Psychology of the modern WWE fan and what it means for WWE booking

[pol]

With the Royal Rumble fiasco I thought this might be fun to think about.

 

In a few places I've heard people float the idea that WWE created the monster that results in reactions like they got at the Rumble by pushing the whole "WWE Universe", "we listen to the fans", Twitter voting to make matches etc. It's resulted in a fanbase that not only sees themselves as the stars of the show, but also as entitled to call the shots.

 

The flipside of that though (and probably why they do it) is that they've created a fanbase that's far more invested in their product, even when it's bad. There's a significant section of the fanbase for whom Raw isn't simply three hours of entertainment on a Monday night; it's a (pseudo-) social event. Watch the show and tweet along with thousands of others about it, praising the good and eviscerating the bad. They keep watching regardless of the quality of the show because, ultimately, quality TV isn't their primary reason for watching.

 

I think this is what leads to the curious environment of modern WWE where a poor product doesn't seem to drive down TV ratings and a shitty show doesn't result in fans simply emptying the stands, but staying and shitting on everything they see. These people are too invested to go elsewhere. They're also primarily, as Meltzer has observed, WWE fans as opposed to wrestling fans, so it's not like they're going to start following ROH or NJPW or something instead and give up on WWE.

 

It's kind of a worrying situation in the sense that if such a signification proportion of the fanbase is never going away, there's little economic motivation for WWE to improve the quality of their product. Thankfully I think Vince still cares to some extent what the fans think regardless of economic evidence; we saw that last year with his changing of the Wrestlemania card, when that show would have done well regardless, as Wrestlemania does, based purely on the Wrestlemania name.

 

There's more stuff I want to talk about (specifically what it is that gets over with the modern fan) but this is getting long enough for a stream-of-consciousness rant already . Thoughts?

[JerryvonKramer]

Oh shit, I've just made this exact point in another thread, didn't see this one. See post I made here.

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/30510-advantages-of-watching-live-verses-classic-footage/?p=5652326

 

I completely agree with the OP btw.

 

I want to ask Bix if he's around: did you cancel the network?

 

He was one of the people at the forefront of that whole thing, he was all over it. Did he cancel the network? How many peope who tweeted that and discussed it and got excitited about their chance to shit all over the WWE actually did cancel their subs? 10%? More than that or less than that?

 

A question to be asked.

 

Is Philly killed as a town a la Chicago in 87 after the Road Warriors didn't go over? No, they'll be back again. And again. It's a different breed of fan.

[jcmmnx]

I agree with everything stated here, and hell I'm probably one of the people you're talking about(though I certainly can't sit through a 3 hour Raw) who's not going to start following other promotions. I love NXT so I guess that may count as another promotion, but half of the fun in watching NXT is seeing if they'll fuck up with the people I actually like on the main roster.

 

I look at it like having a favorite sports team. Yeah you still watch them when they suck, but you're always thinking of things the team should be doing to improve themselves. Bryan was basically a Kurt Warner story the guy who went from bagging groceries to winning the Super Bowl. Only in this case Vince went back to the scrub QB Warner replaced because he didn't have da look.

 

Another issue is the WWE fans have been conditioned to expect a certain match quality in main events that Reigns doesn't bring to the table.

[Russellmania]

Oh shit, I've just made this exact point in another thread, didn't see this one. See post I made here.

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/30510-advantages-of-watching-live-verses-classic-footage/?p=5652326

 

I completely agree with the OP btw.

 

I want to ask Bix if he's around: did you cancel the network?

 

He was one of the people at the forefront of that whole thing, he was all over it. Did he cancel the network? How many peope who tweeted that and discussed it and got excitited about their chance to shit all over the WWE actually did cancel their subs? 10%? More than that or less than that?

 

A question to be asked.

 

Is Philly killed as a town a la Chicago in 87 after the Road Warriors didn't go over? No, they'll be back again. And again. It's a different breed of fan.

