10 Most Essential WWE European Title Matches
2. DDP vs. Christian (WrestleMania 18)
Taking place just four months before the title was retired for good, the European Championship match at WrestleMania X8 was historic for a number of reasons; not least because it marked the final time the European Championship would appear on the grand stage of WrestleMania.
As the old saying goes, if you’re going to go out, you may as well go out in style; and in front of almost 70,000 fans in the Toronto SkyDome, the European Title sure had a good crowd on hand for its last big hurrah. The combatants that night were also very deserving of such an honour, with mid-card workhorse, Christian, challenging three-time World Heavyweight Champion and WCW legend, Diamond Dallas Page for the gold.
Despite a generally underwhelming run since jumping ship from Atlanta, DDP was finally starting to find his footing in the World Wrestling Federation and was positively gaining traction as European Champ. Meanwhile, Christian’s strong work ethic and heelish antics since going solo made the CLB a worthy challenger for Dally’s European strap.
An enjoyable contest from start to finish, the bout isn’t so much about the quality of the match as it is the feel-good moment that it symbolised. While WrestleMania X8 will forever be remembered as Hulk Hogan’s iconic homecoming to the event he helped build, the show also marks the night that the notoriously hard-working DDP finally got his WrestleMania moment. For long-term fans of the sport, seeing Page pick up the victory to retain the European Championship on WWE’s grandest stage isn’t a bad thing…it’s a good thing! And at the tender age of 45 at the time, it couldn’t have come a moment too soon.
While many believed that the New Jersey native’s European Title victory in 2002 would be his lone Mania appearance following his WWE retirement later that year, the DDP Yoga guru would miraculously get a second WrestleMania moment to call his own some 14 years later. Making a shock appearance in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal earlier this year, DDP gained a huge pop from the 101,000 people in attendance at AT&T Stadium and proved that, while he may not be European Champ, he’s still the “People’s Champ”.
BANG!