It doesn't happen very often that an individual wrestler begs to lose his or her match in WWE. Everyone wants to be victorious in the wrestling business to keep a balance between their win and loss record.
Apparently, WWE doesn't focus on win/loss records nowadays. But it is still an important factor that fans use to determine a wrestler's success.
Also read: Jon Moxley - Winning AEW Championship will mean more than the WWE Championship [Exclusive]
We have already heard many stories about wrestlers refusing to lose their matches to fellow WWE Superstars and even drifting away from the script as a result. However, in this feature, we will look at 5 WWE superstars who requested WWE to have them lose their match.
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#5 Daniel Bryan ‘begged’ Vince McMahon to lose against Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania 35
Everyone is aware of the rise of KofiMania. It was easily the best storyline of 2019 -- filled with emotions and drama. One by one Kofi Kingston was overcoming obstacles Vince McMahon’s put in front of him. Finally, the Chairman of WWE gave in and allowed Kingston to challenge Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35.
Fans wanted him to win this match and become the new champion for the first time in his career. Last year, in December, Tom Colohue of Sportskeeda stated that Daniel Bryan played a key role in Kingston winning the WWE Championship.
He 'literally begged' Vince to have him lose the title to The New Day Superstar at the Grandest Stage of Them All, and the latter agreed. KofiMania was the greatest thing to happen in a build-up to WrestleMania. The fans will not forget this storyline for years to come.
Don't forget to watch the brand new episode of Dropkick DiSKussions, where our experts Tom Colohue and Korey Gunz address the hottest pro-wrestling news and rumors!
#4 Dolph Ziggler wanted to lose against The Miz at No Mercy 2016
At No Mercy 2016, The Showoff challenged The Miz for his Intercontinental Championship. It was a career vs title match for Dolph Ziggler and as predicted, he went on to defeat The Miz and became the new Intercontinental Champion in WWE. However, this could have been totally different if WWE had agreed to Ziggler’s request. Speaking at WWE After the Bell podcast, Ziggler revealed that he actually wanted to lose his career vs title match to Miz because he was in a desperate need for a break.
He wanted to leave WWE for some time but to his dismay, Vince McMahon didn’t agree and booked him to win a match that he most certainly didn't want to.
Ziggler would have returned to the company sometime later (as per him) but since he never left, this scenario didn't take place. Last year, the former WWE Champion was absent from programming for quite some time as he was busy doing stand-up comedy shows outside. But he is back now and is appearing almost every single week on SmackDown.
#3 The Undertaker wanted to lose against Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania
The Undertaker is considered to be one of the most iconic wrestlers in WWE history. His WrestleMania streak was one of the biggest highlights of his wrestling career, which was unfortunately broken by Brock Lesnar in 2014. However long before this match happened, The Undertaker and The Beast had a confrontation at UFC 121 (2010).
Fans believed that these two Superstars were going to face each other in the WWE but the match didn't happen until a few years later. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that ‘Taker actually wanted to lose to Lesnar at WrestleMania 27. But the company didn't take his request into consideration. Years later, when Lesnar returned to WWE, he challenged The Phenom and ended his ‘Mania streak.
The Undertaker’s only loss after Lesnar at WrestleMania came at the hands of Roman Reigns who defeated him at WrestleMania 33. Reports state that ‘Taker believed this match to be his last in WWE, which is why he wanted to lose against The Big Dog. But as we know, The Deadman is still wrestling and perhaps, he will wrestle longer than anybody in the history of WWE.
#2 Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg at Survivor Series wasn't what it looked like
Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg at Survivor Series 2016 was a historic fight. That night, the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion stepped foot in a WWE ring after 12 long years. Goldberg’s first match upon return happened against Lesnar who rarely loses his matches in WWE. However, Survivor Series shocked the world when Goldberg squashed Lesnar in the middle of the ring in less than 90 seconds.
It was one of the most unexpected moments of the night. The original plan was for Goldberg to lose his match against Lesnar and disappear from the company again.
However, this obviously didn't happen. Dave Meltzer believes that Lesnar requested WWE to lose against Goldberg. Because he believed this rivalry to be profitable for him and the company. Fortunately, Lesnar and Vince McMahon agreed with that option. Later, Goldberg got into a rivalry with Kevin Owens and won the Universal Championship, which he then lost to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33.
#1 Curt Hawkins didn't want his losing streak to end
In WWE, wrestlers want to create their winning streak and then keep it for however long they can. But Curt Hawkins was famous for another thing -- losing his matches. The former SmackDown Tag Team Champion had a unique losing streak of 269 matches. It finally ended at WrestleMania 35 when Zack Ryder and Hawkins got their hands on the RAW Tag Team Championships.
But there came a point when this streak could have ended long ago. Once, WWE booked Hawkins to win against Heath Slater at the Main Event. But he requested the management to let him lose the match.
Who begs to lose matches? I literally did that though where I said that I can't win matches, and they were cool about it in the first place where they were telling me that I did a good job and that I am going to win a match. But I was like, "No, you don't understand."
Hawkins also revealed in the same interview (link above) that an online article inspired him to keep losing matches in WWE.
Which of these stories surprised you the most? Have your say in the comments.