The WWE European Championship is a former championship for World Wrestling Entertainment. It was first established as the 'WWF European Championship'. The first and longest reigning champion, The British Bulldog became the first Champion after winning a tournament that was held over several shows in Germany, culminating in a finals victory over Owen Hart. When Shawn Michaels won the belt, it made him the first Grand Slam Champion in WWE. Michaels was and still is the only wrestler to have held both the WWF Championship and the European title at the same time. The title was on a brief hiatus in 1999 due to then-champion Shane McMahon's wanting to retire an "undefeated champion". The WWE European Championship was retired in a ladder match on July 22, 2002 when Rob Van Dam put his WWE Intercontinental Championship on the line, along with Jeff Hardy's European Championship in a winner-take-all type match. When RVD won the match he merged the two titles together, and continued to hold the Intercontinental Title. RVD's title reign is not listed in the official European title history on WWE's official website, and therefore he is not credited with being a Eurocontinental Champion, but is mentioned in RVD's profile.
