Best Of WWE European Title

D'Lo Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQhq1GUh3fA With the Hart Foundation gone and DX growing in popularity, it was time for a new faction to come in and stir things up. Enter the Nation of Domination, who had just ousted Faarooq as their militant leader. The new Nation was a younger, more hip version of the Nation that preceded it, with the emerging Rock as its leader. In the early Summer of 98, Nation member D'Lo Brown earned a title shot at Triple H on Monday night Raw. During the match, Mark Henry waddled to ringside, distracting the ref long enough to allow the Rock to sneak in and cost HHH the match (and title) with a Rock Bottom. D'Lo did a lot for the belt in reacting like he had just won the big one and embraced his position as European Champion like no one before him. D'Lo became one of the most memorable European Champions of all time over the course of the summer of 1998. Despite being from Illinois, He insisted that the ring announcers billed him from a different European city each time he walked to the ring. D'Lo was an entertaining character, wearing a chest protector in his matches long after an injury had healed. Like the Bulldog, D'Lo's biggest match in 1998 came at Summerslam where he defended the title against Val Venis. D'Lo arrived in Madison Square Garden, hailing from Helsinki, with a special reinforced chest protector. Fans were loud for this opening match of the night, which was decent, though slightly marred by goofy finish. After D'Lo missed his Frog Splash, Val decided to steal the chest protector and put it on. Although it wasn't the first time Val Venis probably put extra padding on his anatomy, it all became a bit silly when the referee inadvertently made Val fall from the turnbuckle. Yet when Val put his hands on the official it was an instant disqualification. D'Lo retained on the second biggest show of the year, and moved onto arguably his most famous feud of his career. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6LZaycUE5k As part of the feud between the Nation and DX, D'Lo was paired off in a feud with X-Pac while Triple H moved up into an Intercontinental Title programme with the Rock. D'Lo and X-Pac had a memorable feud in which they traded the European title back and forth a few times on Raw. At Judgment Day in October, D'Lo finally lost the title to X-Pac for good and wouldn't win it back again until almost a year later. After Mideon brought the title back out of retirement (more on that later) D'Lo was the first man to win it again, pinning Mideon at Fully Loaded in July 1999. A month later, D'Lo became the first ever Euro-Continental title, winning the IC title while still holding the European belt. He remained part of the European Title scene until the end of 1999, having cemented his spot as one of the most memorable champions the division had seen.