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

[King Pitcos]

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.

 

The problem with it is that the moment he turns, Roman Reigns loses a shitload of his YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD VINCE DON'T TELL ME WHO TO CHEER I'M GOING TO MY ROOM factor. Near enough every full time Big Fight Feel match over the last few years has been Vince's Golden Babyface vs Internet Darling. The last one I remember that didn't fall into that category was the first Shield vs Wyatts match, and that was a couple of weeks before WWE said "we'll change all our plans if you tantrum enough, kids."

 

Reigns and Cena are bigger heels when they're top babyfaces, because if they're actual heels, you're not raging against the machine by booing them. For the same reason, Daniel Bryan was more over when he was being "buried" and "held down" than he was when he was the champion.

[Jazzy G]

If they turned Reigns heel and he started cutting badass promos and doing his thing they'd probably start losing their shit for him. It was like when the Doctor Of Thugonomics was getting big pops then Cena cuts that rap promo about how beautiful Steph is or something and they rounded on him as he became a pandering babyface. That promo he cut in the buildup to the Rock match was brilliant.

[Dirty Eddie]

I blame the writing, at least in part....

 

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.

 

There are lots of great point in this thread, the highlighted bits above hit the nail on the head.

 

People can moan all they want about heels trying to be funny and entertaining, but quite honestly in a lot of cases that element is the only interesting thing about WWE feuds these days. Imagine everyone playing it straight with the current WWE writing and scripting style - it would be bland as fuck. At least Jericho, Owens and the like inject some actual personality. Same with New Day before the shark jump. 

 

At the top of the card they keep doing things to make their new main event guys seem like chumps. That shit with all the RAW roster standing on the stage for a chat from Stephanie made them look like school kids. In the ring it's no different. There was a point during survivor Series where Shane McMahon was knocking shit out of both Seth and Roman. Imagine Vince doing that to Rock and Austin back in the day? Mental.

 

Meanwhile they show everyone they actually can do it right, with Goldberg - looking like the biggest deal on the planet. Here's an idea - try that with your full-time roster perhaps.

 

The WWE have only themselves to blame for the particularly smarky-fan shite they have to endure.You can't  pander to social media and insist on constant interaction and feedback, and then be all pissed of when some of it isn't positive.

 

It's not like wrestling fan audiences haven't always had a twat element anyway, it's just a different element now. I'm going through old WCW's and the amount of horrid, shirtless, pissed up idiots at Nitro chanting USA at everyone "a bit foreign" sticks out. As does the booing of the black wrestlers down south in some towns. I'll take dickhead hipster fans over rowdy, drunken Trump supporters!

[Guest]

wrestlers being like kids and the McMahons/GMs being the adults is really common on Raw

Like a few weeks ago when Rollins had nicked off with Jericho's list Steph went "Seth Rollins, you give that list back right now!!", meanwhile Seth's pretending he hasn't got it behind his back. Bloody schoolyard shit. Of course not everything should be played straight and a Jericho character adds crucial colour to the shows, but stuff like that its like Christ, they're never making a new star are they

[simonworden]

That's one of the key differences for me between Smackdown and Raw at the moment take Survivor Series for example 

When Corbin had his chat with Bryan and basically said he doesn't give a fuck he came across how a serious wrestler should

(Unsure on the spoiler rules for a segment like that). If it was on RAW Stephanie or Foley would've chastised him and had him bow down and fucking apologise killing any heat for future angles.

[Yakashi]

I've managed to make it big by angering a fan so much, that they wrote a letter to ex Power Slam Editor Fin Martin to dress me down. All because I made a small post in the comment section of the power slam Facebook page. Below is the letter in question with my comment in quotes:

 

Just saw this comment on the Power Slam Facebook page:

 

“Let’s hope Lesnar comes out [on the November 21 Raw] and annihilates that pointless cruiserweight division and some of the useless, disposable babyfaces, like Cesaro. Having a furious Lesnar go on a killing rampage to get his rematch would be great. Glad Goldberg is sticking around: finally, an actual star.”

 

This guy represents everything that is wrong with WWE.

 

“Pointless cruiserweight division”? All of those performers have more wrestling talent than Brock Lesnar and Goldberg combined. And they will be pointless, if they are crushed by the now-irrelevant Lesnar.