Bix did not cancel since he writes about wrestling for a living. And he was never encouraging people to cancel either, you are totally misrepresenting that. He just encouraged the people who *were* cancelling to use that hashtag so that it would be easier to get a feel for how many were cancelling.

[JerryvonKramer]

I can't see anything in my post that misrepresents anything. Or that might cause a needlessly defensive post like that to be made. Also, I have nothing against Bix, but it's an honest question.

 

The real question is: how many hashtags translate into how many actual cancellations? Back in the day if a fanbase got pissed off enough about something, they'd stop showing up, simple as that. Now it seems to me, and to others in this thread, that the fanbase in a weird way "get off" on being up in arms about the product. They don't tune out, stop buying tickets, stop subscribing, etc., they just take their moaning to the next level. The hashtag seems to be built on the myth that modern fans are like the fans of old who stop buying tickets. But they aren't like the fans of old.

 

Do you not think that's the case? If so, I'm interested to know the reasons behind why you don't.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

"Ugh! This sucks!!! I want more of it!"

 

That's basically it in a nutshell. The vast, vast majority of fans who say WWE sucks keep giving them their money, eyeballs, and time. I agree with the point that was brought up in the post-Rumble podcast with Will, et al - If the Rumble crowd was really so pissed/felt they had witnessed such a grave injustice, why didn't they just leave? Instead, not only did they stay, they stayed engaged with the show, doing chants and other bullshit. A "hot crowd" that hates what they are watching. It's pretty fucked up.

[Matt D]

"Ugh! This sucks!!! I want more of it!"

 

That's basically it in a nutshell. The vast, vast majority of fans who say WWE sucks keep giving them their money, eyeballs, and time. I agree with the point that was brought up in the post-Rumble podcast with Will, et al - If the Rumble crowd was really so pissed/felt they had witnessed such a grave injustice, why didn't they just leave? Instead, not only did they stay, they stayed engaged with the show, doing chants and other bullshit. A "hot crowd" that hates what they are watching. It's pretty fucked up.

 

As part of that crowd, I think that's way off base (though I don't disagree with pol's initial post in some ways. I think this just took things in a slightly different direction). People there knew what they were doing. They were vocally expressing their displeasure with what they knew were creative decisions. I think people were more offended that WWE thought they could pull this off than anything else. They didn't pay to leave. They did pay to be able to cheer if they liked what they saw and boo if they didn't, and it was a hell of a time shitting on what was presented and I'm SURE they would sell out in Philly next time as well. I bought my ticket knowing that there was a really good chance that WWE would present something that the crowd would absolutely hate and how energized it would be and how fun it'd be to witness that first hand. I'm not wildly emotionally invested in this stuff like I was ten years ago. So I'm going to maximize the amount of fun I have at a show. It was a hugely informed crowd. And most of those people had an absolute blast and Philly would sell out in a situation like this again in a heartbeat.

 

I said it in my road report, but leaving that building actually felt like a positive experience, a sort of sense of community, and outside of 2 overly gleeful "You fucked up" chants that I wish didn't happen (though weren't ALL that widespread), I thought the crowd was mostly constructive in its negativity. I will say that on some level, instead of booing an anti-russian heel in 1984 that's insulting them by saying that they're weak and foolish and whatever, they were instead booing the company that doesn't have the same creative priorities that they have and is saying that they're dumb and foolish and just need to be fed what they're given. It's not all that different. In both cases the fans know what they're paying for tickets to do, really.

[Tim Cooke]

"Ugh! This sucks!!! I want more of it!"

 

That's basically it in a nutshell. The vast, vast majority of fans who say WWE sucks keep giving them their money, eyeballs, and time. I agree with the point that was brought up in the post-Rumble podcast with Will, et al - If the Rumble crowd was really so pissed/felt they had witnessed such a grave injustice, why didn't they just leave? Instead, not only did they stay, they stayed engaged with the show, doing chants and other bullshit. A "hot crowd" that hates what they are watching. It's pretty fucked up.

