WWE is running its first ever Premium Live Event from Germany on August 31, 2024 at the Uber Arena in Berlin. As a man with German heritage, it is awesome to see the #1 wrestling promotion in the world expanded their reach into more prominent European markets.
However, it wasn’t the first pay-per-view event to be held in Deutschland. That honor would be bestowed upon World Championship Wrestling.
On November 16, 2000 at the Arena Oberhausen in Oberhausen, Germany, 9000 fans packed the arena to see the stars of WCW do battle. It was a night to remember, main evented with Kevin Nash and Sting facing off for the WCW European Cup.
What was the WCW European Cup, you ask? Our journey begins in 1994.
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In March 1994, WCW did a series of shows in Germany from the 8th to the 20th. The tour, dubbed Battle Stars, hosted a sixteen-man tournament, spread over ten shows. The participants were:
- 2 Cold Scorpio
- Cactus Jack
- Johnny B. Badd
- Kane (Stevie Ray)
- Kole (Booker T)
- Marcus Alexander Bagwell
- Maxx Payne
- Paul Orndorff
- Paul Roma
- Ric Flair
- Ricky Steamboat
- Ron Simmons
- Steve Austin
- Steven Regal
- Sting
- Vader
The winner would receive the newly created WCW European Cup.
The trophy had a small gold-encrusted circle on top with an incredibly wide domed circle, with handles on the side, and a thin bottom on top of a wooden cube. On the front of the bottom of the Cup had a small gold plaque with the WCW logo on it. It truly was a beautiful piece of hardware.
Thanks to Ring The Damn Bell, here are the brackets and results of the tournament:
There is, on record, one night of the tour fully filmed, fan cam style, on the internet. It was the March 16, 1994 event - Battle Stars: Tag 7 - from Munchen, Bayern, Germany at the Olympiahalle. On this card is the second round match between Cactus Jack and Vader.
For you die-hard fans, it is the infamous fight where Mick Foley lost his ear after having his head caught in between the ropes. Vader ultimately won with a heavy duty lariat to advance.
Sting and Vader would wrestle in the finals on March 20th at the Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in Hamburg. Similar to the King of Cable Tournament Finals in 1992, the Stinger would persevere and come out victorious, winning the illustrious European Cup.
Believe it or not, in 2015, WWE actually released a Topps Trading Card of Sting, bleached blonde with orange and blue gear, holding the WCW European Cup in his hand.
I will not confirm or deny that the card was then subsequently purchased off eBay the second I learned this.
Regardless, Sting won the inaugural European Cup Tournament and many fans believed that there would be future tours of Europe heading into 1995, where there would be future European Cup tournaments.
Not exactly.
Initially, as per Eric Bischoff on the February 13 edition of WCW Prime, a syndicated program for the Prime Sports Network, which would become Fox Sports Net, WCW would be touring Germany in May of 95.
However, according to TheHistoryOfWWE.com, the tour didn’t happen.
May 1995: A scheduled tour of Germany and Austria, with main events of WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs. Vader & Ric Flair, was canceled.
In December 1996, WCW did return with a tour of Deutschland; however, it was a four-event sweep of the company, main evented every night with Lex Luger & “Das Wunderkind” Alex Wright defeating Harlem Heat.
Add in Sting becoming wrestling’s version of the Crow and not wrestling for over eighteen months, the European Cup remained dormant.
After a German Summer tour in 1997 with no European Cup mention, the company did not return until February 2000 with a three show tour in Hamburg, Oberhausen, and Leipzig.
Oberhausen, in particular, impressed WCW management. Even with WCW in a down period in business, the Arena Oberhausen on February 12 drew 11000 fans, passionate about the product. They even got to see a WCW Tag Team Championship change with the Harris Brothers defeating the Mamalukes to win the belts (Big Vito and Johnny the Bull won them back the following night).
WCW decided to reward the fans of Oberhausen with a pay-per-view event, exclusive to Germany, for November 16, 2000. This would be the first of its kind for WCW, as the WWF had been doing United Kingdom exclusive PPVs since One Night Only in September 1997.
It was also going to be a return of the European Cup.
The months of October and November in 2000 were interesting for WCW.
