Stats: 1x champion (82-day reign) The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels was already on his way to being among the greatest WWE superstars of all time when he defeated the inaugural European Champion, British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith) in Birmingham, England, in the main event at the One Night Only pay-per-view (only airing in Canada and Europe) on September 20, 1997. Michaels victory was a controversial one both at the event and in real life. The Birmingham crowd nearly revolted when Michaels won, littering the ring with garbage. Meanwhile, the victory further stoked the fires of the D-Generation X/Hart Foundation rivalry (Smith is Bret Harts real-life brother-in-law), which by that point was as bitter behind-the-scenes as it was on television. Making things even more complicated, Michaels rarely defended the championship, as the belt, still in its infancy at that point, was mostly used by him as a prop. When he was finally ordered to defend it by WWE Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter, he intentionally laid down for his buddy Triple H. Michaelss European reign certainly wasnt glorious, but it was significant in many ways. Michaels reign as European Champion made him WWEs first-ever Grand Slam Champion (having previously won the WWE World Championship, World Tag Team Championship and Intercontinental Championship) and also demonstrated The Heartbreak Kid as the peak of his backstage political powers.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
