With the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up on the horizon, the latest set of brand changes will give some of WWE’s less prominent Superstars a chance to revitalise their careers as members of either the Raw or SmackDown Live rosters.
In 2018, for example, Curt Hawkins remained a member of the Raw roster and his losing run continued throughout the year until he was reunited with Zack Ryder, who moved from SmackDown Live to Raw in last year’s Shake-Up, and the duo went on to win the Raw Tag Team titles from The Revival at WrestleMania 35.
Now that Hawkins is no longer WWE’s biggest loser, there are several Superstars on the main roster who have struggled for victories throughout 2019. In fact, having taken a look through match records (via Pro Fight DB), it turns out that a total of eight full-time Superstars are yet to win a match so far this year.
With that in mind, let’s run through those eight people and take a look at how and why they continue to lose matches.
Disclaimer: Every Superstar must have competed in at least one match. Batista and Dolph Ziggler are not included because they are not full-time. As for Lacey Evans, she has not won a main-roster match but she did win on NXT in January 2019.
#8 Heath Slater
It looked as though Heath Slater might be given a prolonged run on WWE television when he became involved in an interesting storyline with Rhyno and Baron Corbin in December 2018.
However, following singles victories over Rhyno and Jinder Mahal, the former 3MB member disappeared from WWE television after he teamed with Rhyno in a losing effort against Mahal and The Singh Brothers on the New Year’s Eve episode of Raw.
Since then, Slater's only televised match in 2019 came at WrestleMania 35 when he took part in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He had a very limited role in the match, lasting just a couple of minutes before becoming the seventh person to be eliminated.
Rhyno has an identical record to Slater in 2019. However, his name has been removed from the ‘Current Superstars’ section of WWE’s website, so we will have to wait until the Superstar Shake-Up to see if he is still part of the roster.
#7 Lana
Lana has spent the majority of 2019 accompanying Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura to the ring for tag matches, so it is no real surprise that she is yet to win a match this year.
“The Ravishing Russian” also suffered a storyline injury in January after she became involved in an altercation with Rusev and Nakamura and appeared to twist her ankle. The injury ruled her out of the 2019 Royal Rumble, with eventual winner Becky Lynch taking her place, while she wore a protective boot on television for the next two months.
Since returning to the ring, Lana has taken part in the 18-person tag match on SmackDown Live and the Women’s Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35. The tag match descended into chaos and ended without a clear winner, while she was the sixth person to be eliminated from the ‘Mania Battle Royal.
Rusev’s manager last won a match back in August 2018 when she teamed with her husband to defeat Andrade & Zelina Vega on SmackDown Live.
#6 Zelina Vega
Like Lana, Zelina Vega has been used as a manager – or ‘business manager’, in her words – for most of the last year on SmackDown Live.
Her most memorable match of 2019 so far came on the New Year’s Day episode of SmackDown Live when she teamed with Andrade in a losing effort against the unusual duo of John Cena & Becky Lynch.
Four weeks later, she was involved in one of the best moments of the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble with Hornswoggle before being eliminated by Rhea Ripley, while she was also part of the 18-person SmackDown Live tag match on April 2 which ended in a no contest.
Her latest televised match came at WrestleMania 35 when she competed in the Women’s Battle Royal. Despite a decent showing, she never looked likely to win the match and she became the 10th person to be eliminated.
#5 The Club
There has been speculation surrounding plenty of Superstars’ futures with WWE over the last few months, including The Club, whose contracts reportedly expire in September 2019.
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson joined WWE in April 2016 and instantly made an impression by aligning with AJ Styles in his feuds with Roman Reigns and John Cena. They went on to hold the Raw Tag Team titles ahead of WrestleMania 33 in 2017, but their careers appear to have gone downhill, at least from a storyline perspective, ever since.
In 2019, they have lost tag matches against Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura and Big E & Xavier Woods on SmackDown Live, while they were also part of the 18-person tag match which ended without a winner.
Their most recent appearance on WWE television came at WrestleMania 35, where both men were eliminated midway through the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
#4 Shelton Benjamin
Shelton Benjamin lasted nine minutes in the 2019 Royal Rumble before he was eliminated by eventual runner-up Braun Strowman. Since then, like many people on this list, he featured in the 18-person tag match on SmackDown Live and in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35, but he was unable to win on either occasion.
In March, he also became the latest in a long list of SmackDown Live Superstars who surprisingly made an appearance on Raw, when he attacked Seth Rollins from behind and faced him in an impromptu match. He put up a good fight but ultimately lost to the Royal Rumble winner.
Looking back at Benjamin’s 2018 record, he picked up some major pinfall victories over Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan on SmackDown Live, but he spent most of the year away from television and without a major storyline following his split from Chad Gable in the Superstar Shake-Up.
#3 Dana Brooke
Dana Brooke received one of the loudest crowd reactions of the Women’s Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35 when a chant broke out for her during the match. Despite the crowd support, she was only able to make it to the final six before being eliminated.
Charlotte Flair’s former protégé was also part of the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble, entering at #22 and lasting seven minutes before being thrown over the top rope by Rhea Ripley.
Other than those multi-person encounters, Brooke has competed in three regular matches on WWE programming in 2019, with the first coming in January when she teamed with Ember Moon in a losing effort against Alicia Fox & Mickie James on Main Event.
She has also taken part in two matches on Raw, losing a tag match with Natalya against Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan before tapping out after just 17 seconds in a Raw Women’s Championship match against Ronda Rousey.
#2 The Singh Brothers
Curt Hawkins’ losing streak was the talk of the WWE Universe for two-and-a-half years, but it is also worth remembering that The Singh Brothers went two years without a victory before they finally picked up a win, alongside Jinder Mahal, against Heath Slater & Rhyno on Raw in December 2018.
Sadly for the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic entrants, their victory on the final day of 2018 did not result in a winning streak. In fact, they are now racking up more frequent losses on WWE television than ever before.
Their latest losing run began with a six-man tag defeat against Lucha House Party on Raw in January, and they have since lost on another three occasions to the masked trio on Main Event. Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel & Tyler Breeze have also defeated The Singh Brothers, plus Mahal, in two Main Event tag matches.
Looking back through the archives, The Singh Brothers’ last win as a duo in WWE came way back in November 2016 when they defeated Drew Gulak & Tony Nese on the first episode of 205 Live.
#1 The Ascension
Like The Singh Brothers, it looked as though The Ascension’s futures in WWE might pick up heading into 2019 after Konnor surprisingly defeated Chad Gable, Bobby Roode and Rhyno in singles matches in September/October 2018.
However, the former NXT Tag Team champions have appeared in two matches on Monday Night Raw this year, losing against Heavy Machinery on both occasions, while they have lost six times on Main Event (vs. Heavy Machinery x3, Lucha House Party x2, The B-Team x1).
While Konnor’s latest televised win was over Rhyno in October 2018, you have to go back to July 2018 for The Ascension’s last victory in a tag team match, when they defeated Heath Slater & Rhyno on an episode of Main Event.
As for Viktor’s last singles win on WWE television, that took place all the way back in June 2012 when he defeated Jiro during an FCW TV taping.