10 WWE Superstars Who Won By Losing

Laevinic defeats. 

Steve Austin Bret Hart WrestleMania 13.jpg
WWE.com

Winning isn't everything. According to the late Vince Lombardi, famed NFL football coach for whom the current Super Bowl trophy is named, it's the only thing.

But, in the land of rings and ropes, turnbuckles and tag teams, that's not always the case.

It's true that few things can skyrocket a career faster than piling up victories (without accompanying losses), but there have been a number of times throughout WWE history in which stars have been made in losing efforts. On several occasions, fans have witnessed a match's loser get over more than the winner. Paul Heyman once proclaimed that, in the perfect wrestling match, one performer goes over and the other gets over. The shortsighted creation of Suplex City aside, the man is rarely wrong.

In any athletic or sports competition, winning is the goal. No competitor looks at losing as anything they want to be associated with. But sometimes, the greatest heroes are born in defeat. Sometimes, those losses create the genesis for a whole new story. Sometimes, especially in WWE, those defeats tell the greatest stories...

10. Jeff Hardy (RAW Ladder Match 2003)

Steve Austin Bret Hart WrestleMania 13.jpg
WWE.com

The Summer of 2002 was a strange time in WWE, with the company coming off its first brand split. WWE Champion The Undertaker was defending the title against both RAW and SmackDown talents and on July 1st, he made a young kid famous.

As a result of said brand extension, the Hardy Boyz (Jeff & Matt) were split up and placed on separate shows. Jeff Hardy was viewed by company officials as having bigger potential, and was thus positioned on RAW where he soon received the opportunity of a lifetime.

On the 7/1/02 RAW, Jeff was pitted against The Undertaker in a WWE Championship Ladder Match in what, at first, seemed like a mercy killing. Heading into the match, no one gave the young upstart a chance. By the time the seesawing match had climaxed, though, most viewers had changed their minds...for a few seconds, anyway.

Ultimately, Jeff watched as Undertaker pulled down the gold, but the spotlight soon moved to Jeff in a career-enhancing performance. In the post-match, The Undertaker raised Jeff's hand, signalling a new found respect for the match's loser; a feeling the fans shared and built upon soon after.

Contributor
Contributor

A former stuntman for Paramount Pictures, Matt enjoys sports, water skiing, driving fast, the beach, professional wrestling, technology, and scotch. At the same time, whenever possible. Having attended many famous (and infamous) shows including WrestleMania XV, In Your House: Mind Games, and the 1995 King of the Ring, Matt has been a lifelong professional sports and wrestling fan. Matt's been mentioned in numerous wrestling podcasts including the Steve Austin Show: Unleashed, Talk Is Jericho, and Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard. As a former countywide performer, Matt has been referred to as Mr. 300 for his amazing accomplishments in the world of amateur bowling. He is also the only man on record to have pitched back-to-back no hitters in the Veterans Stadium Wiffle Ball League of 2003.