The Crowd "Hijacking" Raw Last Night.

[Mudlup50]

So I was watching Raw, and I'm really bad at telling what the crowd chants but this crowd last night seemed to chant anything they wanted. There was what like 4 CM Punk chants throughout the night.

The worst part though was during the second divas match. The handicap Brie v Cameron and the other diva(I can't remember at this point). The crowd started chanting JBL, then when the announcers explained that away the crowd chanted Jer-ry. Which I guess I can see as the announcers scrambled to explain that a few weeks back Jerry got involved in the Brie/Nikki feud. So what does the crowd do, chant Michael Cole.

Now maybe it's just me, and I'm not arguing they shouldn't be aloud to chant what they want, but this was clearly just a chant to insult the divas. Which personally, bothered me. I ignore the random CM Punk chants during AJ matches and I can ignore it during Bryan segments or when Stephanie eggs it on. But this was just too much.

The crowd clearly could care less about the match and the WWE is backed into a corner now having 2 divas feuds and trying to promote Total Divas. Granted, the divas didn't prove they deserved the attention when Brie screwed up a roll up.

But back to my point; is it rude of the audience to hijack the show? Or is it perfectly fine.

On the one end, they completely disrespected the divas in the ring, and regardless of whether they deserved the boos or not it had to hurt the divas.

But to the opposite effect, Vince obviously knows how the audience felt. Plus it's completely the audiences right to do what they want.


I know I already said it, but I thought it was too far. It's like the audience came in expecting to do it during a divas match, being as no other match had this happen.

 

[MERPER]

It's happened before, and it will happen again. And Chicago, being one of the best WWE cities in the country is known for this.

CM Punk is from Chicago, they were a huge part of his career so you knew it would happen and WWE knew it to hence the Authority referencing it right away. It's also why they ahd AJ get beat and embarrassed.

As for the chants during the Brie match, it was a sign they were angry and rightfully so. It was the 2nd divas match of the night, it was more Brie vs. Nikki B.S. in which the 2 don't fight or have a match (kinda getting old, no?) and it was a terrible match featuring 2 of the 3 who have no business in the ring.

This was after they had found out the main event was just another installment of a rivalry they've seen 100 times and coming off getting screwed out of a Rusev vs. Big Show match.

My buddy went last night and put it this way: You knew going in they are already minus Jericho, Lesnar, Reigns, Barrett, Daniel Bryan and others. You knew Hogan was going to take a segment just to push Breast Cancer awareness. Understandably you had an angry crowd. So be it.

 

[multiverseman.com]

They can chant what they want. They brought it on themselves. The fans wouldn't go into business for themselves if you came up with something for them to invest in. It's that simple. Wrestling has been around a long time and this problem isn't just now coming up for no reason.

 

[FromGlasgow]

If you pay for your ticket you should be allowed to chant or cheer for who you want, Its not a dictatorship telling you who to like and dislike if it was I wouldn't watch it, Personally I think CM Punk is way overated anyway and I think if the guy doesn't want to be involved in wrestling anymore I would rather see someone more deserving get the attention.

 

[Mustang Sally]

They chanted what a few people in the crowd led them to chant. No one believes that 10,000 fans all got the idea to start chanting "CM Punk" at the same moment, do they? Also, only a few people originate the "Cena sucks" chant.....others happily pick it up, not because they have anything against Cena, but because they're getting the chance to do what they hear others doing.....and before it's over, you get the idea that half the crowd hates John Cena. That's a dumb interpretation; but hey, it's audience participation.

Personally, I believe.....and have gotten criticized on this forum for it.....that WWE sometimes plants people in the stands to lead chants....... During Hulk Hogan's Hall of Fame speech, do you really think the "One more match!" chant originated spontaneously? C'mon, now.

That said, last night's Chicago crowd went their own way, led by a few people who got the rest going. I wouldn't buy the idea that the Punk chants were planted by the company; what would they want to do that for?

Still, I'd argue with the Chicagoans to stop with the "Punk" garbage already. In case they didn't know it, it wasn't the company's idea to lose Punk.....ol' Phil Brooks chose to abandon WWE.....and by extension, he deserted the very fans who now chant for him.

Go have a Chicago deep dish pizza and get with the program, Windy City.

 

[Navi]

I don't know how much tickets cost in the US for a RAW taping, but here in Toronto at the ACC, for a good seat you're paying upwards of about $300.00 a person.

If I was paying that kind of money and got 3 Diva's matches, screwed out of one match, and had the same finish that we've seen over and over again, I'd be chanting shit as well. Only you wouldn't be able to put it on a PG show. The CM Punk chants are getting old. The guy is gone and not coming back, so enough already. I don't care that his wife works for the WWE still, they should be chanting her name not his. But it's his hometown and yea it's gonna happen, can't help it if some of the crowd are idiots.

Don't get the JBL chants myself, but I guess that's better than "FUCK OFF, FUCK OFF" during the Diva's match. Which by the way I would have been chanting.

I wouldn't say they hijacked the show, they made it much more interesting than that crowd at the last PPV. At least you could tell that these people were alive. The northeast always has the best crowds and last night was no different. You take your chances when you come to cities like Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, New York and Boston. You never know what the crowd will do and that's part of the fun. They get right into the show and that's what they should do. Personally I thought they were great.

 

[Softcore Holly]

For the most part I thought the chants were really tame, least compared to the last 2 times they were in Chicago this year. Punk chants not being nearly as big, almost none of them in AJ's match, etc.

The 2nd Divas match was a case of either getting weird chants like last night or in most other cities the crowd silently sitting on their hands, which imo is a lot worse. Better to perform in front of a active group than a dead one. Which is the expected reaction for a extremely predictable match featuring at least 1 Diva no one had any interest in seeing in the ring.

