WWE Losers of the Week (02/08/18): Reigns Complains, Oh No Gargano

WWE Losers Black Gargano

Would you look at that; we’ve got another brand new column for all you lovely people. In a similar vein to our new Wrestlers of the Week piece, we’ll be listing all the superstars who caught our attention, only this time, we’re listing the wrestlers who are on our radar for all the wrong reasons.

This is one list the guys in WWE don’t want to be on. Being here means they were made to look like right fools either through losing matches, getting trashed on the mic, or even being beaten down in the back.

Let’s see which stars failed to impress this week.

 

10. Roman Reigns

Roman, you got your rematch with Brock Lesnar so can you please stop annoying everyone with your constant whining and complaining?

The Big Dog obviously couldn’t be trusted around the Universal Champion, and because no one could find a muzzle big enough to fit Reigns, Stephanie McMahon ordered Raw GM Kurt Angle and Constable Baron Corbin to remove Reigns from the building.

Without doing a damn thing, Lesnar well and truly got under Roman’s skin this week, and he didn’t even get a chance to confront his SummerSlam opponent. Reigns did a terrible job of looking strong. If anything, he came across as pitiful.

 

9. The Usos (Jimmy & Jey)

Jimmy & Jey put on a great bout against The Bar this week to see which team would advance in the No.1 contender tournament for the chance to compete for the SD Tag Team Titles. Despite their efforts, The Usos came up short and are out of the running.

Ultimately, there were much bigger losers this week in WWE, but there’s no denying it must be killing Jimmy & Jey to lose out on a potential match with The Bludgeon Brothers at SummerSlam. The Usos are still a threat in the division, so don’t expect them to stay on this list for too long.

 

8. Braun Strowman

braun
Source: WWE

Why oh why didn’t Braun Strowman march into Brock Lesnar’s dressing room at the very start of Raw, beat the crap out of him, drag his corpse to the ring, and cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase?

Because Strowman didn’t do any of this, he had his briefcase momentarily stolen by Kevin Owens, and as a result he lost a match against Jinder Mahal via count-out.

I suppose Braun wasn’t beaten in a dominant fashion, but the heels didn’t half give him the run-around. Get your head in the game, Braun; you’re meant to be a monster.

 

7. Finn Bálor

What a difference a week makes. Last Monday, Bálor was doing pretty well for himself, picking up two victories on Raw and refusing to let Constable Baron Corbin get under his skin. This week, the former Universal Champion was dominated by Corbin.

The match was just as underwhelming as their bout at Extreme Rules, but WWE’s need for 50/50 booking made this a whole lot worse. Baron Corbin’s win over Bálor now puts them at one apiece, so you can bet there’ll be a third match at SummerSlam. Post match, Corbin leathered Bálor with a series of elbows on the crowd barrier which only served to make Finn look even weaker.

This was not a good week for the Irishman. Being stuck in a boring feud is bad enough, but coming off as the loser as well is just adding insult to injury.

 

6. Akam (Representing Authors of Pain)

Rezar is guilty by association, but at least he wasn’t the one physically losing this match. Akam — you know, that terrifyingly large legit badass — was squashed by Apollo Crews. Yep, you read that right, I’m afraid.

The Authors of Pain are above fighting in such a pathetically bad feud, but now they’re on the back foot, as well. Nothing about this is right, and I really, really hope Crews and Titus O’Neill aren’t going to continually get the better of Akam & Rezar.

You can chalk this one up to Akam paying his dues on the main roster if you want, but I think it’s nothing more than an absolute piss-take. Put the AoP against a decent team or put them straight into title contention.

 

5. Candice LaRae

Mrs Wrestling wasn’t a happy bunny last week when Shayna Baszler said Candice should stick to being a homemaker. LaRae set out to prove Baszler wrong, but it didn’t quite pan out that way.

The bout between LaRae and the NXT Women’s Champion was very good, and Candice got in some great offence. The power of Shayna proved to be too much though, as Baszler choked the life out of Johnny Wrestling’s wife for a tap out victory.

Getting pinned is one thing, but losing by submission is always going to be a more devastating loss. Candice LaRae wanted to prove she was in the champion’s league, but toppling Baszler ended up being easier said than done.

 

4. The Deleters of Worlds (Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt)

I didn’t think it was possible for these guys to slip further down the card, but life has a funny way of surprising us. Matt and Bray got into a war of words with The B-Team before Dash and Dawson came down to the ring to shut everyone up.

A scuffle led to a match between The Deleters of Worlds and The Revival, and Bray Wyatt ate a Shatter Machine and the pin. The former Raw Tag Team Champions were still chasing their former titles when they were challenged, but surely they can’t still be in contention after yet another loss?

The original hubbub surrounding Matt and Bray has almost completely diminished. As far as the tag team division is concerned, The Deleters of Worlds are becoming one huge joke.

 

3. Jeff Hardy

From one failed Hardy brother to the other. It looks their time in the sun is over.

Jeff came out this week on SmackDown to rant and rave some nonsense about the US Title being like his fifth eye and that he is going to take it back from Shinsuke Nakamura regardless of whether Randy Orton gets in his way. Then Randy got in his way, following a Kinshasa from Nakamura to Hardy, who came out of nowhere.

Hardy took another beating from the Viper, and Orton took away the Charismatic Enigma’s face-paint and pendant. The man looked, dare I say it, broken.

Jeff is just getting beat from pillar to post these days, and there’s not much he can really do about it. At least he’s getting paid a lot of money for his troubles.

 

2. Johnny Gargano

Last week, Johnny Gargano had the terrible misfortune to hand his biggest nemesis the NXT Championship. This week, he had to sit in the back and listen to Tommaso Ciampa gloat about it.

Things got worse for Johnny Wrestling when both he and former champ Aleister Black came out separately to confront Ciampa. Gargano watched as Ciampa escaped a serious beatdown, and then he turned around and was struck by a Black Mass heel kick from Black. Johnny G was so focused on what he had accidentally done for Ciampa, he forgot that Aleister Black wasn’t too happy with how things went down either.

Gargano shot high on the list this week because of every wrestler in WWE, only he has the two most dangerous men on any brand chasing after him. Johnny needs to make things right, but it isn’t looking good for him.

 

1. Carmella

Is Carmella simultaneously SmackDown’s strongest and weakest Women’s Champion of all time? I’d say so. She’s beaten Charlotte Flair and Asuka on multiple occasions, but she gets her arse kicked on a weekly basis.

This time around, Carmella looked to get the better of her SummerSlam opponent Becky Lynch with the ol’ ‘I’m a heel, but let’s shake hands’ shtick. The Princess of Staten Island was laying into Becky when Charlotte Flair returned to the show. She saved her friend from being DDT’d onto a steel chair, and Paige rewarded Charlotte with a match against Carmella. The Queen won, and now ‘Mella has two opponents instead of one at SummerSlam.

Fair play to Carmella for delivering another adequate performance, but why is the champion losing so much? All it really does is make us wish the belt was on someone else.

Some guys have some serious work to do to get off this list by next week. It won’t be easy, but with SummerSlam and Takeover: Brooklyn on the horizon, they need to get their arses into gear.

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