Most of the time, WWE matches are super predictable. While they may vary slightly from match to match, for the most part, babyfaces are supposed to win clean, whereas heels are supposed to “cheat” their way to victory.
Although there have been times when WWE threw a curveball and decided to do the unthinkable. The following stars hold victories over some of the top names in the company’s history, but nobody expected them to go over.
Heath Slater
Heath Slater faced Seth Rollins on the August 4, 2014, edition of Monday Night Raw. This was a Beat the Clock match. Earlier that night, Dean Ambrose had defeated Alberto Del Rio in the same matchup after 15 minutes and 42 seconds. Rollins had to beat this time and win against Slater. This should’ve been an easy matchup for Rollins, who was the Money in the Bank briefcase holder at that time.
But he lost the match due to a distraction from Dean Ambrose, which allowed Slater to roll him up for the victory.
Jinder Mahal
Everyone remembers that upsetting moment when Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at Backlash 2017. Nobody had expected this to happen as Mahal was nowhere near the main event scene to defeat The Viper. But WWE still made this decision.
Over the course of the next few months, Mahal gained a few more wins over Randy Orton, although none of them were clean.
Shelton Benjamin
In March 2004, there was a segment on Raw where Evolution (Triple H, Ric Flair, and Batista) attacked Shelton Benjamin backstage. Benjamin got his revenge later that night, when Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff announced a singles match between him and Triple H for the main event.
This was Benjamin’s Raw debut, and he ended up winning against Triple H. The wrestler said WWE wanted to “fast track” him with this victory. Sometime later, Benjamin also wrestled Ric Flair at Backlash 2004, where once again, he emerged victorious.
James Ellsworth
James Ellsworth had some crazy moments on WWE programming. His partnership with Carmella, for instance, saw him win the Women’s Money in the Bank for her in 2017. But this wasn’t the weirdest part of his WWE run.
Back in October 2016, James Ellsworth faced AJ Styles. This match surprisingly ended with a victory in his favor, although he received some help from Dean Ambrose, who was feuding with The Phenomenal One at that time. He defeated Styles two more times, and in both cases, Ambrose assisted him.
Lord Tensai
In April 2012, Lord Tensai (formerly known as A-Train) defeated John Cena during the Raw SuperShow in London. This was an Extreme Rules match.
Tensai managed to beat Cena after David Otunga interfered. The distraction allowed Tensai to spit green mist at Cena, followed by a Baldo Bomb for the win.
Ishaan Sharma has been following wrestling ever since he was 8. That was over a decade ago. He loves to write about this pretend sport and has worked with online publications such as Sportskeeda and TheSportster, where he shared his insights about the wrestling business.