10 Most Damaging WWE Defeats

It's arguable that, in the world of professional wrestling, the outcome of a match doesn't really matter, in the grand scheme of things.

After all, outcomes are - and this might be shocking to some - predetermined. Whether a given performer is allowed to keep their opponent's shoulders down for a three count is less a reflection of their ability in the ring than it is how much they are valued backstage.

That said, no-one likes a loser. If popularity among the audience is what counts for up-and-coming young wrestlers, then they need to rack up a solid amount of victories - otherwise, they risk being written off as a perennial mid-carder for whom the brass ring is ever so slightly out of reach.

It follows that defeats must therefore be important too. Losing at the wrong time, to the wrong opponent, or under the wrong circumstances can be hugely damaging to a wrestler's career - particularly in WWE, where it can seldom be said that both parties come out of a match with credit.

To avoid this in the future, perhaps they should draw a page from the playbook of NJPW, a company which appears to have mastered exactly how to keep winner and loser looking almost indistinguishably strong...

Over recent weeks, Bray Wyatt has once again succeeded in arousing the interest of the WWE Universe. If nothing else ever comes of Woken Matt's Monday Night Raw debut, then this - should it endure past WrestleMania - is surely a welcome side effect thereof.

That the Eater of Worlds should rely on someone else to help him rediscover his mojo, however, is perhaps also an indictment of just how far he has fallen over the preceding 12 months. He's gone from being a promising young star to someone whose time in the spotlight has been - and very swiftly - passed.

There's now a broad consensus among fans that Wyatt doesn't belong in the main event, part of the evidence for which being his abject failure to deliver a WrestleMania-worthy match when he stepped into the ring with Randy Orton back in April.

More than his performance, it was the result that was really damaging. After defeats to Undertaker and John Cena, he could ill afford another on the Grandest Stage of Them All. This should have been the moment to rid him of his reputation as a perennial runner-up - but instead, it was reinforced in the worst possible way.