Has any human being ever been booed more than Roman Reigns (2015-2018)?

[Pinc]

Strange as it sounds, I think Roman might be the most booed human being in history. Outside of wrestling, it is quite rare for anyone to be booed. Many public hate figures never appear in front of large crowds. Those that do are often selective about the audiences they face. Even despised politicians usually appear in front of sympathetic audiences – either because the crowd legitimately support them or are scared of reprisals.

Unpopular sports stars typically command some of the crowd’s support. And in team sports, boos are usually shared among multiple people rather than one person. Celebrities are sometimes booed at public events but its rare enough to be newsworthy whenever it happens. The Wikipedia page for ‘Booing’ lists a load in an ‘examples’ section, with most either isolated incidents or relatively brief (like an Aussie rules footballer who was booed throughout the 2015 season after making racist taunts towards Aboriginal supporters).

The examples section does mention ‘professional wrestling heels.’ But even within wrestling, boos are usually aimed at people who are trying to elicit them. When they aren’t, as when a crowd turns on a babyface, they are usually fleeting. The wrestler either gets the crowd back onside, or they turn heel. Since the nWo (a full thirty years ago) most main event heels tend to get some crowd support along with the jeers. And old school heels usually appeared in front of relatively small crowds. Many of the exceptions were cycled into a territory for a relatively brief period to challenge a marquee babyface.

Between the 2015 Rumble and his leukaemia announcement in 2018, Roman Reigns was booed intensely, sustainedly and against his will by crowds that often exceeded ten thousand people. Some were closer to one hundred thousand. I struggle to think of anyone, living or dead, who will have experienced a three-year period like it. From googling around, there is a commissioner who has apparently been ritually booed (for a few seconds) at every NHL draft and Stanley Cup going back to the 1990s. But Roman was facing hostile crowds multiple times a week and could be booed for the best part of an hour each time.

The main counterargument I can think of is that the boos were for his persona rather than the real fella, and the crowd cheered once he broke character (‘my real name is Joe’). That’s worth an asterisk but I’m not sure it’s entirely true. Wrestling crowds were clearly ‘breaking character’ themselves to boo Roman. The ‘we all hate you … go away’ chants the night after he beat Taker at Mania definitely felt aimed at the performer, and I think that was broadly true throughout the whole three years (although it is something of a grey area, and probably varied over time).

Anyone got a better counter? Or an example of someone who got it worse? Or did Roman really go through something without precedent?

[d-d-d-dAz]

You could argue what being 'liked' means in this context, and whether Roman's boos meant more because he was supposed to be a babyface, but i'd say... yeah, loads.

Vickie Guerrero and Dom Mysterio at their respective pomps jump out from recent times. It was maybe more pantomine booing, as opposed to visceral, against-the-grain dislike; but i'd still argue they were booed more.

In terms of people who were supposed to be liked but really weren't, The Rock had it pretty bad early on. Not as much as his personal myth-making would have you believe, but bad.

Edited August 9 by d-d-d-dAz

[Carbomb]

Cena's the most obvious. I don't know if he was booed more than Reigns, having not seen Reigns' run of that period, but he was booed consistently, and for a very long period, as a top-level face.

[Supremo]

On the subject of Roman, this promo segment with Big Show graced my timeline today. Roman’s contributions start at the five minute mark. I dare you to try and watch it to the end.

Jesus Fucking Christ. Never let anyone try to argue that the booing of Roman was caused by CM Punk’s appearance on Colt’s podcast, or just contrarian fans being dickheads. This was the absolute dog shit they were scripting for him. If anything, he wasn’t booed enough.

When you see something like this, you have a greater understanding of why he’s such a dick-swinging prick these days, burying everyone six feet under. It’s probably a trauma response considering how much shit he had to suffer through.

[Mr_Danger]

12 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

You could argue what being 'liked' means in this context, and whether Roman's boos meant more because he was supposed to be a babyface, but i'd say... yeah, loads.

Vickie Guerrero and Dom Mysterio at their respective pomps jump out from recent times. It was maybe more pantomine booing, as opposed to visceral, against-the-grain dislike; but i'd still argue they were booed more.

In terms of people who were supposed to be liked but really weren't, The Rock had it pretty bad early on. Not as much as his personal myth-making would have you believe, but bad.

There’s a world in which Dirty Dom gets seduced by Cougar Guerrero and it’s both the best and worse thing ever and I imagined it so now you all have to.

[HandsomeButchIII]

13 hours ago, Pinc said:

Anyone got a better counter? Or an example of someone who got it worse? Or did Roman really go through something without precedent?

The Snowman in 1990 in USWA, Ken Shamrock in mid-late 98, Cena is obvious, Jarrett in late 03, my ex.

Edited August 9 by HandsomeButchIII

[simonworden]

7 hours ago, Mr_Danger said:

There’s a world in which Dirty Dom gets seduced by Cougar Guerrero and it’s both the best and worse thing ever and I imagined it so now you all have to.

The fact both WWE and AEW have done Cougar Guerrero to death (mostly WWE) ruins this idea and I'm extremely angry about that. 

[BarryOVega]

Don't know if it's the Monday morning brain fog but it genuinely took me 20 seconds to realise Vickie isn't actually Dom's stepmum

[TheScarlettChad]

26 minutes ago, BarryOVega said:

Don't know if it's the Monday morning brain fog but it genuinely took me 20 seconds to realise Vickie isn't actually Dom's stepmum

She would've been if it wasn't for Rey