History Main / CrackDefeat

* ''Manga/KenganAshura'': This happens a few times to the Kengan fighters during their fights against Purgatory in ''Omega''. Based on the Purgatory rules, the fighters lose if they got out the ring, or if they caused their opponents to die. Kaolan Wongsawat, despite inflicting brutal damage to his opponent Carlos Mendel (while remaining relatively unscathed himself), lost the first match because Carlos managed to trick him into a ring out.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'': In "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", Agatha loses the singing contest to Lacienaga despite having a much better singing voice. It later turns out Wizard Kelly had the votes rigged because Agatha is ugly. After Penny informs her of this, Lacienega refuses. But when [=LaCienega=] is about to take the stage with Alicia Keys, knowing full well that Agatha should be there. She's about to go on when Agatha, who has [[WhatYouAreInTheDark no idea]] she's the real winner, [[GracefulLoser genuinely wishes her good luck]], which makes Lacienaga guilty enough to do the right thing and gives her prize, performing on stage with Music/AliciaKeys, to Agatha. Later, karma rewards Lacienaga for her honesty when Alicia Keys invites her to perform in her next music video along with Agatha.

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E13SaddlesoreGalactica Saddlesore Galactica]]": In the subplot, Lisa's school plays "Living in America" at a state fair band competition; your winner, however, is some school who plays "The Stars And Stripes Forever", but has red, white, and blue glow sticks at the end (Lisa believes that those are illegal, and indeed they are). It takes President Clinton himself to overturn this decision, resulting in a SpoofAesop.

** In the [[http://www.grudge-match.com/History/rollerball.shtml Tournament of Losers,]] [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] wins against [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]], ComicBook/{{Spiderman}}, Creator/BruceLee, [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]], and ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Unfair Science Fair", Doof enters a grade school science fair because of a long history of entering them as a child, always with creations remarkable for someone his age (or anyone really), and losing every single time to a baking soda volcano. He later gave up science fairs and tried writing poetry, but, curiously, [[RuleOfFunny still lost to a baking soda volcano]]. This also contains a weird double subversion, as the winner of that science fair was a girl with an impressive set of self-made, [[Franchise/SpiderMan Doc Ock-style]] [[ArtificialLimbs mechanical arms]]... that she used to build her ''real'' project, [[MundaneUtility a baking soda volcano.]]

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E13SaddlesoreGalactica Saddlesore Galactica]]": In the subplot, Lisa's school plays "Living in America" at a state fair band competition; your winner, however, is some school who plays ''The Stars And Stripes Forever'', but has red, white, and blue glow sticks at the end (Lisa believes that those are illegal, and indeed they are). It takes President Clinton himself to overturn this decision, resulting in a SpoofAesop.

A character is in a competition of some sort, and it is clearly apparent that they are the best of the competition and are deserving of the grand prize. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the character ends up losing to an obviously inferior character. Often used to effect the StatusQuoGameShow trope, while still showing how good the character is at what they do. Can be extended to a character fit for a certain job being spurned in favor of someone inferior. Usually the dubious decision goes unexplained, but in some examples, there is an excuse for such dubious judging.

* ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'':

* In ''Webcomic/{{Gastrophobia}}'', Phobia and Klepto have a [[CookingDuel cooking match]] to prove who's the better cook. Phobia makes [[CordonBleughChef squirrel-bacon applesauce.]] Klepto ''[[AnachronismStew invents]]'' apple pie. Phobia wins by default because Klepto is just a slave.

** [[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E22GlomTales GlomTales]] concludes the story arc of Scrooge and Glomgold competing against each other in a bet over who can accumulate the most money in a set amount of time; the winner gets both of their companies. Out of desperation, Glomgold strikes up a partnership with the rest of the villains the [=McDucks=] have faced so far and attempts to sabotage the contest by raiding the manor, but Louie, who was grounded at the time, is the only one to be in the manor while the rest of the family was away. He convinces Glomgold to pool their resources together before having Glomgold sign him up as his partner, knowing from an earlier episode [[spoiler:that [[ChekhovsGun "Flintheart Glomgold" is a pseudonym]]. So by using his ''real'' name on the contract where Glomgold wouldn't dare to do the same, all the money, which Glomgold had planned to steal anyway to win the bet, gets forfeited to Louie along with both Glomgold ''and'' Scrooge's enterprises, to everyone's surprise]]. [[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E23TheRichestDuckInTheWorld The following episode]] deconstructs this somewhat, however, showing that Louie wasn't prepared to deal with actually ''running'' the business despite having earning it, [[spoiler:so he gives Scrooge his company back at the end of it all, while Glomgold weasels his way into reacquiring his own company in the Season 2 finale]].

