26 Times Wrestling Titles Have Been Disrespected

9. The Shawn Michaels And Triple H European Title Debacle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVPe5VPLCac

Many things about Shawn Michaels' run with the European Title didn't sit well with many.

Firstly, he used his sway to book himself into defeating Davey Boy Smith for the belt during a UK-only PPV. Bulldog was initially supposed to win, and had even told his terminally ill sister (who was in attendance) that he would be winning for her, until Michaels changed the result 30 minutes before the match.

After the match, Bulldog was beaten down in front of his family and Michaels would proceed to even say hello to them as he walked past them on the way to the back. Michaels was well above the European Title level at this point and this victory was merely a way to take a shot at Bret Hart, with Davey being Bret's brother-in-law.

When it came to dropping the belt to Triple H, it was built up as if D-Generation X were at breaking point. In a mockery of a match, HBK would allow Hunter to pin him and all would be well again the world of D-X.

Shawn politicking himself into winning the European Title was absolutely classless, but the way he lost the gold was massively disrespectful. Of course, years later Shawn would find God and so all of this stuff was then deemed "okay"...

 
Posted On: 
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.