As previously mentioned, the inaugural European Champion was quite fittingly the British Bulldog. He went on to hold the strap for an admirable 206 days, which as it happens would turn out to be the longest reign in the titles brief history. Now theres nothing inherently wrong with the first tenure being the championships longest, but it does suggest that the calibre and quality of European champions deteriorated from there on in. In the world of pro wrestling, strong champions have lengthy reigns (see Bruno Sammartino). Which, by that logic, assumes that weak champions have short reigns. And just one look at the list of champions does little to dispel this theory. The Bulldog, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Owen Hart were the first four mean to hold the gold. Just two years later, the likes of X-Pac, Shane McMahon, DLo Brown and Mideon were the new faces in the European title hunt. No disrespect to the latter quartet, but theyre not quite in the same league as that former foursome. One could argue that this was all intentional of course. Having big names hold the belt before passing it on to the mid-to-lower carders could potentially help build new stars for the future. Either way though, it was quite the sudden and sharp fall from grace. Despite making a great start to life in the WWE, the European Championship may have peaked too soon. Looking back, it really was all downhill from there.
