5 WWE stars who lose more matches than they should

Some say winning and losing doesn’t matter in the crazy world of WWE – but, let’s be honest, it means a great deal.

A series of victories can push a Superstar into title contention and increase their popularity with fans, while a string of defeats will have someone labelled a “jobber” and make you stop believing in them as a real-life superhero or villain.

For example, Finn Balor’s win against AJ Styles at TLC 2017 could have been a milestone moment in his WWE career and a real message to fans that the Irishman is to be taken seriously as a megastar on the roster.

But when he lost clean to Kane the next night on Raw, that almost made his win over AJ mean nothing. Balor is no longer the guy who defeated Styles; he’s now the guy who lost in seven minutes to a 50-year-old.

Another example is CM Punk, whose modern-day record reign of 434 days as WWE champion was followed up in the subsequent seven months by pay-per-view defeats to The Rock, The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar.

Looking at the current WWE roster, there are several Superstars who are losing a lot more matches than they deserve to. In this article, with an honourable mention to Matt Hardy, we narrowed the list down to five.

#1 Bray Wyatt

For someone whose win/loss ratio is often mocked, Bray Wyatt picks up a surprising amount of victories. He’s won 21 of his 39 PPV matches in WWE, including his victories against Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho and all three Shield members.

The fact remains, however, that “The Eater of Worlds” can’t get the job done when it matters the most. Many of his PPV wins haven’t had clean finishes and, more often than not, he ends up losing his big rivalries.

Bray was built up well heading into his WrestleMania XXX feud with John Cena, most notably defeating Bryan at the Royal Rumble, but his only long-term singles feud that he has legitimately won since then (i.e. no interference or creepy lights) was against Dean Ambrose in 2014.

So, if you ever hear someone say wins and losses don’t matter, just look at Bray as an example of a character whose career has been affected by a run of high-profile defeats.

#2 Nia Jax

For a performer with the size, strength, ability and believability that Nia Jax possesses, it’s surprising that she hasn’t had a run with the Raw Women’s Championship on the main roster yet, especially considering the number of times WWE likes that title to change hands.

The Total Divas star has won three of her six PPV matches in WWE, which isn’t terrible, but her overall win ratio, including live events, is just 27 percent, which is not too dissimilar to Bo Dallas and Heath Slater’s records.

When you take into account her ever-decreasing win ratio, it’s no wonder Nia reportedly refused to lose clean to Sasha Banks at TLC 2017.

#3 Braun Strowman

When you think of Braun Strowman, you probably think of his monstrous exploits on Raw throughout 2017. Maybe the times he broke a ring and a cage with Big Show, or when he pushed over an ambulance with Roman Reigns inside.

Well, as impressive as those moments were, his win/loss ratio since the 2016 brand split is far less impressive. Over the last 15 months, “The Monster Among Men” has only won two matches on PPV – both against long-term rival Reigns.

During that time, he has lost on eight occasions on PPV: five times in multi-man matches (Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and TLC); a time-limited contest vs. Sami Zayn; another match against Reigns, and against Brock Lesnar at No Mercy.

It just goes to show how well Strowman's Attitude Era-esque antics have gone down on Raw that nobody is talking about his regular losses on PPV.

#4 Becky Lynch

If you were to choose two current stars on the SmackDown Live women’s roster, you’d probably pick Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. Both are members of the Four Horsewomen and both have previously been champions in WWE.

But while “The Queen” has won more PPV matches than anyone in the last two years, “The Lass Kicker” has only been victorious twice on PPV as a singles wrestler since her call-up to the main roster in 2015.

Becky has lost matches to Mickie James, Alexa Bliss, Carmella and Natalya so far in 2017, but maybe her victory in the five-way match to determine the leader of Team SmackDown at Survivor Series is a sign that she’ll hit a winning run again soon.

#5 Rusev

Randy Orton defeated Rusev in 10 seconds at SummerSlam

Rusev has won 15 and lost 16 of his PPV matches since being called up to WWE’s main roster in 2014, so his ratio isn’t the worst of the people on this list.

However, considering “The Bulgarian Brute” was built up like an unstoppable submission machine during his undefeated first year in the company, it’s disappointing to see that his career has gone a similar way to Bray Wyatt since losing at WrestleMania 31 to John Cena.

Since switching to SmackDown Live earlier in 2017, Rusev has had two major feuds – with Cena and most recently Randy Orton – but he lost on both occasions. Let’s hope his alignment with Aiden English will lead to happier "Rusev Days" in the future.