Most of the time, wrestlers win and lose matches in service to whatever storyline the powers that be in a wrestling company are trying to communicate. For a house show, it might be as simple as trying to send the audience home happy, where as for a TV, wins and losses tend to have more to do with building momentum and longer term storylines. Pay per view matches may blow off major angles or, in the modern era of monthly PPV, be used similar to TV as just one chapter in a much longer story. For whatever the case or context, winners and losers are decided based on what the booker wants to accomplish out a particular bout. The implication is typically that the winner is the better wrestler at that time, or perhaps used underhanded means to win and thus garner more heat.

There are those times, however, when there is more than storytelling at stake in who wins or loses matches. There are those times when reality transcends the predetermined bounds of a wrestling match. On the positive side, that can mean a character organically getting over, and thus getting an unexpected push. Other times, however, wrestlers lose matches as a backstage punishment.

Punishing someone by making them lose in a worked sport might seem a little silly. Wins and losses do matter, however, in terms of how the audience receives a performer, his longer term trajectory in storylines, and even his payouts. This article looks at 15 times a wrestler lost on account of having some form of heat with management.

16 Roman Reigns Loses To Rollins And Ambrose Amid Suspension

Shield Triple Threat Match at Battleground

The Shield was designed to launch three new marquee stars, and looking back, you can call that project a success. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose have largely dominated the WWE main event picture. Consider this statistic: at least one of them, and often as not a combination of the three, have been featured in the majority of WWE PPV main events from late 2014 to the present day.

Of the three, Reigns’s size, look, and family lineage lined him up to be the top star. However, there was one brief period after the group splintered when you could argue he was booked the weakest out of the three. He lost cleanly to a returning Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank 2016, and a month later, it was Dean Ambrose to beat both of his former partners in a Triple Threat.

Conspicuously, two days after Reigns lost to Rollins, he suffered a Wellness Policy suspension for taking unsanctioned performance enhancing substances.

He was fresh off the suspension when he put over Ambrose. Given how strongly Reigns was booked before and after, we’re left to assume these losses—particularly the second one—related to The Big Dog getting himself into trouble.

15 Brock Lesnar Loses To Goldberg For Abandoning The Company

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Over a decade before Goldberg’s triumphant comeback tour, he squared off with Brock Lesnar in a dream program heading into WrestleMania XX. They were a pair of dominant forces and WWE had successfully kept them apart by virtue of the original brand split. When they collided, it promised a smash mouth explosion of a match, akin to what they would actually deliver on at WrestleMania 33.

According to most sources in the know, Brock Lesnar was supposed to go over at WrestleMania XX, in no small part because the experiment of getting Goldberg over in WWE had flopped, and he was wrapping up his one year contract. However, plans changed.

As WrestleMania approached in 2004, word broke that Lesnar wasn’t very happy in WWE and intended to try his hand at pro football.

The result was a lame duck match with two hugely over big men, neither of whom WWE was very happy with or had anything to gain from. The resulting match was slow and awkward, largely overrun by a New York City audience that threatened to boo both men out of the Garden. Lesnar seems to have taken the loss on account of his departure from the company being decided later, and more unilaterally.

14 AJ Lee's Long Reign Ends To Newcomer Paige

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Throughout 2014 into 2015, AJ Lee found herself in a notably awkward position. In real life, she was engaged to former WWE Champion CM Punk, who had an extremely ugly split with WWE. Meanwhile, she still worked for WWE and was largely booked at the top of the women’s division. Oddly enough, she remained on top for a then-record long reign as Divas Champion, despite reportedly having her own political differences with the company.

Some theorize that WWE didn’t care enough about its women’s division at the time to bother punishing Lee; others suggest the company went out of its way not to look like it was penalizing her to get at Punk. There’s a real argument that Lee was simply good, and over enough to justify her spot at the time.

Whatever the rationale, the night after WrestleMania XXX, WWE made it clear it was ready to move on.

