5 Times WWE Superstars disagreed with their match outcomes
WWE often highlights when a Superstar has put together an impressive winning streak or not-so-impressive losing streak, but it is fair to say that wins and losses do not usually count for much in Vince McMahon’s promotion.
For example, Drew McIntyre’s first three pay-per-view rivals as WWE Champion – Seth Rollins (Money in the Bank), Bobby Lashley (Backlash) and Dolph Ziggler (Extreme Rules) – lost singles matches at WrestleMania 36, yet they were booked as World Championship challengers just a few weeks later.
Similarly, Curt Hawkins lost 269 matches in a row between November 2016 and April 2019, but he and Zack Ryder still found themselves in a match for the RAW Tag Team titles at WrestleMania 35.
On-screen, these wins, and losses might not mean everything to a character’s development, but that has not stopped some Superstars from wanting a different finish when they are presented with the outcome of their match.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at three times that a Superstar lost a match that they wanted to win, as well as two times that a Superstar won when they wanted to lose.
#5 Roman Reigns (vs. The Undertaker, WWE WrestleMania 33)
Arguably the biggest victory of Roman Reigns’ WWE career so far took place in 2017 when he defeated The Undertaker in the main event of WrestleMania 33.
“The Big Dog” had gone one-on-one with Brock Lesnar and Triple H in the final match of the night at the two previous WrestleManias, but the victory over The Undertaker took the former Shield member’s status as one of WWE’s top guys to a whole new level.
Speaking to ESPN in 2020, Reigns revealed that he was in “awe” when Vince McMahon told him that he was going to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania.
He also said that, out of respect for his legendary opponent, he wanted to suffer a defeat against “The Deadman”, whose only WrestleMania loss until that point had come at WrestleMania 30 against Brock Lesnar.
"I remember the first thing I thought was that I wanted to put him over. I wanted to lose. Immediately, that was my instinct. Out of respect. I knew he was in pain, but I didn't know he was going in [for hip surgery] soon after that or else I would have crafted that story a little differently."
Reigns added that he thought it would have been a better story if he lost the match, but WWE’s higher-ups wanted him to win.