 

Cesaro, “useless”? What f—king wrestling show is this idiot watching? Clearly, he couldn’t recognise talent, if it bit him on the arse. “Disposable”? If that’s true, it’s because WWE has made him that way.

 

Finally, an “actual star”? Once again, that’s because WWE has presented Goldberg as a star. If Cesaro was presented as strongly, he’d be an “actual star” too.

 

I’ve said many times that WWE’s biggest problem is Vince McMahon. I’d like to correct myself. WWE’s biggest problem is its fans.

 

Gary McBain

 

 

Now , I thought I had some good points. Cesaro is fucking horrific. The cruiserweight division is a complete waste of time and means absolutely nothing. But, alas, they all have more talent than Goldberg and Lesnar combined

[WyattSheepMask]

I always like it when people say things like "all this performers have more wrestling talent than Lesnar & Goldberg combined". What do they actually mean by that? That because Brock & Goldberg can string together a bunch of flips and dives they therefore can't 'wrestle'? It's just such a nothing argument

[air_raid]

The best worker is the one that makes them make the most noise, brother.

[HarmonicGenerator]

You'd think if they were such fans of the cruiserweights they'd give them some semblance of a reaction during cruiserweight matches. Kendrick and Kalisto were giving it everything at Survivor Series and the crowd were absolutely dead for it.

[Jackpot]

Fans cheering heels and what not also has a lot to do with the fact that there's no real reason to boo them. Owens is a heel but what has he done that's heelish? I'm not a massive NXT fan so I might be wrong, but when he powerbombed Sami into the ring apron, he was booed because he was being dastardly. Now he just basically abuses non-wrestlers and very little else in terms of genuine heel work - regardless of his in-ring work. 

 

Rusev's anti-American gimmick got him booed across arenas. Lana still calling everywhere America whether they're in Scotland or Canada gets booed. (those same fans would chant "we want Lana" if Rusev was in the ring on his todd mind).

 

And because the heels don't do the horrible acts, there's no sympathy for the babyface to actually be cheered. 

 

So it really does break down into who the fans like because as much as everybody isn't a stat, pretty much everybody is playing the same midcard role. 

[drkopen]

And because the heels don't do the horrible acts, there's no sympathy for the babyface to actually be cheered.

 

How can the heels do anything though when all the baby faces are booked like dicks.

 

Look at the Reigns/Rusev feud for example and even this Ambrose/AK fued. The baby faces are more heelish than the heels.

 

Goldberg is probably the only true baby face left.

[Briefcase]

I think Social Media and the Internet has a big part to play. Everyone knows everything now, people are easily persuaded by what they read online and to some extent people follow the crowd. 

 

I still think Brexit and Trump in some respects are because of people on social media passing comments and people jumping on the bandwagon and/or against the establishment, it does sway votes and views in a certain way I think, social media appears to have given everybody a voice and platform to get likes/tweets and in a sense be popular and that transcends into people trying to get themselves over on TV.

[boytoy]

 

And because the heels don't do the horrible acts, there's no sympathy for the babyface to actually be cheered.

How can the heels do anything though when all the baby faces are booked like dicks.

 

In retrospect Hulk Hogan was kind of a bit of a dick too. He was cool enough to pull it off though.

 

I do get what you mean though. Babyface Sheamus was a bigger bully than anyone on the roster. 

[tiger_rick]

It's not to do with babyfaces. Heels don't have any tools anyway. A foot on the rope seems to be about it. All the old tricks of the trade have gone. The foreign objects, choking, hair pulling, managers distracting refs and getting sly digs in. The Miz is a rare exception to some of that and he's the best heel on the roster.

[Supremo]

What I think makes me hate modern smarky fans so much these days is that I share an office with the worst type. There's about four of them in my office, I've never let on that I watch, but they're constantly coming up with the type of shit that does my head in. Literally just now I walked through a conversation about how, "Reigns can't even make himself look good, never mind anyone else." Yesterday consisted of them discussing how, "botchtastic," the women's match at Survivor Series was. They're all furious with the main event of Survivor Series, of course. And one of them recently noted that he loves Smackdown, "because Cana's not around."