It seems like every champion in WWE, expect for the WWE Champion, will lose a non-title match on television at least once per month. The reason they do that is because they want the fans to think that the champion could lose when the title is on the line. It's a way to build up a credible challenger. Here's the problem with the theory: the champion looks like a loser and if a champion looks like a loser then that person is going to have a disappointing title reigns. Fans do not want to pay for losers. We want winners. It would be fine if a champion got pinned in a tag match or something like that. This past week on Raw, two champions lost non-title matches. Sheamus lost to Cesaro thanks to interference from Paul Heyman and Alicia Fox beat Paige clean. The Usos lost to Rowan & Harper in a tag match on Smackdown a couple of weeks ago. Seeing them all lose hurts the champions. They should be a bigger priority than the challengers. It's probably something that isn't going to change anytime soon. They've been booking champions like this for so many years that we've come to expect it. It would be nice if somebody shook up the creative team to make them change this philosophy, but it's very unlikely at this point.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
