Stop booing Reigns, start cheering your favorites. It just might work.

[Just Zay'n]

It worked for Daniel Bryan. When someone is extremely, extremely over with the crowd, WWE thinks, "ooh, money!".

However, when the guy they've pushed garners a large proportion of boos, especially since the crowd was firmly behind him in the 2014 Royal Rumble (admit it, you were excited at the prospect of him eliminating Batista), you'd think that they would look toward alternatives. But who exactly? Who, at this time, is the crowd 'pushing'? No one, it seems. So they're just sticking with Reigns, and playing it out for now.

You might think AJ Styles, however prior to becoming the number one contender, he was getting VERY lukewarm cheers. I was pretty damn shocked at how quiet the crowd was for AJ at WrestleMania. The guy who every hardcore fan wanted to see in WWE, and go far in WWE, was not getting a whole lot of support from said hardcore fans. Yet they were most passionate about booing Reigns.

I think AJ's title shot (and possibly even win) is written into his contract, he said something about being made an offer that he couldn't refuse (or something along those lines, not exact words). The crowd being behind him was not the driving factor, because they, well, weren't.

Daniel Bryan kind of set the standard of which Superstar the crowd wanted to see elevated to the top spot in the company. Compared to how the fans dealt with Bryan, I'd say guys like Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler don't have that fan support to get to the very top of the company. They cheer them like they would cheer a face, but not at the level of fanaticism that was directed at Bryan.

#PushCesaro? Give me a break. YOU push Cesaro.

Stop telling WWE what you don't want, and start telling them what you want.

Edit: This post was kind of fuelled by the whole F**K PG! chants directed at Stephanie and Linda. How freaking pathetic. What do you want? People to say "son of a bitch" and "shit" more? Titties? Divas in thongs doing obscene things to other Divas in the corner? Give me a break.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

This actually a point I've brought up recently. The Brooklyn crowd was a perfect example. Normally I would expect them to be super smarky, but for the most part they were fairly quiet. The only time they piped up was to boo Reigns and cheer HHH.

My thinking was, if you want change, why don't you cheer who you like? It's stupid logic, but seems the way wrestling fans are nowadays. They'd rather boo who they hate than cheer who they like.

 

[Prince Vee]

I reckon people love to boo Roman Reigns far more than cheering for their favourites. If you hadn't noticed, In the Main Event of WM 32, Triple H did all possible tasks to get booed which never happened. He put Roman reigns in a hammer lock and delivered a serious of cheap shots to the back of the head and got cheered! The crowd really love to boo Roman Reigns, personally I don't think it's not only the reason he's being pushed down our throats but also that WWE universe fancy the idea of booing him.

Anyhow, as for now, Roman Reigns is going on a right path. If you would ask me, I would just say keep him as a tweener, not a face, nor a heel but just a guy who likes to win. That's the only way you can elevate him and make the fans accept him. He'll get booed, but it shouldn't be considered a lot, if to be elevate him to the next level.

 

[Azane]

I wanted reigns over batista, much like I want the flu over cancer.

I kind of gave up, the WWE pushes who they want, and they ignore cheers/boos, over a full year of Reigns getting crapped on hasnt slowed him down at all, he's actually on track to crush Ric Flair's title record with their current booking, so I just don't care anymore.

 

[Just Zay'n]

I wanted reigns over batista, much like I want the flu over cancer.

I kind of gave up, the WWE pushes who they want, and they ignore cheers/boos, over a full year of Reigns getting crapped on hasnt slowed him down at all, he's actually on track to crush Ric Flair's title record with their current booking, so I just don't care anymore.

That's actually not true, they do not ignore cheers and boos. Either you missed the point or didn't read the whole post.

They don't listen to the type of people who stay quiet when we're given AJ Styles at Wrestlemania, yet pipe up and direct their passion at booing a real life guy. If that happens to be the majority of the crowd, then so be it.

 

[TDFG]

Stop telling WWE what you don't want, and start telling them what you want.

