It's okay for a heel to lose. Babyface champions must prove their worth as titleholders by securing regular victories over the members of the roster to which they are, by definition, supposed to be superior. Heels, on the other hand, are often in their position by virtue of dirty tactics and so do not suffer from taking an occasional loss to a babyface. There is, however, a point at which even the most dastardly of heels must reverse their trend of defeats in order to win back some credibility. Rollins, put simply, loses far too often on television. Since the night after SummerSlam, Rollins has participated in 16 matches on television and pay-per-view. He has only won four of those bouts. Even for a heel champion, this is an unforgivable win-loss record. It suggests that Rollins is a completely unworthy champion, particularly when many of those losses have been in non-title matches against his championship challengers. It isn't just lazy booking for the challenger to win the match when the gold isn't on the line, but it really tests the boundaries of kayfabe. Televised losses also hurt Rollins in terms of the future. The losses can be seen to mean very little when the championship is around his waist, but they create a perception of Rollins as something of a loser, a perception that will stick around once the belt is gone. Again, this is a sign of poor forward planning WWE. If their goal is to create a main event star for the ages, Rollins needs to win more matches than he loses.
Freelance film journalist and fan of professional wrestling. Usually found in a darkened screening room looking for an aisle seat and telling people to put away their mobile phones. Also known to do a bit of stand-up comedy, so I'm used to the occasional heckle.