The Punk chants WWE can't do anything about, although at this rate they might not have to care soon enough. For stuff like the Divas match, don't put out crap if you don't want it hurled back at you.

 

[laodaron]

Chicago is accepted as one of the worse cities the WWE goes to. Loaded with smarks and assholes, they expected it.

I've said it a million times before, if you're at a WWE event, that you paid your money for, and you're chanting stupid shit, booing the wrong people, cheering the wrong people, you're a shitty fan, and the WWE would be better off without you.

 

[Kayfabe]

Chicago is typically one of the hottest crowds, but they were fairly tame for last night's RAW. And there was definitely NO hijacking of the show last night. The CM Punk chants were pretty weak after the initial one at the top of the show. The crowd chanting for the announce team has been done before, nothing new for the Chicago crowd and definitely nothing to constitute a hijacking. The best chant IMO was at the end of the night, with the crowd saying "thank you Rollins" after he curbstomped Cena. That's the closest anything got to being a hijacking, which in my definition is the crowd deliberately chanting the opposite reaction to what WWE is trying to book and accomplish.

 

[#tamale]

Still, I'd argue with the Chicagoans to stop with the "Punk" garbage already. In case they didn't know it, it wasn't the company's idea to lose Punk.....ol' Phil Brooks chose to abandon WWE.....and by extension, he deserted the very fans who now chant for him.

Go have a Chicago deep dish pizza and get with the program, Windy City.

Just when I'm starting to miss CM Punk, Raw comes on and the fans remind me why I don't want to see him again.

The fans didn't "hijack" anything. This is commonplace. Chicago is not the be all end all for internet smarkdom. The fact that they believe that after their epic failure earlier is cute though.

 

[WBL]

They're never going to stop the chants. They STILL haven't stopped the "WHAT?" chants, one of the things that's helping kill wrestling, but that's another rant.

It might have gone away on its own at some point, but that one night where Paul Heyman cut that promo starting with coming out to Punk's music after he already left? That's a bait-and-switch the fans don't forget.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

It sounded to me last night the WWE is pretty much goading the crowd into making the chant. I think they've been doing this for awhile, actually. The controversy and the tension makes for better programming.

 

[Slash-LN]

It's not the first time a crowd has chanted the announcers' names.
It's not the first time a crowd has chanted for CM Punk.

It can be annoying at times and disrespectful but there's literally no way to stop it. Are they going to kick out every fan that chants something they don't like?

The majority of fans should have already known that going to Chicago was going to garner CM Punk chants.

Hell not long ago there was a CM Punk chant during EC3's promo on Impact and they weren't even in Chicago.

Different towns have different reputations and Chicago is one that tends to chant that kind of stuff.

 

[shafe_41]

Let them chant. Who cares? They pay their money. They can do what they want. ESPECIALLY when they're watching a Raw that has been complete bottom of the barrel crap the last bunch of weeks. When it's more entertaining to chant random names than it is to watch the garbage being put in front of you, then fans will stop. The fans that start it are the ones that think they're too smart for their own good.

This will happen in Chicago for the rest of time. It's a great WWE city. I just happened to be in Chicago in Sept. 2010 while Night of Champions was there. So my friend and I attended on a whim. Fantastic crowd. Decent show. But they'll do what they'll do. Especially when it comes to all the CM Punk crap. They're elevating him to a level Bret Hart thought he was at back in 97 because he "refused to drop the title in Canada" like it would let the country down. Chicago will continue to back their boy... and for what? Because he's a guy that played pretend better than most could play pretend. You might as well have a theater full of black people cheering for their favorite Tyler Perry movie. Let them do it. We on the outside can see and hear how ridiculous they are.

 

[MC_Live]

The show wasn't necessarily "hijacked". It could have been a lot worse. There has been a reoccurring problem where people start chanting stuff only because they want to draw attention to themselves. A lot of crowds in recent memory wanted to be the show, not just part of the show. While I do believe a paying customer has the right to chant what they want, they should also be reasonable and respectful. It's a revolving cycle. When WWE puts out a crappy product, the fans chant random stuff out of boredom. Hence the JBL, Jerry, and Michael Cole chants. That only happens when the fans just don't care about the action in the ring. But I also believe by not properly responding, it leads decision makers to not fully invest in superstars and ideas. They don't build on certain roster members because they don't get the desired reaction fast enough and that results in a weak roster, and a crappy product. It's a two way street, and someday it will have to be fixed. And that's more so on WWE. If they put out a product that kept the audience entertained, then the audience wouldn't attempt to hijack the show. Simple as that.

 

[MartialHorror]

The CM Punk chants piss me off because they ignore the fact that he left on his own accord...Something is really wrong when the corrupt boss is actually CORRECT in criticizing the fans. Daniel Bryan was getting screwed, while CM Punk arguably screwed the WWE...yet when I complained about this on twitter, someone attacked me and responded that he was screwed because he wasn't getting the top spot. Er, being screwed is being Damian Sandow. So whenever anyone, even Chicago crowds, do that I get annoyed.

The Diva fiasco kind of deserved it because it sucks. None of them are very good and the match was pretty boring. I always feel bad when that happens though, as I can't imagine how disheartening that would be as a wrestler. I thought the announcers only made it worse by trying to explain it. Just drew more attention to the chants.

With that said, I've seen harsher crowds.

 

[360_no_scope]

To me personally, I couldn't care less what the fans are cheering because they are the paying customer. Maybe if the quality of the matches and storylines we are being presented went up you wouldn't have such a big problem with the fans cheering for other people.