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#3 European Championship (1997-2002)
Why did WWE retire the European Championship?
WWE inherited several titles from WCW in 2001, including the WCW Championship and WCW Tag Team Championship, so the company began reducing its number of titles in 2001-2002.
Like the Hardcore Championship in August 2002, the European Championship was unified with the Intercontinental Championship in July 2002 when Rob Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy in a ladder match.
Why will the European Championship never return?
There are 11 main-roster titles in WWE these days, as well as another seven if you include NXT and NXT UK, so it seems unlikely that yet another secondary title will be introduced to WWE programming any time soon.
The European Championship was essentially another version of the United States Championship and North American Championship, and it was never seen as a meaningful title when compared to the WWE Championship and Intercontinental Championship.
If it is ever reintroduced, it would only make sense as a secondary title in NXT UK. But that is a big if.
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