Will WHAT? it WHAT? ever WHAT? end? WHAT?

[RavensEdge]

What?

The infamous "WHAT?" chant that Steve Austin started. It has been going on for a decade or so now and there is no indication that it will stop any time soon. It has easily become as popular as yelling "Woooo!" when someone gets chopped. I was hoping it would eventually die down but recently there have been quite a few superstars acknowledging the chant again, R Truth most specifically.
For a long time it seemed to be reserved for heel promos but now it's like any time anyone has a mic the chant begins. What is it that crowds enjoy so much about it? Do you think it will ever finally stop?

 

[Awesome_Miz]

I believe that everyone wants to keep the Austin legacy and little kids will adapt to it.So I guess it will last good while especially with R-Truth using it for his gimmick.

 

[Skinsley]

It should be left to Austin type moments only.

Getting a bit sick to death of 'superstars' slowing down their sentances just so they can be heard between "WHAT".
And I would be pleased if Vickie Guerrero would just not pic up the mic at all thanks very much.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The "WHAT" chants are never going away. They might have died down if they were never acknowledged anymore after Stone Cold left, but with guys like Vince and R-Truth fueling the fire by responding to the "WHAT" it will only make it more fun for the fans to do it. WWE should have made everyone ignore the chants. By this point it has become so popular that it will never end. People will still be yelling "WHAT" during promos ten years from now because they made it more fun to yell it by responding to it. The should have just ignored it which would have caused it to die down eventually. Too late now.

 

[Starchild]

The thing that gets me about the "what" chant is it's seemingly had a resurgence as of late. Maybe I'm mistaken but it just seems to me that I didn't hear it very much if at all during the mid 2000s until recently. Austin was kind of here and there after 2003 when he retired from in the ring. Most notably was probably his feud with Eric Bischoff. Of course whenever he comes around people remember and the chant returns, but am I just misremembering here? Did it ever really occur during the latter part of the decade? I think the resurgence in the last year or so is directly related to two things: first off, the heels acknowledge it. We've heard Vince, Jericho, Miz, Punk, and Truth all yell at fans for using it. Naturally when told not to do something, you only want to do it more. That's just human nature...people know it gets under their skin so they do it until they get a reaction and then proceed to continue. Secondly, the increased exposure of Stone Cold this year since he was announced as host of Tough Enough has contributed. He hasn't done the "what" thing himself in years so far as I recall, but he does pause after every sentence so the people can chant. So because of all that and it's longevity thus far, I don't see it going anywhere. The only way to get it to die down some would be to not acknowledge it, but if it gets a heel some heat and a reaction I'm all for it continuing.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I do not think that even the WWE wants the "WHAT!?" chants to end. WWE likes their crowds to react and interact with the wrestlers and this chant allows them to do that. It is a chant that is generally heard when some heel is spouting off some shit and it is a really good way in which the crowd shows their disapproval towards the heels. The heels, it seems, also seem to like it as it gives them a chance to interact with the crowd. Guys like Miz and R-truth seem to base a part of their promos off this reaction and so far it has gotten them pretty good heat.

I think some of the little ones in the crowd may not even know that Austin was the innovator of these chants but they seem to go along with it anyway. I really think that that is why these chants will stay even after Austin has been long forgotten. I guess that, in a way, makes Austin immortal in the hearts of the fans.

 

[pessimism101]

The "What" chant was annoying in 2001 and is 20 times more annoying in 2011. It is, by far, the dumbest, most obnoxious thing ever chanted at a pro wrestling event (and that's taking into account all the chants in TNA.) It was funny for maybe 2 seconds, but got old VERY quickly.

To answer the question, so long as the majority of wrestling fans are stupid sheep who think it's cool to chant "WHAT?" during every promo, it will never die.

 

[Broski_of_the_week]

I couldnt picture a heel promo without it anymore. In fact, there was a thread on these forums the other week where someone came back from a live show and complained that it was too quiet when heels were cutting their promos at the show he was at and that a few of the older members were complaining to the rest of the audience that they should be boo-ing these guys.

Besides, theres so much criticism of all the WWE superstars getting no heat and being boring clones and character-less, and now it seems people want one of the few ways fans can reflect this heat back to the heels to stop. If they cant 'WHAT' what can they do!? Clap politely through face promos and turn their seats the opposite way for heel promos? I seem to remember seeing heel promos especially back in WCW bein met with rubbish being thrown into the ring, potentially injuring wrestlers (a-la the D-Lo Brown v Droz tragedy), maybe we should go back to that?

 

[Jessie Lynn DivaGirl]

I should stop entirely. It's gotten old. I sat through a Raw show in my hometown and all around me people where going WHAT? every time Daniel Bryan and the Miz spoke. -.- Yes, I yelled SHUT UP!! after a while but then I got a WHAT?. It needs to go

 

[RicoLen]

It's become something the crowd uses to heckle the wrestlers. You can thank Kurt Angle for taking it from Steve Austin and making it a universal heckle call.

 

[The Future Rises]

Well just think about it. If you're in the audience and a guy you're not such a fan of started cutting a promo wouldn't you want to chant along?

Though I was pretty pissed when they did it to Kevin Nash. People have been waiting for his explanation and they started "whatting" him. Now that.. Was uncalled for in my opinion.

 

[Paralyzer Z]

Its Austin's legacy and should never go away. Plus it does wonders for heels like r truth and miz as it is very easy to be made fun of. One more thing : WHAT?

 

[RicoLen]

Though I was pretty pissed when they did it to Kevin Nash. People have been waiting for his explanation and they started "whatting" him. Now that.. Was uncalled for in my opinion.

No kidding, and did you see Nash himself? He looked like he wanted to lay into the audience for that, but just changed up his timing so that they couldn't get the "what's" in.

 

[RavensEdge]

Though I was pretty pissed when they did it to Kevin Nash. People have been waiting for his explanation and they started "whatting" him. Now that.. Was uncalled for in my opinion.

exactly. Most times it's just kind of irritating to me but when a heel who is cutting a promo of more importance than the usual " (insert face name) sucks and so do the people of (insert city name)" it gets to me a bit more. In a situtation like Nash he's been around for a while so he worked around it. I think more inexperinced guys get hurt by it a little because while it does get them the heat they want I'm sure it can be distracting and throw your rhythm off.

 

[ocekit]

Some people do it to heckle the guy talking, some do it to be annoying, but most do it just to have fun and continue the WWE tradition. I don't use the "What" chant myself unless it actually fits the situation, but I won't deny anyone else the right to say it whenever they feel like it.

Honestly, I'd rather see people chanting "What" than sitting there with blank stares on their faces. The fans in the audience paid to go the event. The guy in the ring is usually talking at them for however long. It's not exactly the most interesting thing to sit and watch, especially longer live promos. The "What" chant breaks up the monotony for some people and gives them something to do.

As for guys in the ring getting distracted by the crowd, that's their problem. It's their job to work with the flow of the audience, not fight against it. You're not always gonna get the reaction you want, so you gotta work with it and improvise a bit. Young wrestlers may get thrown off, but the good ones eventually adapt and learn to either tune out the distractions, let the chants slide, or to work with what they get.
It's definitely interesting to see watch the faces of the wrestlers when the chants start up. Some immediately start smirking, some get angry, and some look surprised or taken aback. You can often tell how a wrestler's gonna handle the crowd by that look and how it's going to affect their tone.