Reigns & Cena to turn heel & Lesnar to turn face and start beating some heels.

Pretty sure the fans have been asking that for a while now.

 

[Navi]

Excuse me if I'm a little confused here. Is the OP telling us just to stop booing anyone that we don't like and just cheer for the people that we do? So in other words sit in silence when a wrestler we aren't a fan of comes out.

I thought the whole point of heels and faces was to boo the heel and cheer the face, and that's been the way with wrestling for the longest time. The WWE doesn't listen to fan reaction, if they did then wrestlers like Ziggler, Ambrose and Cesaro would be much higher than they are, and booked much better. Not saying I'm a fan of Ziggler, but he is over and all three are booked like crap really.

It's gotten to the point where i don't think fans will do it. They go to events and hope that their voices are heard, even if it falls on deaf ears.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It seems to me that they've been doing that for quite a while now.

If what it takes for Vince to ultimately realize his mistakes is for damn near everyone fans want pushed to get a reaction like Daniel Bryan, then it's not going to happen because nobody's been as over as Bryan was for a very, very, very long time. You can't manufacture that sort of response artificially and getting so many fans from all various demographics to get behind any wrestler as passionately and genuine is an extremely rare thing.

Aside from Bryan, however, there have been those that people have wanted to see pushed but, guys they've rallied for and guys that they've been behind. Look at the sort of responses Cesaro was getting during his time teaming with Jack Swagger, during his time up to the first Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and afterward even when his momentum was halted. Before he was injured, a lot of fans wanted to see Cesaro pushed for a long time but it didn't happen. Why didn't it happen? Because Vince McMahon himself said during his podcast interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin that he doesn't believe that Cesaro has the goods.

The thing is, whenever we say WWE, it's really more accurate just to say Vince McMahon because Vince rules it with an iron fist. He decides who gets pushed and who doesn't, he decides who gets a title run and who doesn't, he decides what storylines go forward and what storylines don't. If Vince McMahon doesn't really think you have the goods, then it doesn't really matter what any of the other wrestlers might think, any of the fans might think, any of the producers might think or what any of the other executives might think; while the whole notion of Vince proclaiming himself God in storylines seems ridiculous, and is to a huge degree, it's pretty much accurate as far as what goes on in WWE is concerned.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Cheer or boos doesn'T matter in WWE, the only think that matters in WWE is how much money a performer can make the company. Daniel Bryan was getting cheered for almost 2 years before finally getting is push and it took almost 2 years before he finally was ablr to be at the same level as John cena in merchandise sale.

If you want your favorite wrestlers to get push, all you have to do is buy is merchandise and if everybody that love dean ambrose or cesaro or any other guys that isn't roman reigns, just go on wweshop.com or at a merchandise stand at your next live event and buy their merchandise. If your guys is able to get in top 5 of merchandise sale, then vince will have to listen and push the guy.

The only reason Reigns is getting this major push is because they are making money with him. Reigns is third in merchandise sale so why would you stop pushing somebody that is making the company alot of money?

 

[Navi]

Cheer or boos doesn'T matter in WWE, the only think that matters in WWE is how much money a performer can make the company. Daniel Bryan was getting cheered for almost 2 years before finally getting is push and it took almost 2 years before he finally was ablr to be at the same level as John cena in merchandise sale.

If you want your favorite wrestlers to get push, all you have to do is buy is merchandise and if everybody that love dean ambrose or cesaro or any other guys that isn't roman reigns, just go on wweshop.com or at a merchandise stand at your next live event and buy their merchandise. If your guys is able to get in top 5 of merchandise sale, then vince will have to listen and push the guy.

The only reason Reigns is getting this major push is because they are making money with him. Reigns is third in merchandise sale so why would you stop pushing somebody that is making the company alot of money?

I don't think anyone will ever top Cena. Even though he's not around right now, at Roadblock the amount of Cena merchandise being bought was unreal.

