History MisaimedFandom / ProfessionalWrestling

* When Floyd Mayweather was booked to face Wrestling/TheBigShow at Wrestlemania 24, he was originally projected as the face, supposedly putting his boxing career at risk against a much larger opponent. Most fans, however, hated Mayweather's showboating and were so glad to see Show come back from retirement that WWE had to quickly reverse the roles. Mayweather still won the match, but he had to cheat to do so.

* In another example of the Canadian audience turning things topsy-turvy for bookers, when Wrestling/HulkHogan returned to WWF they were setting him up to continue his [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan]] heel persona and feuding with then-face [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]]. The only problem was that the climax of the feud took place at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} X8'' in Toronto. Since WCW had rarely ventured north of the border, Canadian fans still largely remembered the classic face Hulk Hogan and proceeded to go completely wild over him, and booing The Rock, to the point where, by the end of the match, they had accomplished a completely unplanned HeelFaceTurn. You could hear the disbelief at the announcing table as this was going on.

* Similar to the "WHAT?" example above, the UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}-based promotion [[https://www.321battle.com/ 3-2-1 Battle!]] has "SOLID STEEL" as an all-purpose catchphrase and the promotion actually encourages the [[FanCommunityNicknames 3-2-1 Battalion]] to shout "SOLID STEEL" whenever a chair or guardrail gets used during a match. It is as annoying as you probably thought it was.

* This is how the smark community works in general. Their basic rule is: You must love and cheer for the best pure technical wrestler, no matter how bad his character is made out to be. You get extra points if doing so wrecks one of WWE's live shows.
** They'll also cheer a {{Heel}} if his persona happens to be ''very'' entertaining. The best example currently is Wrestling/TheMiz, who, at best, could be considered decent in the ring, but his {{Troll}} character is so hilariously petty that [[SmartMark Smarks]] just fell in love with the guy. Until WWE ran with it by giving him more screen time and putting the belt on him, at which point they turned and criticized his in-ring action again.
*** This reached a hilarious peak when, during a truly horribly written, overwrought, offensively bad "Diva's Revolution" segment Miz was hosting, the groups of girls involved started just yelling at each other, and Miz interrupted them, saying "WHEN MY HAND GOES UP YOUR MOUTH GOES SHUT!" This shut them up as intended, and drew LOUD cheers from the audience that were sick of the whole wretched segment and angle, causing Miz to turn to the audience and yell "THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO!" in order to get booed again.
** Similarly, the concept of "Indie darlings" and "Internet celebrities" leads to someone who should be either [[{{Heel}} booed]] or [[JokeCharacter laughed at]] ending up being cheered more than the rest of the promotion put together. Sometimes this forces the writers' hands, if only for a short while. Case in point? Wrestling/CMPunk, [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]], Wrestling/ZackRyder, the WWE, World Heavyweight and US champions at the same time. [[CatchPhrase Woo, woo, woo! You know it!]] At least until Punk and Bryan were given a gradual (and believable) {{Face Heel Turn}}s (Bryan's about a few weeks into his reign, Punk's in the middle of the summer) while Zack lost the belt to Wrestling/JackSwagger, and [[DemotedToExtra stopped]] [[PutOnABus wrestling]] on Raw or Smackdown.
** Except in the above cases, the Misaim was that [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem management were only going to put over stars]] ''they'' wanted/crafted (ex. Sheamus and [[Wrestling/JohnCena John Cena]]) [[CreatorsPet regardless of the fans being tired of them]] and expected said [[ViewersAreMorons audience to boo/cheer whoever they were told to]] (ex. Sheamus' CurbStompBattle over Daniel Bryan) instead of who actually ''earned'' their reactions through [[ScrewDestiny hard work]] ''despite'' the bad (read: Jobber) hands management half-heartedly dealt them. This was the whole crux of CM Punk’s WorkedShoot that Cena actually agreed with as leverage against Wrestling/VinceMcMahon that “You (Vince) could make a dozen more of me.” At the same time, Ryder was [[{{Determinator}} self-made]] through his online videos ([[GladIThoughtOfIt “inspiring” management to do likewise]]) as JokeCharacter or [[LethalJokeCharacter not,]] he got ''over'' with the fans in ''spite'' of the higher-ups intending for him to rot at the bottom of the roster. Basically [[DorkAge 2015,]] alone proved not only that [[ControlFreak [=McMahon=]]] (see his Trivia and YMMV pages for further emphasis) hasn’t [[AesopAmnesia learned]] anything from this, but would also sooner [[TakeThatAudience spite his own audience]] by putting over people ''he'' wants the way he wants and the people are tired of it.

