10 Stupidest Ways Wrestlers Have Lost Matches

If a wrestler has to lose a match, they would usually like to do so with their head held high after being beaten by the better person following a hard-fought contest. 

That isn’t how every pro wrestling match goes, though, and these examples of poorly-booked angles made the losers look like complete fools. 

This is the 10 Stupidest Ways Wrestlers Have Lost Matches. 

10. Mankind - WWE Judgment Day 1998

Not many in the squared circle could match Mick Foley’s toughness as few could take the amount of abuse that his body endured and keep getting back up. When Foley, as Mankind, met a legitimate tough guy in the form of Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock at Judgment Day 1998, it was a very interesting proposition indeed. 

The World’s Most Dangerous Man took it to his masochistic opponent, and vice versa, in what was a very good and competitive match. Eventually, Shamrock had Mankind trapped in an Ankle Lock, putting the challenger on the verge of submitting. 

Instead of tapping out, however, Mankind put himself in his own Mandible Claw which caused him to pass out without tapping out. While a cute finish, Mankind made it so that he lost the match and, thus, the chance to become WWE Intercontinental Champion. 

Post-match, Ken Shamrock was infuriated when he found out Mankind didn't pass out to the Ankle Lock and actually attacked the referee in anger. This gave Mick Foley time to recuperate and Mankind ended up standing tall after shoving Mr Socko down Shamrock's throat.

9. The Big Show - WWE Extreme Rules 2012

In storyline, it should be quite hard to beat The Big Show. He’s seven foot tall and weighs five hundred pounds but despite his imposing status, Paul Wight lost plenty of WWE matches via pin, submission, count-out, or disqualification. On one occasion, though, Big Show lost due to his large stature and being slightly clumsy. 

Show was defending his Intercontinental Title against Cody Rhodes in a Tables Match at Extreme Rules 2012 and had Cody retreating for much of the contest. With Cody on the backfoot, Rhodes hit Show with a Dropkick as Big Show was preparing to get back in the ring from the apron. 

Unfortunately for Show, his momentum took him backwards and he ended up stepping onto and breaking a table. Just like that, he had lost the match and his title. 

It was a clever finish in its own way and forever circulates on X/Twitter amongst people who believe the moment was a botch. In storyline, though, it did make Big Show look silly and then a sore loser as he put Rhodes through two tables after his own blunder had cost him the IC belt. 

Rhodes revealed in 2024 the finish was Paul Wight’s idea, telling Adrian Hernandez (H/T Wrestling Inc):

“It’s fun to pull back the curtain on this one now because I do think this person deserves credit for it and didn’t get any ’cause so many people thought, ‘Oh, maybe that wasn’t supposed to happen’ - the Big Show.

“Big Show was so influential in my career and doesn’t even realise it because I was going through it when I was going up against him and, man, I’m lucky to have had that experience with him. That was his idea, Michael Hayes was right there to say, ‘Yep, let’s do it,’ and it ended up being a very fun moment.”

8. Sid Vicious - WCW Starrcade 1999

One of three so-called main events on offer at WCW Starrcade 1999 was a Powerbomb Match between Kevin Nash and Sid Vicious as the two big stars (literally and figuratively) competed in a bout where the winner would be the man who hit his Powerbomb finisher on his opponent first. 

The match was an overbooked mess, however, as was common during Vince Russo’s WCW. Not only did Nash go for a pin at one point for some reason, but the match featured run-ins, weapon spots, and a ref bump. 

With the referee down, Sid hit his Powerbomb on Nash and did his best to rouse the official, only to receive a sudden guitar shot to the skull from Jeff Jarrett. Nash then tried to Powerbomb a knocked out Sid twice but couldn’t do so due to his bad back.

To solve the issue, Nash managed to rouse the referee where Sid had failed and told him he had Powerbombed Sid, who was still lying in the ring unconscious. Without a moment’s hesitation, the referee called for the bell and awarded the victory to Nash. 

Sid lost the match because Nash told a bald-faced lie and the ref took his word for it. 

7. Randy Savage - WWE Royal Rumble 1993

The rules for the WWE Royal Rumble are relatively simple as the only way a talent is eliminated is when both of their feet touch the floor after they have gone over the top rope. 

While still a new concept in 1993, Randy Savage really should have learnt the rules at some point between 1988 and then. Macho Man and Yokozuna were the final competitors in the '93 Rumble when Randy hit his patented Flying Elbow. Instead of then trying to pull Yokozuna to hit feet to eliminate him, Savage went for the pin. 

Not only that, but he did so right next to the ropes, allowing Yokozuna to do a ridiculous superpowered kickout that sent Randy sailing right over the top rope, costing him the match and a WrestleMania title shot.