Plus there has to be t-shirts and other things to be bought. I didn't see a Cesaro shirt anywhere. Lot's of Daniel Bryan shirts and even though he's retired they're still selling. If your a fan like my son is, he likes the cool shirts like the Wyatt's or Orton's. He would never wear a Ziggler or Uso shirt, says they're too childish, so he bought a Wyatt shirt. It is a cool shirt with Sister Abigail holding a lantern.

So it depends on the age group, how the shirt is designed and availability. That's the just experience of one WWE fan, I'm sure there are more though.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I reckon people love to boo Roman Reigns far more than cheering for their favourites. .

I actually think that fans just hate Reigns. I dunno but I have been hearing the boo's between Reigns and Cena when they had their first run as main eventers. And I did notice the boo's on Cena is more "it's cool to boo Cena" or "they are at least boo'ing Cena because they like the other guy more". Reigns boo's almost feel like "X-Pac heat boo's".

You can probably tell with the difference of the crowd reaction WM22 and WM32 when Cena and Reigns headlined WM respectively against Triple H.

With Cena/HHH at WM22 the boo's were heated but at least the fans were into the match. Reigns/HHH at WM32 almost felt like the fans just didn't care and they were boo'ing Reigns because they flat out hated him.

 

[dsotm5150]

Boo him, cheer him, go absolutely silent if you like it won't matter, until some of the top tier talent comes back we're stuck with Roman Reigns. I actually feel bad for the guy, he got thrust up into the main event way before he was ready through no fault of his own and has most likely damaged his career for quite some time to come. I don't know that anybody could have been put in that position and gotten any better of a reaction though.

 

[Just Zay'n]

While the whole notion of Vince proclaiming himself God in storylines seems ridiculous, and is to a huge degree, it's pretty much accurate as far as what goes on in WWE is concerned.

And yet he always gets a pretty good pop every time he shows his face, sometimes even when he's playing a heel. How about that, the man who's responsible for WWE being shitty, getting cheered by the smarks?

Roman's boos are non-kayfabe, and non universal. There are quite a few that like him too. Hell, the smarks liked him in December. What kind of message is all of this sending WWE?

WWE knows that Reigns' boos are nonsensical, him being booed because he 'doesn't deserve it' is illogical. Why does AJ 'deserve it', when he hasn't paid his dues in WWE like Cesaro, Ziggler etc.

Not saying that AJ doesn't deserve it, just that the way the fans think is a bit contradictory. If Reigns turned full on heel, they would cheer him, and loudly at that. That sucks. They suck.

 

[kadroan]

This actually a point I've brought up recently. The Brooklyn crowd was a perfect example. Normally I would expect them to be super smarky, but for the most part they were fairly quiet. The only time they piped up was to boo Reigns and cheer HHH.

My thinking was, if you want change, why don't you cheer who you like? It's stupid logic, but seems the way wrestling fans are nowadays. They'd rather boo who they hate than cheer who they like.

They say having a reaction is better than no reaction. Having no reaction is the way to get the WWE's attention that things need to change.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

I appreciate the sentient of the op, but it's just not realistic. We've seen a lot of guys connect with the audience and then the rug is pulled out from under them. The fans cheers couldn't get them over the lip of a door frame.

Sandow and Ryder were incredibly over, promptly lost big matches, then vanished from tv screens. Fandango and Daniel Bryan got chants over with fans the night after different WrestleManias. Bryan stayed heel and used the no chant to try and quell the fan support, while Fandango lost and dissappered from tv.

Bryan was the exception where his charisma and talent persevered. He stayed on tv though, unlike any of my other examples. Another guy who stayed on TV was Eddie Guererro. In 2003 when the US title was reintroduced, he turned on his tag team partner/Chavo stand in Tajiri. Eddie would enter the US title tournament and steal the title. He stayed so over they had to turn him face.

