A small complaint about Matt Hardy winning the European title.
From what I've read in the past (2005-06ish), Matt Hardy supposedly threatened to leave WWF if he didn't get a singles title run. This stemmed from the fact that Jeff won the IC title, and even if it was only for a week, it was still the second-highest belt in the company. At the same time, Raven was originally booked to win the European title from Eddie Guerrero at Backlash; he was slowly getting over with the crowd, and even got a great pop when he managed to pin Eddie clean in a tag team match.
And then Raven's momentum just ended instantly. Matt Hardy wins the European title a week before Backlash, a move that NO ONE saw coming, and WWF had to find ways to tie up any and all loose ends. Edge tells Commissioner Regal that Christian should have a title shot against Eddie, because Christian has relatives in Luxembourg! Regal asks about Raven though, because he was supposed to get a European title shot. E&C say that Raven should instead get a Hardcore title shot, because that's what he's best at, so we get Matt Hardy defending the European Championship against Christian (by request) AND Eddie (rematch clause) in a triple-threat match, and we get Rhyno vs. Raven for the Hardcore title.
Funny thing is, I still think both Matt Hardy AND Raven were affected badly by this move. Not only does Matt Hardy hold the C-title for nearly 4-months, he also does nearly nothing with it (seriously, it wouldn't have been as bad if Matt was doing more than tag matches all the time). Raven gets an awesome match with Rhyno (even Rhyno said it was the best match he did all year), but then gets stuck feuding with X-Pac, and later with Saturn (who was sporting his worst gimmick ever).
On the plus side, Raven eventually does get the record for most championship wins for one belt, and Matt Hardy is now a joke, so I guess it's a hollow victory >_>
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