10 Wrestlers Who Lost Gold In Their Hometown

Some of wrestling's greatest championship victories have come from a celebrated hometown hero rising up and capturing the gold with a vociferous local crowd behind him or her.

The British Bulldog capturing the Intercontinental Championship in front of 80,355 fans at a packed Wembley Stadium in 1992 stands as one of the most iconic title wins in WWE history, for example. Bulldog defeating his brother-in-law for the belt was a big enough story itself, but doing so in front of his countrymen tipped it over the edge, and made the IC Title feel like the most important thing on the planet.

Similarly, CM Punk's Money In The Bank 2011 triumph over John Cena was made special not only by the ongoing Summer of Punk story, but by the night's atmosphere. A raucous Chicago crowd made the Allstate Arena a cauldron of noise, and they owe much to the match's status as a modern classic.

Wrestling and homecomings don't always mix well, however. If a WWE superstar is set to wrestle in their hometown in 2016, they're probably going to lose. Companies love embarrassing wrestlers in their hometown, and while having a champion lose their belt on home turf is often a step too far, it's far from uncommon. Countless wrestlers have walked into their hometown with visions of sealing their own British Bulldog moment, only for everything to blow up in their face.

Here are 10 wrestlers who lost gold in their hometown.

Though born in Burlington, NJ, D’Lo Brown was billed from Chicago, IL throughout most of his WWE run. He was a solid midcard hand throughout the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, amassing five Intercontinental and European Championship reigns, and developing a reputation as a tremendous in-ring worker who could have a good match with almost anybody.

Only one of D’Lo’s four European Championship reigns lasted longer than a month, but he was always involved in the title hunt while active as a singles wrestler. His second reign kicked-off when he defeated X-Pac on a September 1998 episode of Raw, and the rematch was set for 19 days later at In Your House: Judgment Day, from Brown’s own hometown.

D’Lo wasn’t exactly treated like a homecoming hero, however. Ironically for a man wrestling X-Pac, Brown was taunted with chants of “D’LO SUCKS!” throughout the contest, and drew excellent heel heat for the duration. D’Lo was able to crack Pac with the belt while the referee was down, but it wasn’t enough: he recklessly flew off the top rope and right into an X-Factor, setting off a 120-day X-Pac reign that would end embarrassingly at Shane McMahon’s hands.