5 Times when Champions in WWE wrestled non-title PPV matches

In a little over two weeks, WWE will present Extreme Rules: The Horror Show. One of the headline matches on the show will be the Swamp Match pitting Universal Champion, Braun Strowman against the 'Eater of Worlds', Bray Wyatt. However, the title will not be on the line.

This will not be the first time that a Champion in WWE has a one-on-one pay-per-view match with his title not being on the line. This is done as an avenue to give the "challenger" a big victory over a Champion without the title reign being compromised.

Having such matches are a weird but effective way of extending a Superstar's title reign while his opponent gains momentum. It is done to build intrigue in some cases as well, although the majority of them end up being predictable due to the non-title label.

This list will look at five such instances, where a Champion was featured in a one-on-one pay-per-view match without his title being on the line. Champion vs Champion matches like John Cena vs Kevin Owens and the past few years of Survivor Series are excluded.

#5 Matt Hardy vs Vladimir Kozlov (WWE Armageddon 2008)

One of the biggest wins of Kozlov's WWE career.

This was an obvious case of WWE pushing a Superstar and giving him big wins against solid names. Vladimir Kozlov was on his way up the card, hovering around the WWE Championship picture on SmackDown in the latter months of 2008.

As part of a talent exchange between the brands, ECW Champion Matt Hardy appeared on SmackDown to face Kozlov in a Beat the Clock challenge match. Neither man was able to win and the feud continued into the following pay-per-view, Armageddon.

However, with the undefeated big man remaining on the Blue brand, his match against Hardy was non-title. Kozlov picked up the victory, his first on pay-per-view. It was a solid win, although his momentum wouldn't stick.

Matt Hardy would remain the ECW Champion going into 2009, losing the title to Jack Swagger on a January episode of ECW.

#4 Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton (WWE Vengeance 2011)

Back in 2011, Cody Rhodes was on a major roll in WWE. He looked certain to enter the main event picture, gaining some serious momentum throughout the year as the Intercontinental Champion. Deep into his 'undashing' phase, Rhodes brought back the classic IC Title strap and took his reign to the next level.

The future All Elite megastar entered a feud with Randy Orton, who had just put Mark Henry over as the World Heavyweight Champion. Rhodes and Orton traded wins on TV, before settling their score at the mid-October Vengeance pay-per-view.

However, the Intercontinental Title was not on the line. This was likely a tactic to give the Viper a big win after losing to Henry multiple times while allowing Rhodes to continue the stellar work he was doing with the "workhorse title". The match was still a pretty good outing for both men.

Randy Orton defeated his former Legacy stablemate, maintaining his status as one of WWE's top Superstars. This was one of the more blatant instances of WWE deciding to have a Champion wrestle a non-title singles match on pay-per-view.

#3 Bray Wyatt vs The Miz (WWE TLC 2019)

This was the most recent case of a Champion in WWE wrestling a one-on-one pay-per-view match without the title being on the line. Bray Wyatt was riding high as the Universal Champion, having defeated Daniel Bryan at Survivor Series. The Miz decided to intervene in this rivalry, making for an intriguing dynamic.

With 'The Fiend' taking Bryan under the ring and ridding him off his hair, Miz was given a piece of Wyatt at TLC as a placeholder opponent. However, it was the Firefly Fun House version of the complex character who would face the A-Lister, with the big blue belt not being up for grabs.

This may have been done to build intrigue for the match and Wyatt's first live appearance as himself on WWE programming in over a year, as there was zero chance that The Miz would win the Universal Championship. Even with the match being non-title, he lost pretty easily.

In fact, this match permanently damaged The Miz as an upper-level babyface. He looked terrible in defeat, urgently requiring a heel turn to recover from this. This would not be Bray Wyatt's last non-title pay-per-view match involving a World Champion, nor was it his first.

#2 The New Day vs League of Nations (WWE WrestleMania 32)

The New Day hasn't won a WrestleMania match as a unit.

Around midway through their record-breaking 483-day reign as WWE RAW Tag Team Champions, WWE decided to take advantage of The New Day's rise in popularity and turn them babyface. A move that worked so well, that they have remained good guys ever since.

Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods turned face with the help of the League of Nations, a stable comprising of WWE's top foreign heels. The two groups started a feud, which would peak at WrestleMania 32. However, the Tag Titles were not involved at the 'Show of Shows'.

Various combinations of Sheamus, Rusev, Alberto Del Rio, and Wade Barrett unsuccessfully challenged for the titles on multiple occasions around WrestleMania. But the League of Nations actually defeated the New Day in a non-title 6-man action at 'Mania, after the latter team entered the AT&T Stadium through a giant box of cereal.

The reason for this was apparent very quickly, with the heels picking up the victory and cutting a post-match promo before being interrupted by Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin. The trio of WWE legends quickly dispatched the League of Nations, before celebrating with The New Day.

And then Austin stunned Xavier Woods just for laughs. Well, at least he was still a WWE Tag Team Champion. The New Day lost another non-title 6-man match on pay-per-view later in the year, against the Wyatt Family at Battleground.

#1 Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt (WWE Payback 2017)

This was the most notorious non-title pay-per-view match featuring a WWE Champion, with Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt putting an end to their, well, interesting feud.

While it started off pretty dull, Orton joining the Wyatt Family was a delightful swerve and gave the storyline life. He won the Royal Rumble, Wyatt won the WWE Championship and the two would be on a collision course at WrestleMania 33. Oh, and the Viper burned down the Wyatt Family compound.

Orton also took the WWE Title from Wyatt in a pretty mediocre 'Mania match, after which the 'Eater of Worlds' challenged his heated rival to a House of Horrors Match. And in an attempt to salvage any ounce of main event momentum Bray Wyatt may have had, the match became a non-title affair.

He was never going to win back the WWE Championship due to being shifted to RAW, but maybe he could gain some heat back with a victory over Randy Orton at Payback, in his "signature match" at the time.

It was a cinematic presentation, but not a very good one. There were various silly horror tropes involving creepy dolls and refrigerators, among other things. Orton and Wyatt ended the match in the ring, with the latter winning after interference from Jinder Mahal, the Viper's next challenger for the WWE Title.

While the House of Horrors concept seemed interesting and there was some effort put into it, the execution seemed lacking and the booking severely let it down. Bray Wyatt may have won the "match", but he lost much more throughout the feud. He did not recover until his radical change in character last year.

Three years on, Bray Wyatt will be a part of another non-title cinematic match against his World Champion foe. Hopefully, the Swamp Match against Braun Strowman turns out much better than the House of Horrors Match.