how did audience reaction get to the point it's at today?

[The Gaffer]

Imagine trying to get puroresu tapes to whatever dorm Ambrose was in that week. The Observer must have been sent by owl.

[Jon-Carr_92]

Does anyone else think this "I paid my money, I'll say/do what I want" argument doesn't really wash off anymore? I can't stand people who are more interested in getting themselves over to the point they forget where they are.

[Guest]

It's so frustrating that they won't turn Reigns. He's got the most heat of anyone on the roster week in and week out, turn him and then we've got a serious big time main event heel that won't be getting cheers.

 

Meltzer has spoken about this phenomena for want of a better word and he puts it down to the casual audience being ran off. So you're left with the hardcore nerdy fans who cheer for whoever they like and aren't as easily swayed by the booking.

I think one thing most fans can agree on is that we wanna see a Roman turn, but the worrying thing is, with reactions the way they are. Reigns finally snaps and turns into a bastard, there's a good fucking chance he's all of a sudden beloved. it's truly fucked in the case of him

 

At least Owens in theory can turn face and the pop he gets just increases. Roman may just get the exact opposite reaction they're fishing for no matter what, cos they know he's "the company's guy" and ha, ha! sabotaging stuff rulez!!

[Pinc]

 

It's so frustrating that they won't turn Reigns. He's got the most heat of anyone on the roster week in and week out, turn him and then we've got a serious big time main event heel that won't be getting cheers.

 

Meltzer has spoken about this phenomena for want of a better word and he puts it down to the casual audience being ran off. So you're left with the hardcore nerdy fans who cheer for whoever they like and aren't as easily swayed by the booking.

I think one thing most fans can agree on is that we wanna see a Roman turn, but the worrying thing is, with reactions the way they are. Reigns finally snaps and turns into a bastard, there's a good fucking chance he's all of a sudden beloved. it's truly fucked in the case of him

 

 

I think the heel turn itself would get big cheers, partly because people just like being present for the big moments, but surely they're self-aware enough to refrain from giving him sustained cheers once he goes heel?

[Guest]

 

 

It's so frustrating that they won't turn Reigns. He's got the most heat of anyone on the roster week in and week out, turn him and then we've got a serious big time main event heel that won't be getting cheers.

 

Meltzer has spoken about this phenomena for want of a better word and he puts it down to the casual audience being ran off. So you're left with the hardcore nerdy fans who cheer for whoever they like and aren't as easily swayed by the booking.

I think one thing most fans can agree on is that we wanna see a Roman turn, but the worrying thing is, with reactions the way they are. Reigns finally snaps and turns into a bastard, there's a good fucking chance he's all of a sudden beloved. it's truly fucked in the case of him

 

 

I think the heel turn itself would get big cheers, partly because people just like being present for the big moments, but surely they're self-aware enough to refrain from giving him sustained cheers once he goes heel?

 

Maybe, but also take the shite WWE Babyface Promos away from Reigns and what are you left with? A fucking bad-ass super athlete

[WyattSheepMask]

Does anyone else think this "I paid my money, I'll say/do what I want" argument doesn't really wash off anymore? I can't stand people who are more interested in getting themselves over to the point they forget where they are.

I don't thinks it's so much that it doesn't wash anymore, it's more that people use as some kind of get out clause to act like a dickhead. People do pay their money and you want them to have a good time, but it's down to audience to do that so if they want to act like a bunch of entitled marks then that's what they're going to do. Ultimately, you can't say "come one come all and have a great time" and then have a whinge when people get carried away

It's a bit of a grey area. People pay their money so can act how they want to so long as it is within reason. For example, me and a friend went to see Rammstein a few years back. The opening act that night was a group called Combichrist, who I had not heard of at the time. We stood there and gave them a go, but they weren't doing anything for me and my friend so we procecceded to just chat amongst ourselves as good as you can when your at a metal gig in an arena. A few minutes go by and a woman in front of us turns around and lays onto us "will you shut up! Your ruining the band for me". Now as I said, my friend and I were just chatting to eachother, I don't recall specifically what about but we weren't critiquing the band or anything like, we were just talking like people do only slightly raised voices so we can actually hear eachother. She then finished it with "how would you like it if I talked all the way through Rammstein?" to which we said "then you'll have wasted your money because that's who you, I and everybody else paid to see tonight. We've all paid to see Rammstein, you'd be in a very small minority if you'd paid to see the support act specifically. This is a Rammstein show, if I want to talk to my friend during a support act that I haven't chosen specifically to see, that's my choice to make". My point is, we were not disrupting the show (at least in my eyes) because we didn't like what we were seeing so we did something else, in this case had a chat. It wasn't like we were stood there giving them fingers screaming "your shit!" or something along those lines.

If it were a wrestling show and whatever match is on is not doing anything for you, then you can go get a drink, go look at the merch or whatever, and again if I want to talk to whoever I'm with then I should have the right to do so as I've paid to be there. Where the line gets blurred is when the match isn't doing anything for you, so you decide to start shouting "CM PUNK!" or "JBL!" or some other shit to put the focus on yourself. Saying "I've paid my money" doesn't give you free reign to start shouting random shit and acting the dickhead.

It's similar to when your at a festival, if you don't like whoever is on there is plenty of other things for you to do and other bands for you to see, but instead people act like martyrs and use "I've paid my money..." as some sort of justification to act and do whatever they want.