** [[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E22GlomTales GlomTales]] concludes the story arc of Scrooge and Glomgold competing against each other in a bet over who can accumulate the most money in a set amount of time; the winner gets both of their companies. Out of desperation, Glomgold strikes up a partnership with the rest of the villains the [=McDucks=] have faced so far and attempts to sabotage the contest by raiding the manor, but Louie, who was grounded at the time, is the only one to be in the manor while the rest of the family was away. He convinces Glomgold to pool their resources together before having Glomgold sign him up as his partner, knowing from an earlier episode that [[ChekhovsGun "Flintheart Glomgold" is a pseudonym]]. So by using his ''real'' name on the contract where Glomgold wouldn't dare to do the same, all the money, which Glomgold had planned to steal anyway to win the bet, gets forfeited to Louie along with both Glomgold ''and'' Scrooge's enterprises, to everyone's surprise. [[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E23TheRichestDuckInTheWorld The following episode]] deconstructs this somewhat, however, showing that Louie wasn't prepared to deal with actually ''running'' the business despite having earning it, so he gives Scrooge his company back at the end of it all, while Glomgold weasels his way into reacquiring his own company in the Season 2 finale.

** [[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E22GlomTales GlomTales]] concludes the story arc of Scrooge and Glomgold competing against each other in a bet over who can accumulate the most money in a set amount of time; the winner gets both of their companies. Out of desperation, Glomgold strikes up a partnership with the rest of the villains the [=McDucks=] have faced so far and attempts to sabotage the contest by raiding the manor, but Louie, who was grounded at the time, is the only one to be in the manor while the rest of the family was away. He convinces Glomgold to pool their resources together before having Glomgold sign him up as his partner, knowing from an earlier episode that [[ChekovsGun "Flintheart Glomgold" is a pseudonym]]. So by using his ''real'' name on the contract where Glomgold wouldn't dare to do the same, all the money, which Glomgold had planned to steal anyway to win the bet, gets forfeited to Louie along with both Glomgold ''and'' Scrooge's enterprises, to everyone's surprise. [[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E23TheRichestDuckInTheWorld The following episode]] deconstructs this somewhat, however, showing that Louie wasn't prepared to deal with actually ''running'' the business despite having earning it, so he gives Scrooge his company back at the end of it all, while Glomgold weasels his way into reacquiring his own company in the Season 2 finale.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In "The House of the Lucky Gander," the cartoonishly, supernaturally lucky Gladstone Gander is pitted against UnluckyEverydude Donald Duck. Gladstone walks at leisurely stroll and skips half the race through luck, while Donald struggles through a DeathCourse and is left hopelessly in the dust. [[spoiler: Gladstone suddenly stops to pick up a [[RunningGag dropped twenty-dollar bill]], and Louie uses the time to deliver a pep talk that drives Donald into a rage-fueled rampage that carries him past the finish line.]]

** In "[[Recap/TotalDramaSuperHeroId Super Hero-Id]]", the contestants have to come up with a superhero identity and powers and create their own costume, judged by originality. Courtney makes up a cricket-themed superheroine with a sound-based superpower. She loses to Lindsay, who merely dressed up as Wonder Woman.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Action'': Courtney's losses post-merge are repeatedly invoked by Chris [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem whenever he can]], who evidently didn't like that she won a lawsuit against him for her rigged elimination in the previous season.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': While both teams are quite skilled, the probending championship is won by the Wolfbats who blatantly cheat, having paid off the referees. However, this quickly pales in view of Amon's uprising happening just after their victory, using their cheating as proof that benders need to be eliminated.