13 WWE Title Contenders Who Never Stood A Chance

The unlikely grapplers who tried - and failed - to take titles off far superior, far more over, or just more appropriate champions.

There comes a point, for every fan of pro-wrestling, where you look through the match card of an upcoming pay-per-view event and frustratingly come to the conclusion you can pretty much guess the outcome of every bout. More often than not, the most predictable match is the one contested for the most prestigious title in the WWE €“ now the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but formerly either the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship. Considering this match is usually the one that headlines the show, the predictability of a pay-per-view€™s major title match is what can make or break the show. Thinking back to that unforgettable Money In The Bank pay-per-view of 2011, what made the main event so captivating was that genuine sense of not knowing who would leave Chicago with the WWE Championship. In this event, CM Punk was booked as a genuine threat to John Cena. This article however, will take a look at those superstars who weren€™t viewed as favourably as Punk and had lost their championship match before even stepping in the squared circle.

13. R-Truth Against John Cena - Capitol Punishment 2011

Truth was one of many superstars in this article who suffered from being thrown into the title picture when the champion at the time was in a transitional phase. In this instance, the champion was, of course, John Cena and this won€™t be the last example of superman defeating one of our failed contenders. At the time Cena was about to engage in his summer programme with CM Punk, which would begin at Money In The Bank in 2011. His main event bout with Truth took place at the pay-per-view just before €“ Capitol Punishment. Truth was simply required to give Cena something to do prior to his feud with Punk. It wasn€™t just the timing of the match which doomed Truth, but the fact that until this point in his career he had only ever been booked at mid-card level.
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Having recently graduated from university, I have joined WhatCulture as a contributor to cover sport, WWE, TV and film. Formerly published nationally in the Guardian and Independent.