Last Monday Night Raw saw the anticipated debut of the Wyatt Family. Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan came to the ring and attacked Kane. Wyatt came down to the ring with a lantern and sat on a rocking chair, watching his disciples in Harper and Rowan decimate Kane and drive steel steps into his mask. When Wyatt left the rocking chair to celebrate with Harper and Rowan, the crowd expressed their dismay for the situation.
By chanting “HUSKY HARRIS”.
Husky Harris was Bray Wyatt’s old name in the WWE when he was part of NXT and then the Nexus, before the company decided to send him back to development. What ended up being developed was the creepy, insidious Bray Wyatt character. The character gimmick seems inspired from movies like Deliverance, Cape Fear and possibly the TV series Justified. Wyatt may have some similarities to Waylon Mercy from the early nineties but is absolutely original in the current WWE universe. He’s frightening and subversive without feeling like he has been coated with candy so Mattel sponsors feel better about his presence. He doesn’t look like anything the company has and his charisma just oozes out in every action. The character, his faction, the sheep mask Erick Rowan wears, it’s all a package we haven’t seen from the WWE in a very long time. But all that really mattered to a thousand fans in attendance was to bring up his former name and gimmick.
When cameras stopped rolling and it went to commercial, other fans in attendance tried drowning them out with chants of, “THAT WAS AWESOME” but the damage had already been done. And more importantly, that reaction was no better than the Husky Harris chants. You see, when fans speak their approval in chants, it trivializes everything that’s happening. When the Wyatt Family first walked out, you could hear women, probably teenagers, screaming in fear at the sight of them. That’s the reaction you want. These are heels. Pure heels, with the purpose of enacting evil on the WWE Universe. You don’t give them a chant of approval and you certainly don’t try to show your amazing wrestling knowledge by chanting his former gimmick name.
What’s funny is that I know a lot of people agree with me on the Wyatt situation. But these same people loved the night after Wrestlemania when fans were singing Fandango’s theme song and making a mockery of the Sheamus/Orton match. Earlier, these were the same fans who chanted ALBERT and A-TRAIN at Lord Tensai when he made his debut and booed the Special Olympics because that’s such an edgy thing to do. So why have they changed their tone? Because they like the Wyatt Family. It’s only okay to disrupt the show when it’s against things they don’t like.
When I first watched the antics on the Raw after Wrestlemania, I thought it was the audience finally saying the words of Owen Hart, “Enough is enough and it’s time for a change”. I thought they were expressing contempt for the product being so typical and demanding that WWE change their ways or they were going to ruin the television program vocally. I approved of that. Unfortunately it’s come to my attention now that really; fans just want to be the real star of the show. They want the main event to be them. And why not? Many of them were around to see Extreme Championship Wrestling cater to them, bringing them into the ring to mosh or telling them to bring in weapons. And hey, the WWE always tries to act like they are the most important part of the show with social media polls. No wonder the fans have absolutely no sense of tact and no understanding for their role as a wrestling fan.
The professional wrestling product, especially in the WWE, has problems beyond just the audience. I’m not putting all the blame on them. But doesn’t anyone get that people aren’t as hot into wrestling anymore because nobody cheers the babyfaces and nobody boos the heels? Cheering a heel means the heel failed to do his job. Yet there they cheer Dolph Ziggler. Or at least they did until he turned babyface. Now they really don’t seem to care much for him anymore. He didn’t even change like their previous complaints. The fans got what they want and they are moving to another subject to devour. Why? They demand to be heard. You know what got people heard back in the day loud and clear? Silence. Tepid reactions. When Lex Luger and Bret Hart both went over the top rope, everyone knew that Vince McMahon wanted to ride the Lex Express to Wrestlemania X. But the crowd showed their support for Bret Hart. They sat on their hands for Luger and screamed for Bret. And thus, Bret became WWF World Champion while Lex Luger joined Allied Powers and then disappeared back in WCW.
If you like a heel, don’t chant THIS IS AWESOME when they do things that are cool. Don’t look up Wikipedia to see their former gimmick and mention it to show how clever you are. Boo them! If you boo them, WWE will think they are worth the money to push. They will believe they are a draw and put them in situations to draw. If you don’t like a heel? Don’t react. Give them silence. Silence is golden, Sterling Golden even (you see, that was me being clever. Look it up). Want to know when to chant or talk? When the wrestler gives you the cue. If you don’t like them, don’t chant along for them. If you do? Shout it out: Suck it! Awesome! If you smell! Cuz Stone Cold Said So!
When the fans try to be the real stars of the show and distract the viewer from the wrestlers in the ring, all they do is create a product nobody wants to see. Nobody pays to see a band to see the audience. Nobody buys a movie ticket to see who came to the theatre. Nobody is going to be a pro wrestling draw if the fans are spending their time to get themselves over instead of the wrestlers. I’m sure some are going to react to this and say that if the WWE gave them people to cheer for and people to boo, and a strong product to support they’d react properly. My only answer for that is simple. Don’t watch. Stay home. Why support a product disappointing you? When it gets better, you know you’ll hear about it. People will talk about it on Facebook and Twitter. YouTube clips will get passed around. Until then, remember your place in the wrestling product. You’re the fan. Not the star.
And that’s the Last Word.
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