At the beginning of October, Vince Russo, head of creative, stepped away from the promotion after symptoms from post-concussion syndrome following multiple matches in September.
The promotion, worn down with the amount of management changes over the past year, continued onward, beginning a week tour of Australia on October 7, then following it up with a European tour in the first full week of November.
After three events in England, including Nitro and Thunder tapings in Newcastle and Manchester respectively, the crew moved onto Germany for the Millennium Final pay-per-view.
I was lucky enough on YouTube to find clips of the actual pre-show, where Sting, during an interview, discussed defending his European Cup against the winner of a tournament. (Credit to Das Hohe Bein - Der Catchcast for finding and reviewing this clip. It is in German, but Sting is in English, being translated by the talented German backstage interviewer.)
To be honest, there wasn’t really much of a tournament.
There was, however, a three-way #1 Contendership match to qualify to face Sting in the main event between Kevin Nash, Mike Awesome, and Alex Wright. How did this come about?
From what I could gather, Nash received a bye to the finals. The winner of an 18-Man Gauntlet Battle Royal would face “Big Sexy” for the contendership.
Early on, Mike Awesome, in full form as That 70’s Guy, seemingly suffered a knee injury and rolled out on the floor, looking as if he was taken out of the match. It got down to Fit Finlay, who cut his teeth in Germany as a pro, and Alex Wright, one-half of the Boogie Knights and German folk hero, as the final two. Finlay beat the Hell out of “Das Wunderkind”, but he would not quit. Finally, after a catapult into the ropes, a dropkick, and a clothesline, Finlay was eliminated, but just as Wright was celebrating, Awesome “healed up”, re-entered the ring, and dumped him to the floor. MIKE AWESOME WON THE BATTLE ROYAL!
About an hour into the show, WCW CEO Ric Flair made his way out to the ring and announced that, due to the way Awesome won the battle royal, Alex Wright would be inserted in the match, making it a three-way!
Wow. That’s a lot.
By the time Wright made it to the ring, he had not only competed in the battle royal, but he also WON the WCW World Tag Team Championships THE MATCH BEFORE! Could he pull it out one more time?
Sadly, no.
By the end of the match, Awesome had brought in a table, since three-way matches had no disqualifications. However, Wright had cut him off at the pass. “Das Wunderkind” placed “That 70’s Guy” on the table, which suffered a broken leg during the combat, and climbed to the top rope, looking to fly. “Big Sexy”, who was on the outside of the ring, nailed Wright with a German flagpole, crotching him. Nash picked up Wright, and powerbombed him onto Awesome through the table!
Then, Nash stacked the prone carcasses on top of one another and pinned them for three. “Big Sexy” earned himself a shot at the European Cup in the main event!
The pre-match was incredible. Prior to the participants entering the ring, the European Cup, inside of a glass case, was lowered from the rafters in a magnificent display. Honestly, it truly made the Cup feel incredibly important.
Then, Axel Schulz made his way down to the ring to be the special guest referee. Born in Frankfurt, “the Gentle Giant” became a professional boxer, ending up with a 26-4-1 record before retiring in 1999 after a loss to Wladimir Klitschko. He received a rousing ovation from the crowd and refereed the match with his cap on. Bad ass.
The match itself was short, but the fans were fully invested into the Stinger. Nash gave it his all, but in the end, Sting caught “Big Sexy” into a Scorpion Deathlock. In a major surprise, Nash TAPPED OUT.
STING RETAINED HIS EUROPEAN CUP!
With confetti raining down, Nash and Sting showed each other respect, and Sting raised the Cup in the air to a rousing ovation as the pay-per-view went off the air.
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This was the last time WCW would venture overseas, as a few months later, the WWF bought the promotion. Honestly, it didn’t just affect fans in the United States, but worldwide.
Of course, the WCW European Cup never made another appearance again on television. However, the trophy has long been rumored to be in the WWE Warehouse with a plethora of other items.
I always felt, in both 1994 and 2000, that the European Cup was a perfect tool to get fans interested in WCW overseas. Although it never made more of an impact, I would have loved to see it be used in more European markets.
Regardless, WCW gave its German fans and the Cup a proper sendoff on November 16, 2000, beginning and ending with a Sting victory. And there is nothing more special than that.
Auf wiedersehen!
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