I think that's the point. When crowd reaction becomes so much so, you have to react. Austin was cheered and Bret was boo'd so double turn. Eddie was too over to be a heel so he became a face again rather quickly. They didn't want Ryder or Sandow to be more over than the people that they wanted to push, so they had to make a change. The real issue at hand is changing to meet the demands of the live audience.

They can pump in as much fake crowd noise as they want on Smackdown, but live and ppv reactions are pretty damning. The assertion that Reigns as a heel would be cheered is kind of ludicrous. Wouldn't be worn the crowd and do heelish things.

Everyone has an opinion about Roman. How many posts and threads have any of us read that start with "the problem with Reigns is _____"? The conundrum that is Reigns' crowd reaction is far too complicated yet abysmally simple. Flipping the switch on his alignment pulls a lot of other threads while patching up the most glaring one.

Cheering for who you want works to an extent, but ultimately fan favourites can vanish from tv while still healthy. Booing never changed John Cenas character, and we've been talking about that got ten years now. If you really want to get someone over, but merchandise. Pay for the entrance theme, stream their content on the Network.

 

[Just Zay'n]

I appreciate the sentient of the op, but it's just not realistic. We've seen a lot of guys connect with the audience and then the rug is pulled out from under them. The fans cheers couldn't get them over the lip of a door frame.

Sandow and Ryder were incredibly over, promptly lost big matches, then vanished from tv screens. Fandango and Daniel Bryan got chants over with fans the night after different WrestleManias. Bryan stayed heel and used the no chant to try and quell the fan support, while Fandango lost and dissappered from tv.

Bryan was the exception where his charisma and talent persevered. He stayed on tv though, unlike any of my other examples. Another guy who stayed on TV was Eddie Guererro. In 2003 when the US title was reintroduced, he turned on his tag team partner/Chavo stand in Tajiri. Eddie would enter the US title tournament and steal the title. He stayed so over they had to turn him face.

I think that's the point. When crowd reaction becomes so much so, you have to react. Austin was cheered and Bret was boo'd so double turn. Eddie was too over to be a heel so he became a face again rather quickly. They didn't want Ryder or Sandow to be more over than the people that they wanted to push, so they had to make a change. The real issue at hand is changing to meet the demands of the live audience.

They can pump in as much fake crowd noise as they want on Smackdown, but live and ppv reactions are pretty damning. The assertion that Reigns as a heel would be cheered is kind of ludicrous. Wouldn't be worn the crowd and do heelish things.

Everyone has an opinion about Roman. How many posts and threads have any of us read that start with "the problem with Reigns is _____"? The conundrum that is Reigns' crowd reaction is far too complicated yet abysmally simple. Flipping the switch on his alignment pulls a lot of other threads while patching up the most glaring one.

Cheering for who you want works to an extent, but ultimately fan favourites can vanish from tv while still healthy. Booing never changed John Cenas character, and we've been talking about that got ten years now. If you really want to get someone over, but merchandise. Pay for the entrance theme, stream their content on the Network.

I think a lot of people briefly changed their opinion on Reigns in December, because they felt as though that's how he's supposed to be used. That's a huge part of the issue (not the entire issue, mind you) - the fact that he hasn't been booked correctly, and portrayed correctly. So when they finally do turn him heel, I have a feeling that they'll be cheering him, in the sense that "THIS is the way you should book him". All the other normal fans would boo him as you would boo a heel.

There's an interesting dichotomy going on with the crowd reaction for Cena's character. "Let's Go Cena" is considerably higher pitched and softer in volume than "Cena Sucks" - obviously with the former we have all the kids cheering on their hero; with the latter, we have the adult male smarks screaming backing into these childrens' faces, that their hero 'sucks'. Who is WWE going to listen to? The enthusiastic kids and casual fans, or the neckbeard smarks who take things way too seriously?

(And then Cena vs Punk happens, and the smarks go "Match of the Year right there!", followed by "Oh wait, Cena Sucks!" Yeah, WWE ain't listening to them.)