 

Just because you can doesn't mean you should

[Guest]

The festival comparison is good. Somewhere out there, there's a Cena boo-boy who's also thrown a bottle of piss at Lethal Bizzle. And one day, I am going to eat their internal organs.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I wonder if the sense of entitlement has been brewing in the background for a lot longer than Punk in 2011 or even Cena. There's a sense, and I don't know if it's come from the official WWE narrative or other sources, that two of the biggest stars in history, Stone Cold and The Rock, were underappreciated/a cool heel respectively, and it was the fans catching on to their greatness - not the WWE machine getting behind them - that resulted in them being the megastars they became. It seems clear to me that they're as much, or almost as much, a product of the system as a Hogan or Cena, but I bet there's fans who justify their actions now with the idea in their head that only they, the best fans, know who the top guys should be because they, not the company, made sure the likes of Rock and Austin became top guys.

[Astro Hollywood]

It's not a mentality that's unique to wrestling. Since media became 'interactive', and tweets got read out on TV, making the audience feel a part of it, the same sense of entitlement has infected everything. Look how many complaint storms there are now, about everything on TV, or mass petitions over every X-Factor or Strictly contestant who either got eliminated 'too early' or not soon enough, or something else that points to a 'fix' for viewers who wanted another result, or when some fucking soap character dies, or when David Attenborough uses a shot of a penguin from a week before all the other clips, or a presenter says something that doesn't align with their views, or when anyone on any reality show does anything, people are ringing/tweeting/setting up e-petitions in their droves to get them, or the producers sent straight to hell, because they made the wrong decision.

 

They're at it all the time, fuming when every aspect of the thing they watch doesn't go their way, gathering signatures to have the Walking Dead resurrect that character they liked, or hasgtagging #fix #fumin when the comedy act goes through to next week's X-Factor. Wrestling just happens in front of live crowds who are encouraged to make noise.

 

Even the 'This is awesome!' shit is just the chanting equivalent of all that "X happened, and Y had the PERFECT reaction', or 'I'M SCREAMING' clickbait, overreacting nonsense.

[Supremo]

I'd love someone who's chanted, "CM Punk," during a Cruiserweight match to explain themselves. You're disrupting a Cruiserweight match, most likely featuring an indie darling, to chant for a guy who doesn't give a duck about the company, is fighting in the UFC and more than likely isn't coming back. What is it supposed to achieve or mean?

[unfitfinlay]

I blame the writing, at least in part. They don't let storylines build like they used to, and results generally don't have much consequences anyway: If somebody loses a Title, they'll probably get a rematch soon. If somebody in their prime has to retire, you know they'll probably be back, because it's happened so many times in the past. Nothing changes and nothing means anything. The gimmick PPVs don't help with this either. Hell in a Cell used to be the ultimate feud ender now it's "Well, it's October so I suppose we should have a cell match eh?"

 

The characters themselves are treated like shite as well. Nobody wants to cheer a pussy and, yet, that's how a lot of WWE's babyfaces are presented. One of the things that sent Austin into superstardom was that Vince was absolutely fucking terrified of him. Now? We get shit like Stephanie slapping Reigns about and calling him a cunt while he just stands there and takes it. Granted, male on female violence isn't going to work well nowadays but why book the segment in the first place? I'm not an Indy fapper (anymore) and I actually like Reigns but I'm not cheering for him after shit like that.

 

I'm not defending cunty fans but I do think they'd be less vocal if the product was more engaging. At the very least they might get drowned out by normal fans who, judging by the ratings, aren't watching at the moment.

[AshC]

If it isn't engaging, don't go. Don't ruin it for the kids and others who are engaged.

[Guest]

It's not a mentality that's unique to wrestling. Since media became 'interactive', and tweets got read out on TV, making the audience feel a part of it, the same sense of entitlement has infected everything. Look how many complaint storms there are now, about everything on TV, or mass petitions over every X-Factor or Strictly contestant who either got eliminated 'too early' or not soon enough, or something else that points to a 'fix' for viewers who wanted another result, or when some fucking soap character dies, or when David Attenborough uses a shot of a penguin from a week before all the other clips, or a presenter says something that doesn't align with their views, or when anyone on any reality show does anything, people are ringing/tweeting/setting up e-petitions in their droves to get them, or the producers sent straight to hell, because they made the wrong decision.

 

They're at it all the time, fuming when every aspect of the thing they watch doesn't go their way, gathering signatures to have the Walking Dead resurrect that character they liked, or hasgtagging #fix #fumin when the comedy act goes through to next week's X-Factor. Wrestling just happens in front of live crowds who are encouraged to make noise.

 

Even the 'This is awesome!' shit is just the chanting equivalent of all that "X happened, and Y had the PERFECT reaction', or 'I'M SCREAMING' clickbait, overreacting nonsense.

Another great point. Remember when the dog from Family Guy died and was replaced? There seemed to be an actual fucking mourning process for this cartoon dog, actual outpouring of all sorts of bizarre emotions from bafflingly unstable people. I believe the next episode he was brought back

[WyattSheepMask]

He was brought back two episodes later. He wasn't dead a month, and was always going to be brought back. Instead people had a spaz and convinced themselves that they'd convinced the writers to bring him back due to the reaction online

[Keith Houchen]

Indeed, it was like the day The Sun didn't run a page three but, much like Family Guy, the tits were brought back.