In Rocky 1, Rocky looses the big fight, then comes back and wins the rematch in Rocky 2.

Now they filmed both AJ1 and AJ2 before AJ1 hit the air, so they could have shown either one first. I think they did this one first just because Mel picked a pretty boy, and that in the next one a Joe will win, giving the final happy ending to the whole series. It is the smart thing to do for dramatic purposes, it creates a bit more tension for AJ2, and makes a victory by a Joe even more satisfying.

It looks like in AJ2, there will be more pretty boys, and they will come in earlier in the game. My bet is the Joes will all be more like Adam, and the Himbos more like Zack/Jason types so the Joes will clean their clocks and one of them win.

And no, I am not Adam. I just happen to like Rocky movies too.