 

[L@RISANO]

I think a lot of people briefly changed their opinion on Reigns in December, because they felt as though that's how he's supposed to be used. That's a huge part of the issue (not the entire issue, mind you) - the fact that he hasn't been booked correctly, and portrayed correctly. So when they finally do turn him heel, I have a feeling that they'll be cheering him, in the sense that "THIS is the way you should book him". All the other normal fans would boo him as you would boo a heel.

Hence why WWE seems reluctant to go all out heel with him even after he was mercilessly booed out of the building at Mania 32. Roman going heel will either have the hardcore fanbase cheering him whilst the casuals boo him or even worst, he loses the reactions his presence seems to generate in his current persona.


That is why I am intrigued by WWE's choice to put him in a more Tweener role, where he remains a 'babyface' to the more casual fanbase, but at the same time, is coming off as being on a slow burn heel turn to those who analyse everything about him based on each TV appearance he makes.

On the plus side, this move to being a 'Tweener' seems to be right in Roman's comfort zone and hopefully they aren't going to resort back to Roman Cena were he to get over with the majority again(as he was late December, 2015).

 

[Gallops77]

I think throwing AJ Styles at him right now is them starting his heel turn, otherwise they would have tried a feud with a heel like Jericho or Owens.

I feel like he's going to have a dirty finish when he defends against Styles and then go full heel. I think a tweener role won't work because there are very few people he'd get cheered against.

 

[Cats Pajamas]

especially since the crowd was firmly behind him in the 2014 Royal Rumble (admit it, you were excited at the prospect of him eliminating Batista), you'd think that they would look toward alternatives.

C’mon now… Nobody wanted to see “Batista the actor” main event WrestleMania XXX in his spare time from promoting Guardians of the Galaxy. There’s a time and a place for everything, but Dave didn’t belong in the main event of Mania that year and a lot of full-timers could have been standing in Reigns’ boots at Rumble ’14 and been preferred over the Animal.

Besides, booing Dave actually worked! We got our Mania XXX main event sorted out and Batista doesn’t even want to return to WWE TV anymore. Lesson learned: If you can’t change Vince’s mind, just break the individual wrestler’s spirit! I’m not telling you that’s a healthy strategy, I’m just saying it worked at least once.

Wanna know an effective, not soul crushing way to protest Reigns? Change the channel! Two full years of booing Reigns out of the building doesn’t amount to suffering succotash when WWE still manages to sell out their largest WrestleMania ever and when they break their Network subscriber record. However, here’s a wreport [highly credible of course] that makes the case that hitting Vince’s bottom line will get his attention.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/249157-the-miz-being-blamed-for-low-survivor-series-numbers

Having "Fuck PG" chanted at her was hardly the worse thing that's happened to Mrs McMahon and I think she's tough enough to handle that. Being inches away from Kane's frommunda cheese was much, much worse.

 

[Just Zay'n]

C’mon now… Nobody wanted to see “Batista the actor” main event WrestleMania XXX in his spare time from promoting Guardians of the Galaxy. There’s a time and a place for everything, but Dave didn’t belong in the main event of Mania that year and a lot of full-timers could have been standing in Reigns’ boots at Rumble ’14 and been preferred over the Animal.

Besides, booing Dave actually worked! We got our Mania XXX main event sorted out and Batista doesn’t even want to return to WWE TV anymore. Lesson learned: If you can’t change Vince’s mind, just break the individual wrestler’s spirit! I’m not telling you that’s a healthy strategy, I’m just saying it worked at least once.

Wanna know an effective, not soul crushing way to protest Reigns? Change the channel! Two full years of booing Reigns out of the building doesn’t amount to suffering succotash when WWE still manages to sell out their largest WrestleMania ever and when they break their Network subscriber record. However, here’s a wreport [highly credible of course] that makes the case that hitting Vince’s bottom line will get his attention.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/249157-the-miz-being-blamed-for-low-survivor-series-numbers

Having "Fuck PG" chanted at her was hardly the worse thing that's happened to Mrs McMahon and I think she's tough enough to handle that. Being inches away from Kane's frommunda cheese was much, much worse.

