8. European Title: Owen Hart vs British Bulldog (March 3rd, 1997)
Attempting to capitalise on their large European following, the WWE created a European Title in 1997 and staged a tournament held over numerous shows in Germany to determine its first holder. Owen and Bulldog wound up as the final two men remaining in the contest and the tag champs were forced to put friendship aside for the sake of individual glory. After a tense opening exchange, it was Bulldog who let loose first as he rolled forward, backwards and frontflipped to reverse Owen's hold into a hold of his own before Owen returned the favour with the exact same routine. When Bulldog then sent Owen catapulting right out of the ring in a spectacular visual that looked as if it been copied and pasted from a looney tunes cartoon, he held the ropes up for Owen as a friendly gesture disguising a patronising sense of superiority. Like before however, Owen strove to return the favour as he countered Bulldog's charge into a bodydrop onto the outside, before playing the role of sportsman by letting Bulldog recover to the ring. With the mind games out of the way, the two men continued to go back and forth in an incredibly athletic spectacle that managed to incorporate a number of different wrestling styles into a cohesive, entertaining whole. Bulldog wound up prevailing after reversing a victory roll into a winning pinfall combination, but it was both men who stole the show and gave the new belt one heck of an opening premiere.