Paige had her much anticipated debut from developmental, and quickly defeated Lee in an impromptu match.

Lee disappeared for the months to follow, though she would get her win back, and have a respectable run to wind up her WWE contract. This loss to Paige nonetheless came across as an unceremonious passing of the torch, as WWE began to wipe its hands clean of Lee, who would choose not to re-sign with WWE when her contract ran out a year later.

13 William Regal Loses To Mr. Kennedy After Suspension

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2008 saw William Regal emerge as the upset winner of a revived King of the Ring tournament. Regal looked lined up for one of the biggest pushes of his WWE career as he combined his status as king with his role as General Manager to become a bit of a tyrant. Mr. Kennedy was lined up as Regal’s rebel foe. It would be easy enough to dismiss the angle as a poor man’s Austin vs. McMahon, but as such angles go, Regal and Kennedy were each legitimately getting over in their roles. Fans at the time could only assume the rivalry would turn out to be a huge stepping stone for Kennedy that pushed him close to main event status.

Things came crashing down when Regal suffered a Wellness Policy suspension.

WWE rushed to blow off the Regal-Kennedy issue on a forgettable episode of Raw, thus putting the kibosh on what could have been a huge angle for both men, and ending Regal’s last big chance with the company.

12 Jeff Hardy Loses To Sting In A Minute

There was a time when Jeff Hardy was legitimate main event talent in his own right. He enjoyed world title victories under the WWE banner, yes, and all the more so enjoyed success as a main event fixture for TNA.

At Hardy’s lowest point, his widely rumored issues with substance abuse came to a head on the night of a major pay per view match.

Hardy was booked opposite Sting in the main event of Victory Road 2011, with the TNA Championship on the line. It’s unclear if Hardy might have been lined up to win that match. What we do know, however, is that it wasn’t originally intended to be a minute long squash match in Sting’s favor.

Word is that Hardy came to the ring inebriated. The squash protected Sting and even Hardy himself from the very real potential for a legitimate injury. The quick, decisive win also fomally ushered Hardy out of the main event picture on his way to rehab.

11 Harlem Heat Loses To Public Enemy After Booker T's Slip Up

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By 1997, Harlem Heat had come into its own as a tag team and were justifiably booked as contenders in the high profile tag title scene, opposite even The Outsiders, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. The team’s standing took a sharp turn, however, coming out of Spring Stampede 1997. At that show, Booker T cut a promo that included calling out Hollywood Hogan, most infamously calling him the n-word.

Forget the fundamental oddness of a black man getting himself into trouble by calling a white man that particular epithet—it’s an ugly enough word to demand repercussions for blurting it out on live PPV. Accordingly, Harlem Heat would suffer a bit of a skid, including putting over the lesser team of Public Enemy at the the Slamboree PPV the following month.

Fortunately for Booker, all seemed to be forgiven. Within a year’s time, he was enjoying his first singles push that would ultimately lead him to the main event.

10 Triple H Loses To Jake Roberts After The Curtain Call

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The year was 1996, and Triple H was living the dream. He came to WWE with little promised to him, but had steadily improved to earn the trust of management. He was friends with world champion Shawn Michaels, and with Razor Ramon and Diesel on their way out of the company, he had plenty of reason to think he’d enjoy upward mobility on the card.

He was initially penciled in to win the 1996 King of the Ring tournament.

Everything took a turn after the infamous MSG Curtain Call, which saw Michaels, Hunter, Ramon, and Diesel celebrate the latter two stars’ last night with the company, ignoring kayfabe rivalries and face-heel lines. Ramon and Diesel were gone after that show, and Michaels was largely untouchable as world champ. So, Triple H was left holding the bag and suffering the consequences on behalf of the whole group.

While Hunter would, of course, wind up fine in the long run, he lost out on his planned King of the Ring victory. Rather than winning the tournament, he dropped a forgettable qualifier match to Jake Roberts and stayed stuck in the mid-card for a full year before getting another push.

