12 Exact Moments WWE Titles Became Worthless

A lot of people sling abuse WCW's way for the infamous 'Finger Poke Of Doom' nonsense between nWo members Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hogan in January 1999. That was undoubtedly one of WCW's worst moments ever, but did you know that the WWF sort of beat their competitors to the punch in late-1997? They even did it with nWo counterpoint D-Generation X.

It might seem odd to some fans now, but the European Title was serious business when it launched in early-1997. The British Bulldog won an excellent tournament final vs. Owen Hart in Germany on the 3 March Raw, and the belt was treated with distinction right up until Shawn Michaels won it at One Night Only in the UK later that year. Mere months later, then Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter order DX buddies Michaels and Triple H to wrestle on the 22 December flagship.

They’d ham it up before Shawn intentionally lost so Hunter had a belt to complement his own WWF Title. Post-match, Michaels went overboard with a trolling promo claiming he'd never had such a hard fought match in his life. On commentary, Jim Ross joked that HBK had "lost his smile". Entertaining as a TV spectacle, sure, but the damage done to the Euro Title was irreparable.

That midcard prize never recovered credibility despite decent work by D’Lo Brown, Kurt Angle and more. It was eventually unified with the Intercontinental Title in 2002 after at least two full years of outright mediocrity. One can trace the European Title's fall back to some degenerates lampooning it to pop themselves.

So much for the serious wrestling belt contested over in Germany.