i don't even remember Page with that title so Test for me

Omackeral

DDP fails to pass the Test and feels the bang at the first hurdle. Next up we have the last ever European champion (who unified it with the IC strap and essesntially retired it) vs a man that won it at WrestleMania 2000 without pinning the defending champion!

---

Rob Van Dam

Mr Unification







vs



Chris Jericho

Break The (Berlin) Walls Down

brianregan09

Rob Van Dam simply because i felt Y2J was way too good for that title and should have never held it

CSF

Y2J every time. I hate RVD!!

Omackeral

I'm gonna go with Y2J also. RVD never really even had the belt, just unified it. Some say he's not even recognised. Also, it looked good on Jericho as per the above picture.

Blue_Dabadee

Y2J as well

Omackeral

RVD cant overcome the Y2J problem and is quickly dispatched by the Millennium Man. Next up......

---

Perry Saturn

The Forgotten Radical







vs



Val Venis

Bonjour......Ladies

ShagNastii

Val Venis for sure. He always was one of the guys that never was world title level but lower-mid card title suited him to a tee.

Blue_Dabadee

Val Venis for me.

Omackeral

I'm going to admit it, I was a Saturn mark. Ever since I saw his stuff in ECW I was mesmerised. He was agile as hell back then. In WCW he piled on the bulk and could do some awesome throws etc. I feel like he was a little under utilised in WWE but obviously was outshone by Chris and Eddie. I'm voting for Saturn.

Venis was a great Euro guy though, loved his match at Summerslam vs D'Lo with the chest protector.

Angron

The big Valbowski gets my vote. Most of what I remember of Saturn involves Moppy, not a title.

Moneymaker

Val. He had plenty of good matches for the title and it fit him well.

Omackeral

Venis beats Saturn in a th.... wait a minute. That's brilliant. Venis. Saturn. They should've tagged. Missed intergalactic opportunity right there.

---

Spike Dudley

The Runt of the Litter






vs



Christian

For now... You're On Your Own!

Moneymaker

Christian. I don't even remember Spike holding the title.

Garseys

Hands Down Christian. He had a great run with the belt and I loved his tantrums during the same period with the title!

Angron

Christian, like Moneymaker I don't remember Spike being champ at all.

Blue_Dabadee

Christian for me as well.

Sirsok

Christian 100% great fun during that period! Lost the title to DDP (I think) failed to reclaim it at mania 18 but then goes on to capture the hardcore title that night!

Omackeral

Captain Charisma with an absolute whitewash of Little Spike Dudley. I'm not even gonna try hide this, the next match is a total dud....

---

Bradshaw

Don't Mess With Texas







vs




Mark Henry

Sexual Chocolate

Garseys

I didn't even know they both held it

Gonna go with Bradshaw... Maggle

Blue_Dabadee

Mark Henry for me, he held the belt longer than Bradshaw.

Omackeral

This is a truly horrible match up. Bradshaw held it for a paltry 8 days and Mark Henry didn't even win a match to get it, it was given to him by Jeff Jarrett. I'll go with Henry though as at least it was part of a storyline and he defended it on a PPV.

Angron

Bradshaw, cause I flipped a coin :pac:

Zemuppet

Mark Henry as I can't remember Bradshaw's reign

CSF

Mark Henry because he's Mark Henry, no but really I enjoyed his unification thing v D-Lo

Omackeral

Sexual Chocolate advances past the former Acolyte in a dull enough encounter. This next match up features guys you would associate with an entirely different division. Let's get to it.

---

Crash Holly

Elroy goes European








vs





Al Snow

The Walking Talking Stereotype

Angron

Al Snow. That picture reminded me of his silly stuff with the title, it was an enjoyable enough gimmick while it lasted.

Omackeral

Al Snow for me too. Loved when he came out representing Greece but was dressed as someone from Grease. Classic.

Zemuppet

Al Snow to win the whole tournament. Loved his reign with his comedic elements

brianregan09

Al Snow to win this contest but nowhere near the tournament which has to be DLO Brown

Omackeral

The Snowman ploughs through to the quarter finals with his much loved stereotype parody gimmick. Next up is a pretty interesting bout...

---

Jeff Hardy

Team Xtreme's Dare Devil







vs



Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy Version0.5

Zemuppet

I'm a big Jeff Hardy fan but I have to give to Matt because he had a longer title run.

Omackeral

I agree. Wasn't he the longest reigning American born a European Champion ever actually. So yeah Matt gets my vote here too.

Zemuppet

Omackeral wrote: »

I agree. Wasn't he the longest reigning American born a European Champion ever actually. So yeah Matt gets my vote here too.

You're right, longest single reign by a US wrestler by 125 days, 5 more than HHH's second reign.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Has to be matt just on length of reign.

Angron

Jeff, he made poor William Regal cry :P

ShagNastii

Chalk down another vote for Matt. Wasn't his reign during Mattitude?

Omackeral

Fun fact: The Hardys are the only pair of brothers to hold the European Championship. Only one can advance though and it's Matt's longevity which sees him prevail over his younger brother. Next up is our penultimate bout of Round 1.

---

Kurt Angle

Your Euro-Continental Champion...It's True, It's True







vs



The Hurricane

Le SuperHero

ShagNastii

Kurt. The euro-continental thing was memorable.