9 Bret Hart Suffers The Montreal Screwjob

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The Montreal Screwjob may be the most talked about shoot incident in wrestling history. In a nutshell, Bret Hart was wrapping up with WWE, and on his last night with the company, defended his WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels. Hart refused to put over Michaels, and particularly so in Canada. Michaels and Vince McMahon were both frustrated at Hart’s choice, and fearful of what Hart might do if he left the company with the world title in hand. So, Hart lost via a phantom submission, which was particularly problematic because he had enough creative control written into his contract to veto exactly this type of scenario.

The heart of the matter? Hart was both leaving for the competition and refused to go along with McMahon’s booking plans. To be fair, The Hitman had plenty of justification to not want to put over Michaels, but this combination of factors played in one of the most public punishments a top wrestler has ever had to endure.

8 Wendi Richter Loses To The Spider Lady In The Original Screwjob

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While the Montreal Screwjob is widely talked about, the so-called Original Screwjob happened in a less well documented time in wrestling history, and was thus swept under the rug in its era. Still, there’s no denying that Fabulous Moolah—masked and billed as the Spider Lady—shoot pinning Wendi Richter to get the Women’s Championship off of her was a huge punishment.

Richter reportedly demanded more money for her popularity and drawing power at the time.

In typical Vince McMahon fashion for the era, he opted to sever all ties rather than cave to a talent’s demands. Moolah pinning Richter was unexpected and humiliating. Richter would leave WWE that night and not work with the company again for nearly twenty-five years, when the two sides finally made amends enough for Richter to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

7 The Big Show Loses To The Undertaker For Being Out Of Shape

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Despite frequently being booked as a main event level attraction based on his unique size, The Big Show’s early years with WWE were nothing if not tumultuous. After he’d main evented WrestleMania 2000, and WWE had experimented with him in lower profile roles, he would get demoted to the developmental system to lose weight, get in better overall shape, and work on his fundamentals.

Show’s sendoff from the main roster was pretty unceremonious as it saw The Undertaker dominate him and throw him through a table to kayfabe injure him and take him off TV.

To his credit, Show was up for the challenge and did improve all aspects of his game. It’s revealing that a guy WWE was on the verge of writing off at the time has gone on to enjoy a career over two decades long with the company.

6 Christian Cage Loses To Booker T

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Christian may have been one of the most strategically shrewd wrestlers when it came to using a TNA run to better his prospects in WWE in the mid 2000s. After his successful tag team run with Edge, he was relegated to a mid-card spot. Venturing over to TNA, Christian proved he could work at a main event level and was sure enough positioned as more of an upper mid card talent when he came back to WWE, and even got a brief World Heavyweight Championship reign.

On his way out of TNA, it was clear enough the company would have been happy to keep him around. In his final appearances, he was booked to lose to Booker T and then get brutalized by the Main Event Mafia stable. There were clear enough roads for him to move forward in joining the heel faction (losing to Booker T was supposed to force him to do so) or continuing to feud with them. In leaving, TNA did at least get one last benefit from him—putting over Booker T who would remain with the company for a time.

5 Lita Loses To Mickie James; Gets Humiliated In Sendoff

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Trish Stratus and Lita bridged the Attitude Era to the years immediately to follow, anchoring the women’s division with some of the best matches and one of the greatest rivalries female performers had ever had the opportunity to put on. In fall 2006, Stratus decided to retire, which WWE couldn’t have been too happy about. Worse yet, Lita followed suit.

WWE clearly has a good relationship with Lita, bringing her back as a Hall of Fame inductee, pre-show panelist, special guest performer, and even color commentator for the Mae Young Classic. Just the same, her public exit from full time performance was not so graceful.

While Stratus got to retire as champion, beating Lita one last time, Lita lost her finale to Mickie James.

To make matters worse, Cryme Tyme proceeded to sell her personal belongings in humiliating fashion in the aftermath to the match. Some of that is a heel getting a heel’s comeuppance, but it felt as though WWE went out of its way to not offer Lita a warm send off.

