Highs and Lows: 5 incredible returns to the UK by new WWE Hall of Famer The British Bulldog

#3. One Night Only 1997

A sad night at One Night Only

While much of what we’ve reviewed so far covers the Bulldog in glory, and some of what’s to come paints him in a less-than-positive light, this next homecoming is perhaps nothing more than a little sad.

It’s 1997, and the WWE is undergoing major change behind the scenes and on screen, with the Attitude Era slowly emerging. We’re in Birmingham, England for the UK-only pay-per-view event, One Night Only.

The main event of the night was a bout for the European Championship, with the champion The British Bulldog, defending against his degenerate challenger, Shawn Michaels. With Michaels already being lined up to challenge Bret Hart for the WWE title by the end of that year (yep, you're already ahead of us, hold on), the Heartbreak Kid was given the nod to snatch Bulldog’s title to add further spice to the Hart rivalry – and with a view to Davey Both Smith winning it back at a later date, with WWE’s No Mercy event planned for Manchester, England the following summer.

In terms of the bigger picture, the rest was history – Hart left WWE in controversial circumstances after the Montreal Screwjob and, in the end, the Bulldog never did get his rematch. The One Night Only defeat in retrospect then seems little more than a waste, with fans in attendance that night hurling items into the ring to show their disgust at seeing one of their very own being downed thanks to the shenanigans of Michaels and Triple H.