6. Al Snow & Head - WWE King Of The Ring 1998

The 1998 King of the Ring pay-per-view was promoted with the tagline ‘Off with their Heads!' At the pay-per-view, Al Snow was not only accompanied by his trusty head, he actually tagged with the mannequin.

Snow and his head were competing against the recently-formed duo of Too Much in a match where Al – supposedly wrestling after returning from ECW without a contract – was looking to secure a meeting with Mr. McMahon. 

After a tedious match that sucked the air out of the building, Snow looked to have the win sewn up when Jerry Lawler, acting as special guest referee, threw his son Brian Christopher a bottle of shampoo.

The future Grandmaster Sexay then attached the bottle of Head and Shoulders to Head and covered it for the win. This was poking fun at Head not having any shoulders but didn’t really get any laughs. 

5. Dean Malenko - WCW Souled Out 2000

Over the course of his distinguished career, Dean Malenko gained a reputation as one of the best technical wrestlers in the business, with his high wrestling IQ praised by contemporaries the world over. He may have been a genius when it came to knowing what to do between the ropes but Malenko had mentally given up as WCW entered the new millennium. 

At Souled Out 2000, the Man of 1,000 Holds was booked against Billy Kidman in the pay-per-view’s Catch-as-Catch Can opener. The rules of the match stipulated that if a competitor’s feet touched the floor, they lost. 

After a couple of minute’s worth of decent action, Malenko went to the outside to regroup, got back in the ring, and was then confused to hear the bell signal the end of the match. Much to The Iceman’s chagrin, he had lost the match because he had forgotten the rules. 

This ended up being Malenko’s last-ever WCW match as he quit the company along with the rest of The Radicalz the very next night. 

4. AJ Styles - WWE Backlash 2017

Occasionally, WWE will book a finish where a wrestler loses due to some unforeseen accident or mistake. This is supposed to give them an ‘out’ so they can justifiably claim after the fact that they didn’t really lose at all. 

In theory, this is done to protect the WWE star. In execution, it often makes them look like very silly and this was no more evident than at Backlash 2017 when AJ Styles challenged Kevin Owens for the United States Title.

Styles and KO were having a very good match and they ended up on the announce table when AJ went to hit his opponent with a Styles Clash onto the table. Owens managed to escape, however, and pulled Styles onto the table, which resulted in Styles falling through the hole where the monitor would usually reside and getting his foot tangled in wires. 

Styles could only look on helplessly while hanging upside down as the champ retained his title via count-out. 

3. Finn Balor - WWE Extreme Rules 2021

Throughout his epic WWE Universal Title run, Roman Reigns relied on just about everything to ensure that he walked away from his rare title defences with the gold still around his waist. This even included acts of God when Reigns put the Universal Title on the line against the very first Universal Champion Finn Balor in an Extreme Rules match at the namesake pay-per-view in 2021. 

Balor was his Demon alter-ego for the contest and the two talents put together a very good match, making the most of the stipulation. Balor even looked set to win too, having dispatched of The Usos and put Reigns through a table, which was accompanied by demonic lighting and Balor’s own music playing in the arena. 

Balor looked to put the final nail in the coffin with a Coup de Grace back in the ring only for the top rope to suddenly snap, sending Balor crashing into the ring and leaving him open for a Spear from Reigns, who promptly pinned Finn to retain. 

2. Dean Ambrose - WWE TLC 2014

Bray Wyatt was involved in some of the dumbest finishes in WWE history, from the demonic child singing to John Cena at Extreme Rules 2014 to The Fiend’s Hell in a Cell match with Seth Rollins ending in a referee stoppage.

One of the finishes that made Wyatt’s opponent look like an idiot occurred in the main event of TLC 2014, when he took on Dean Ambrose in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. This gave the two competitors plenty of weapons to use but they also introduced a kendo stick to the action, and Ambrose later grabbed a TV monitor to attack Wyatt with, only to misjudge the length of the cord and have it literally blow up in his face. 

A blind Ambrose was then pinned following a Sister Abigail, leaving the future Jon Moxley looking very silly indeed. 

1. Sable - May 10, 1999 episode of WWE Raw

By the time the May 10, 1999, episode of Raw rolled around, Sable was mentally done and wanted out of the business. 

Unfortunately for WWE, Sable was then in possession of the Women’s Championship and, as she had made clear to management, was not willing to drop the title in a standard match because she didn’t want to take any bumps. 

This left the company in a bind and they managed to get themselves out of it in the stupidest way possible. Sable had agreed to lose the title on the May 10 Raw in an Evening Gown match, on the condition that she herself didn’t have to shed her clothes. 

It was left to Debra to get stripped of her gown, only for WWE Commissioner Shawn Michaels – who had been watching things unfold from the commentator’s desk – to step in and declare that, in his opinion, it should be the woman who lost her clothes and had the more impressive ‘puppies’ who wins the match. This meant Sable lost the belt by winning the match.