4 The Horsemen Lose War Games To The nWo As A Shot At Flair

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Throughout Eric Bischoff’s time heading up WCW, he had a rough relationship with Ric Flair. As demonstrated by a well documented tirade Bischoff once gave to the locker room about who could and could not draw money, he did not view Flair as the caliber of star that Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, or Randy Savage were. Moreover, the two butted heads when Flair asked for time off, and regarding Flair’s creative direction.

In a real low, Flair’s Horsemen squared off with the New World Order in a War Games match. This is a match largely synonymous with the Horsemen legacy from years before. While it’s understandable for the nWo guys to have gone over given the story WCW was telling at the time, it nonetheless felt like a slap in the face how the bad guys went over. The story saw Curt Hennig join the Horsemen, only for Kevin Nash and friends to cut a blistering disrespectful promo mocking how that happened. In War Games itself, Hennig would turn on the Horsemen, revealing himself to be an nWo agent all along, making Flair and the Horsemen look like complete fools as they were dominated to finish the match.

Some of this booking was just a creative choice, but it felt like a real jab from Bischoff to Flair in particular in the process.

3 Scott Steiner Loses To Test After Flopping In Triple H Feud

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Come 2003, WWE had seen the InVasion angle crash and burn, but had also recognized that viewership was down, and that WCW branded DVDs were selling reasonably well. What better choice, then, than to bring back one of WCW’s marquee stars who looked like he could still go and hadn’t been involved in the InVasion?

So, Scott Steiner returned to WWE and was booked in a main event feud with Triple H. The only trouble? Steiner wasn’t in his best shape and got blown up in his spotlight world title match at the Royal Rumble.

Worse yet, he and Hunter demonstrated no chemistry and whole Steiner experiment was quickly exposed as a flop.

Steiner was still under contract for a year so WWE wedged him into a much lower profile angle with Test, that saw Test beat him, too, only for Steiner to give up and team up with the better man. It was an embarrassing angle for the once great Big Poppa Pump to be involved in, and one of the reasons he left WWE, on bitter terms, as soon as he could.

2 Curt Hennig Loeses To Buff Bagwell After Getting Too "Over"

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Toward the end of his WCW run, Curt Hennig found himself feuding with Buff Bagwell. From a historical perspective, this pairing comes across as a more than a little off. It’s Hennig, as one of the all around greats of his generation, and most respected wrestlers of all time with a guy largely remembered. Then there’s Bagwell, who had a great physique and good charisma, but isn’t so highly regarded beyond that. To make things stranger, Bagwell was booked to dominate the rivalry, ultimately kayfabe retiring Hennig.

The general understanding of this booking was that Hennig was getting older and couldn’t be taken seriously toward the top of the card at that stage. Management seems to have been unhappy with him for his heel West Texas Rednecks stable not taking off—garnering more cheers than boos, and failing to help the No Limit Soldiers get over as faces.

While most critics feel that WCW miscalculated on its booking—that WCW’s more southern fan base was always going to side with the country music stable over the hip hop one—Hennig seems to have carried the weight for the failure and putting over Bagwell was his comeuppance.

1 Neville Loses To Enzo Amore After Showing Frustration

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In early 2017, Neville was flying high as the dominant force for WWE’s relaunched Cuiserweight dvision. Little did fans realize the degree to which Neville was reportedly unhappy with WWE. Word is that he was frustrated with his creative direction, and specifically with his match opposite Austin Aries getting relegated to the WrestleMania pre-show, thus shutting him out of royalties from DVD sales for the event.

It was clear enough Neville was unhappy and unlikely to re-sign with WWE when his contract was up.

So, the call was made to get the Cruiserweight Championship off of him, and shift the focus of the division to Enzo Amore—less an in ring talent, more of a character. Of course, putting over Amore seems to have been the last straw as Neville walked out shortly after that, and has remained technically signed to WWE, but off TV and live events ever since.