It was just dumb. I wasn't really worried about the McMahons getting their feelings hurt, but more that it was completely nonsensical and doesn't exactly bolster the idea that the hardcore internet fans know how WWE should best book their product.

I respectfully disagree, yeah nobody wanted Batista in the main event of Wrestlemania, but the Shield was very much over at that point and people would have been happy to see him win. Or at least, there would have been nowhere near as big a shitstorm, if any. If I recall correctly, it was more the fact that Bryan wasn't even in the Rumble, and a part timer in his first match back won it - as opposed to everyone just hating Dave.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Fans act like this is a new phenomenon, the idea of cheering and booing based on who you like more than who storyline dictated. It's been going on for decades.

Cool heels have always had a niche audience that cheered them at shows even if overall they were booed. Fans were showing up wearing suits & Sunglasses ala Ric Flair back in 1986 and 87. He and The Four Horseman were probably the best villains in wrestling but they had a noticeable if minority cheering section. So did WWE heels like Ted DiBiase.

Many times promoters have changed course with a character due to crowd reaction. The Road Warriors were booked as mega heels but positive crowd reaction lead to them being aligned with fan favorites and opposing villains like The Horsemen & The Midnight Express. Steve Austin was never supposed to be a popular figure battling evil authority types sympathetic to fan faves, his original "Don't Trust A Rattlesnake" character was conceived as a veritable serial killer. Austin was so charismatic though WWE changed course with him. Like The Road Warriors years ago they did little with his character & image, just slightly tweaked his promos, matched him against clear villains, and made him sympathetic to fan faves, and a mega star was born.

Maybe the difference now is WWE doesn't feel compelled to listen because their is no competition. Regardless, this isn't a new phenomenon, fans have embraced characters they like due to their charisma and presentation over storyline for years.

 

[manstis1804]

WWE's so up their own ass when they do this "well they're reacting to him! he's obviously got something!" No, that's not what is happening, and they know that. The heat on Reigns is heat on WWE and their booking, he's an avatar for WWE not listening to the fans. It's also because no one wants another Cena deal where the top face gets booed for 10 years straight.

That said, the OP is right. I hope at Payback, the fans are behind AJ Styles more than they are against Reigns. I don't even know how WWE would react if people stopped giving Reigns any reaction. Maybe they'd hear those faint, high-pitched cheers and say "YES! Roman Reigns, crushing it!"

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Dean Ambrose was way more over than Roman Reigns and got much louder cheers.

Who won the Royal Rumble, headlined WrestleMania, defeated Triple H, and became WWE Champion? Roman Reigns

WWE decided they wanted Reigns. They didn't care about how over Ambrose was.

 

[The Dark Warlords]

Even though you are somewhat correct in what you are saying OP, the fact of the matter is that i have seen time in and time out in modern WWE that you almost have to "hijack" the show in the case of Bryan in order to get the change that is needed.

In my mind, no fan or group of fans, should have to hijack shows to get what they want. All you have to do is just really listen to the crowd, put your fans ahead of yourself, and you can figure it out. I do not believe that fans really hate Roman Reigns. I think they hate how he is being portrayed. Being shoved down our throats and everything.

Since i was born in the 80s, i can tell you. What the fan want is one or two guys that are the main guys, and your other high level guys feel relevant to the show. It is like this. You can have Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes as your two main guys if you want. But allow guys like: Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Ron Garvin, Magnum TA, Nikita Koloff, and others like that to feel relevant to the show whether they were World Champion or not.

Now you have Reigns as the guy, but everyone else unless you are Taker or Brock Lesnar feel irrelevant. Rollins, Ambrose, New Day, Usos, Jericho, and others like that feel meh to good at best.

So it does not matter how much you cheer them, in today's WWE, they will all get the same meh treatment. To me it is what it is, AND IT SUCKS!