 

I've seen this type of mentality at other events as well. Generally, these people are the outliers but that's not always the case. At Baltimore Oriole games, I have witnessed several regular fans who seem to enjoy being able to yell out in frustration when the O's do something wrong. These people are paying for their seats, come to a bunch of games, and still find some satisfaction with being negative. It's very weird and certainly not the norm, but it is there.

 

An extreme case was a guy in 2013 during a Saturday afternoon game. Couldn't have been nicer for a 1:05 start with bright sunny skies and temperatures around 75 degrees. This guy was sitting in a section that was priced out at $27 per ticket. He was wearing a custom Orioles jersey (at least $150, probably more - even if he got it as a gift, that is an expensive gift). He moaned and groaned the whole game, almost delighted when the other team did something right. The O's fell behind in the top of the 10th only to walk off in the bottom half of the inning. This guy was visibly upset when the Orioles won. From what I could tell, he hadn't been drinking and didn't appear to have anything wrong with his mental faculties.

 

I think sometimes people get into a habit that brings them some sort of comfort and regardless of the overall quality of what they are doing, they still get something out of it. I stuck with WCW until the final sign off on March 26, 2001 but it was a chore getting through most of those 2000 shows. But it was what I did on Monday and Wednesday nights and in this case, my hope was that they would eventually get better. They did in 2001 and I was rewarded for my dedication but if it was at another period in my life, I could have easily said, "Fuck this" and turned it off for good.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

 

"Ugh! This sucks!!! I want more of it!"

That's basically it in a nutshell. The vast, vast majority of fans who say WWE sucks keep giving them their money, eyeballs, and time. I agree with the point that was brought up in the post-Rumble podcast with Will, et al - If the Rumble crowd was really so pissed/felt they had witnessed such a grave injustice, why didn't they just leave? Instead, not only did they stay, they stayed engaged with the show, doing chants and other bullshit. A "hot crowd" that hates what they are watching. It's pretty fucked up.

 

As part of that crowd, I think that's way off base (though I don't disagree with pol's initial post in some ways. I think this just took things in a slightly different direction). People there knew what they were doing. They were vocally expressing their displeasure with what they knew were creative decisions. I think people were more offended that WWE thought they could pull this off than anything else. They didn't pay to leave. They did pay to be able to cheer if they liked what they saw and boo if they didn't, and it was a hell of a time shitting on what was presented and I'm SURE they would sell out in Philly next time as well. I bought my ticket knowing that there was a really good chance that WWE would present something that the crowd would absolutely hate and how energized it would be and how fun it'd be to witness that first hand. I'm not wildly emotionally invested in this stuff like I was ten years ago. So I'm going to maximize the amount of fun I have at a show. It was a hugely informed crowd. And most of those people had an absolute blast and Philly would sell out in a situation like this again in a heartbeat.

 

I said it in my road report, but leaving that building actually felt like a positive experience, a sort of sense of community, and outside of 2 overly gleeful "You fucked up" chants that I wish didn't happen (though weren't ALL that widespread), I thought the crowd was mostly constructive in its negativity. I will say that on some level, instead of booing an anti-russian heel in 1984 that's insulting them by saying that they're weak and foolish and whatever, they were instead booing the company that doesn't have the same creative priorities that they have and is saying that they're dumb and foolish and just need to be fed what they're given. It's not all that different. In both cases the fans know what they're paying for tickets to do, really.

That's totally cool, man. Keep selling out the buildings and keep getting what you're paying for. Why would you expect anything different?

[flyonthewall2983]

What I want to know is, what breaks this monotony and puts the company in trouble again?

 

Another WCW? In truth there is no lack of good wrestling around that's not WWE, but none of them (that I know of) can offer their talent anything approaching something equal to what they have. Plus good luck finding a company as big as Turner's was willing to put wrestling relatively in the forefront as Ted did.

