10 Ridiculous Ways WWE Champions Lost Their Titles

4. Debra Loses A Title Match

Sable Debra
WWE Network

On a typically hedonistic May 1999 edition of Monday Night Raw, Debra received a shot at Sable's WWE Women's Championship. She lost the match. End of entry.

SWERVE BRO! SHE GAWT HER T*TTIES OUT AND I SWEA TO GAWD WHO COULD CALL A WOMAN LIKE THAT A LOOZA?!

Indeed, this mess of motivations wasn't exactly going to be tidied up by Vince Russo's pro wrestling peccadilloes, but WWE got (just about) what they needed out of Sable right as the Attitude Era megastar was losing interest in giving them much more.

Growing in fame and acclaim thanks to a record-smashing Playboy cover shoot that landed in line with WWE's meteoric blast in to the mainstream, Sable was losing interest in taking bumps but not exactly showing much enthusiasm for dropping the title that had been resurrected mostly for her a year earlier.

To this end, the company booked an Evening Gown match against Debra for her to win, only for Commissioner Shawn Michaels to decide that the stripped competitor should be the real victor. Seemingly to make it absolutely clear what was going on, he snatched the belt out of her hands. She never snatched it back.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett