10 Huge WWE Upset Wins That Led To Nothing

Andy Ruiz Jr. knocking out Anthony Joshua. The New York Giants winning Super Bowl XLII. The Miracle on Ice. These are just some examples of massive upsets from the wider sporting world.

Wrestling has also seen its fair share of underdog victories, with some leading to significant career upsurges for the winning party. Unfortunately, not everyone can be the 1-2-3 Kid after beating Razor Ramon, as these 10 unfortunate souls demonstrated.

These are 10 huge WWE upset wins that led to nothing.

10. Heath Slater def. Seth Rollins - August 4, 2014 episode of Raw

In the aftermath of Seth Rollins introducing a steel chair to Roman Reigns’ back, the newly-minted baddie began a feud with former Shield buddy Dean Ambrose, with the two set for a match at SummerSlam 2014.

The stipulation was set to be chosen by the winner of a Beat the Clock challenge on Raw. Ambrose had beaten Alberto Del Rio in about 15 minutes earlier that night, so all Rollins had to do was win his match in less time.

And who was his opponent? Perennial jobber Heath Slater. In a delightful turn of events, Ambrose distracted his nemesis, allowing the former 3MB man to roll Rollins up and score a huge win.

This was a legitimately feel-good moment, as Slater had been trying to make something out of nothing since The Nexus broke up. Surely a win over a rising star like Seth would put him on the right track?

Well, let’s see, he beat Dolph Ziggler by count-out, then went on a mini-winning streak on Main Event, then he and Titus O’Neil lost a tag team match to Los Matadores. Oh well.

9. The Hurricane def. The Rock - March 10, 2003 episode of Raw

Though he’s had a handful of pay-per-view matches since then, The Rock hasn’t had a match on Raw since 2003, with one of his last bouts on the flagship show being against a certain caped crimefighter.

In the build to Rock’s encounter with Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 19, he entered a micro-feud with The Hurricane, or, as Rocky labelled him, “The Hamburglar”.

This led to a no disqualification match around three weeks out from the big night, which, if The Brahma Bull won, he could challenge Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at ‘Mania.

Spoiler - this did not happen. During the match, Austin came out to taunt his rival, which allowed Hurricane to roll up The Scorpion King to score the biggest win of his career.

Whilst this moment certainly helped progress the Rock/Austin feud, as it meant that Dwayne was now obliged to fight the Texas Rattlesnake instead, it did very little for Gregory Helms, who didn’t even make it onto the ‘Mania card.

Still, unless he wrestles on Monday nights sometime soon, Hurricane will remain the last person to ever pin The Rock on Raw.

8. Ludvig Borga def. Tatanka - October 30, 1993 episode of Superstars

For the better part of his first two years in the company, Native American superstar Tatanka went undefeated. That was until he ran into this Scandinavian brick wall.

Ludvig Borga, a Finnish fighter who had been big in New Japan, was brought into the World Wrestling Federation in 1993 as their latest foreign menace heel. Borga was immediately placed into a feud with Lex Luger, the most American American, and was put over strong by absolutely decimating Tatanka on an October episode of Superstars.

The man hailing from Finland beat his opponent so badly that he was able to pin him with just one finger, snapping his undefeated streak in brutal and dominating fashion.

This resulted in Luger pinning Borga in the finale of the Survivor Series main event, but whatever plans the company had for him after this failed to materialise. He got hurt in early 1994, taking him out of a planned WrestleMania match with Earthquake, and would never return to TV, peacing out of the company later that year.

7. Erick Rowan def. Roman Reigns - Clash of Champions 2019

Here’s something we totally forgot ever happened - Erick Rowan beat both Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns in the space of nine days!

The former Wyatt Family member had joined forces with D-Bry at Royal Rumble 2019, taking up his eco crusade during that period where the WWE Championship was made of hemp.

The two continued as a unit after the fact, even winning the SmackDown Tag Team Titles together, before Erick Redbeard turned on his smaller friend off the back of the storyline where Roman Reigns kept getting attacked backstage.

This led to Rowan taking on Reigns at Clash of Champions in a No DQ match, which he won with assistance from a returning Luke Harper.

Two SmackDowns later, he beat Bryan with more help from Brodie Lee. This would be as good as it got for Big Red, though, as by the end of the year he was saddled with that god-awful mystery pet gimmick that was eventually revealed to be an animatronic spider. That same spider was then murdered by Drew McIntyre during the build to WrestleMania 36.

When April 2020 rolled around, Rowan was fired by WWE.

6. Cesaro wins the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal - WrestleMania 30

WWE have tried plenty of different tactics over the years to get as many of their performers on WrestleMania as possible, ranging from multi-man ladder matches to huge tag team bouts to the always-reliable battle royal.

The most famous form of this has to be the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which made its debut at WrestleMania 30 and was won by Cesaro.

In a move nobody saw coming, the modern-day Claudio Castagnoli picked up the Big Show and slammed him over the top rope to become the first man to etch his name on the trophy.

This felt like the start of something big for the oft-overlooked performer, but, by the mere fact that this entry exists, you can probably figure out that it wasn’t.

Although he won a match at the next pay-per-view, Cesaro lost a United States Championship match the month after. By Battleground in July, he was filler in yet another Battle Royal and, by SummerSlam, he had been relegated to the pre-show.

Hardly Lesnar-like success for the newest Paul Heyman guy.

5. Maven def. The Undertaker - February 7, 2002 episode of SmackDown

In the 2002 Royal Rumble, Tough Enough winner Maven shocked the world by eliminating The Undertaker from the marquee match. He then shocked the world again by getting used as a human punching bag by an aggravated Deadman.

The pair would continue to feud after the Rumble, leading to a Hardcore Championship bout on SmackDown. With a little help from The Rock and his trainer Al Snow, Maven did the unthinkable and beat The Phenom to win the broken belt, putting him in an elite group of wrestlers to have beaten Undertaker for a championship.

Did Maven’s career then go the way of Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, or Edge? No. Maven remained thoroughly embedded in the undercard, with the occasional brief trip to the lower midcard. He managed to last until 2005 before getting released, without ever adding another championship to his resume.

Not a terrible run by any means, but not the rub you’d expect him to get after repeatedly besting such a legendary figure.

4. Vladimir Kozlov def. The Undertaker - February 17, 2009 episode of SmackDown

For all his historic accomplishments in WWE, The Undertaker was also shoved into some absolutely pointless storylines over the course of his long and illustrious career.

There was the Maven feud, his time spent trying to get Heidenreich over, that one-sided loss to The Great Khali, and then this failed experiment from 2009.

Vladimir Kozlov, a Ukrainian performer with a background in kickboxing, turned up in WWE in 2008 and went on an immediate tear, squashing the great and the good of jobber wrestlers from Funaki to Shannon Moore to Colin Delaney.

The big brute first crossed paths with ‘Taker in November, when he got a victory over him via DQ. Then, about three months later, Kozlov went one better and beat The Deadman clean as a sheet on an episode of SmackDown. Not many people can say they’ve done that.

Where did this go for Kozlov? His next televised match was against Shawn Michaels for the right to fight Taker at WrestleMania, which he lost, and he then faced The Undertaker again on SmackDown, which also ended in disaster.

So what was the point of him winning in the first place? That’s right! There was no point!

3. Otis wins the Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Money in the Bank 2020

Since its inception in 2005, perhaps the most shocking conclusion to a Money in the Bank ladder match was when Otis captured the briefcase in 2020.

AJ Styles and Baron Corbin were fighting over the case atop a ladder, causing it to fly out of their grip and into the waiting arms of Otis below, which technically made him the winner. Everyone wondered how WWE were going to book the big man becoming world champion, but, as it turned out, they didn’t.

After having him flounder for five months, the company booked Otis to lose his prize to The Miz at Hell in a Cell, bringing his lacklustre time as Mr. Money in the Bank to an even more lacklustre end.

He might still be with the company, but Otis has settled firmly into a midcard role as part of Alpha Academy, his days as a potential world champion feeling like a very long time ago.

2. Rico def. Ric Flair - September 16, 2002 episode of Raw

Think of all the legendary names who have beaten Ric Flair over the years. Sting, Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage… Now, add a wrestling hairdresser to that list. Doesn’t quite add up, does it?

On the September 16, 2002 episode of Raw, the 16-time world champion was put into a match with Rico, former stylist of Billy and Chuck.

In this four-minute match, Flair contemplated using a steel chair to cheat, only to throw the weapon away and get hit by a spinning heel kick, allowing the leopard print enthusiast to score this monumental win.

And just how did WWE follow this red-hot victory up? By not giving Rico another televised win for the rest of the year!

Flair is one of the greatest of all time, so booking him to lose should not be taken lightly. But, in this instance, it seems like the company had no plans for what to do after this match and no real reason why they’d chosen Rico, of all people, to win.

1. Fandango def. Chris Jericho - WrestleMania 29

In 2013, the ballroom dance-loving Fandango not only made his in-ring main roster debut, but he did so at WrestleMania 29 in a match against Chris Jericho. And guess what? He bloody won.

In the upset to end all upsets, this rookie with a gimmick that would have been considered corny in 1995 pinned one of the greatest wrestlers to ever lace up a pair of boots at WWE’s flagship show. Surely WWE had to have massive plans for this guy, right?

One month on from this unprecedented moment, Fandango and Jericho had another match at Extreme Rules, which Y2J won.

He wouldn’t get another pay-per-view win until October’s Hell in a Cell, where he and Summer Rae took on The Great Khali and Natalya in a cursed mixed tag, and by WrestleMania 30, one year on from his mind-blowing debut, he was a bit player in the Andre Battle Royal.

In terms of a start to your televised WWE career, you literally couldn’t ask for much more than Fandango got. And yet, somehow, some way, they managed to flush it all down the drain within the space of 12 months.