 

Another Chris Benoit-level tragedy? They've done well to cover their ass with their wellness program. Don't get me wrong, they've done some good things with it, too. But one gets the impression that ass-covering is more the reason for it. I certainly did after listening to Punk's AOW interview, and he even says as much in it.

[funkdoc]

 

 

"Ugh! This sucks!!! I want more of it!"

That's basically it in a nutshell. The vast, vast majority of fans who say WWE sucks keep giving them their money, eyeballs, and time. I agree with the point that was brought up in the post-Rumble podcast with Will, et al - If the Rumble crowd was really so pissed/felt they had witnessed such a grave injustice, why didn't they just leave? Instead, not only did they stay, they stayed engaged with the show, doing chants and other bullshit. A "hot crowd" that hates what they are watching. It's pretty fucked up.

As part of that crowd, I think that's way off base (though I don't disagree with pol's initial post in some ways. I think this just took things in a slightly different direction). People there knew what they were doing. They were vocally expressing their displeasure with what they knew were creative decisions. I think people were more offended that WWE thought they could pull this off than anything else. They didn't pay to leave. They did pay to be able to cheer if they liked what they saw and boo if they didn't, and it was a hell of a time shitting on what was presented and I'm SURE they would sell out in Philly next time as well. I bought my ticket knowing that there was a really good chance that WWE would present something that the crowd would absolutely hate and how energized it would be and how fun it'd be to witness that first hand. I'm not wildly emotionally invested in this stuff like I was ten years ago. So I'm going to maximize the amount of fun I have at a show. It was a hugely informed crowd. And most of those people had an absolute blast and Philly would sell out in a situation like this again in a heartbeat.

 

I said it in my road report, but leaving that building actually felt like a positive experience, a sort of sense of community, and outside of 2 overly gleeful "You fucked up" chants that I wish didn't happen (though weren't ALL that widespread), I thought the crowd was mostly constructive in its negativity. I will say that on some level, instead of booing an anti-russian heel in 1984 that's insulting them by saying that they're weak and foolish and whatever, they were instead booing the company that doesn't have the same creative priorities that they have and is saying that they're dumb and foolish and just need to be fed what they're given. It's not all that different. In both cases the fans know what they're paying for tickets to do, really.

That's totally cool, man. Keep selling out the buildings and keep getting what you're paying for. Why would you expect anything different?

 

 

i kinda suspect the point is that he's not expecting anything different, but that it's more entertaining this way than it would be with vince's idea of a "good" show going off without any hitches. i can't say for sure but that's the impression i got.

[(BP)]

As someone in the crowd who actively booed, I think a lot of people there and at home were like me; we knew who was going over, knew what the reaction was going to be like, and had fun with it. I wasn't outraged by the booking, but I thought it was the laziest and least interesting thing they could do and was amused it went south. With regard to the OP's point, I had less interest in WWE this fall when they were kind of going through the motions. I'd finally stopped watching television completely and only saw a few ppvs even though I have the network. Now I'm invested again just to see if they totally screw up mania or not, so there's something to the hatewatching argument at least in my experience. I'd certainly not give other fictional programming, which Vince thinks of as his competition, the same amount of benefit of doubt. I'd just stop watching.

[JNLister]

One big advantage of the Network model is they've found a way of getting money from people who are at the absolute lowest end of the scale of "willing to spend money on the product." They're dedicated followers (as opposed to being part of the 50-75% of the viewing audience who treat it like just another TV show and would never spend money on it), but they feel enough of a disconnect that they'd probably skip a house show and would either skip most of the B-PPVs altogether or pirate them and perhaps even fast forward to the matches they like the sound of. However, when you offer the PPVs and the rest of the Network content for $9.99, you're pretty much setting the bar incredibly low for things to be so bad that this type of fan would cancel.