* In Wrestling/{{WCW}}, there was the {{Heel}} faction, the West Texas Rednecks, who were fans of country music. They feuded against the hip-hop artist, Music/MasterP and the No Limit Soldiers, who were pushed as faces. Problem was, that WCW held their shows in the south, where rap music was hated, at least by WCW's core audience[[note]][[Wrestling/VinceRusso The complete idiot that booked this is]] from New York, in case you were wondering why this wasn't obvious[[/note]]. Not only that -- Wrestling/CurtHennig and company were charismatic wrestlers who deliberately acted funny, and had a catchy theme song, while Master P's crew were ebonics-spouting stereotypical thugs who drastically outnumbered their foes (thus coming across as bullies and the heels as brave victims)[[note]]The fact that it was common knowledge that the No Limit guys were making far more money than the Rednecks (and just about everyone else in WCW save for the very top guys) while contributing nothing towards the show didn't help[[/note]]. Because of this, the West Texas Rednecks were cheered by the Southern crowd, and their song, "RapIsCrap", actually received airtime on Country stations.
** This might have been a good thing, since the West Texas Rednecks were getting over with the fans and starting to bring people in to watch the shows. [[SarcasmMode So WCW, in its infinite wisdom, killed the angle dead. Thank you,]] Wrestling/VinceRusso.

* [[Wrestling/TedDiBiaseJr Ted [=DiBiase=] Jr.]] was supposed to be booked as the babyface during the Legacy breakup and have a singles push. WWE's build up was going to have Wrestling/RandyOrton be the heel with Ted being the popular babyface but Orton's antics made him so popular with the fans that it made him look like the face of the feud so WWE had to do a quick change and have Ted Jr remain heel. Wrestling/{{Edge}} even lampshaded this in a promo during his confrontation with Orton.

* In Wrestling/{{WCW}}, there was the {{Heel}} faction, the West Texas Rednecks, who were fans of country music. They feuded against the hip-hop artist, Music/MasterP and the No Limit Soldiers, who were pushed as faces. Problem was, that WCW held their shows in the south, where rap music was hated, at least by WCW's core audience. Not only that -- Wrestling/CurtHennig and company were charismatic wrestlers who deliberately acted funny, and had a catchy theme song, while Master P's crew were ebonics-spouting stereotypical thugs who drastically outnumbered their foes (thus coming across as bullies and the heels as brave victims). Because of this, the West Texas Rednecks were cheered by the Southern crowd, and their song, "RapIsCrap", actually received airtime on Country stations.

* [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin "Stone Cold" Steve Austin]]'s "[[BigWhat WHAT?]]" during his 2001 heel run (''[[Memes/ProfessionalWrestling WHAT?]]'') definitely qualifies. He would say "WHAT?" (''WHAT?'') whenever someone tried to speak (''WHAT?'') during his promos as a way (''WHAT?'') to intimidate his opponent. However, it eventually caught on (''WHAT?'') with the fans (''WHAT?''), basically killing his heel push (''WHAT?''), and causing Austin to slowly revert to becoming a face again. (''WHAT?'') The audience would use the "WHAT?" chant (''WHAT?'') whenever someone tried the overdone style of "Short Statement Followed By Dramatic Pause" Promo Cutting.(''WHAT?'')

** Similarly, at ''WCW [=Mayhem=] 99,'' November 21, 1999, which was held in Toronto, the Canadian fans booed the {{Face}} Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} and cheered the {{Heel}} [[Wrestling/SidEudy Sid [=Vicious=]]], because of the WWF party line that Goldberg was a "Stone Cold" Steve Austin ripoff, and Sid was previously an on-and-off WWF guy.

* In Wrestling/{{WCW}}, there was the {{Heel}} faction, the West Texas Rednecks, who were fans of country music. They feuded against the hip-hop artist, Music/MasterP and the No Limit Soldiers, who were pushed as faces. Problem was, that WCW held their shows in the south, where rap music was hated, at least by WCW's core audience. Not only that -- Wrestling/CurtHennig and company were charismatic wrestlers who deliberately acted funny, and had a catchy theme song, while Master P's crew were ebonics-spouting stereotypical thugs who drastically outnumbered their foes (thus coming across as bullies and the heels as brave victims). Because of this, the West Texas Rednecks were cheered by the Southern crowd, and their song, "Rap is Crap", actually received airtime on Country stations.

** Except in the above cases, the Misaim was that [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem management were only going to put over stars]] ''they'' wanted/crafted (ex. Sheamus and [[Wrestling/JohnCena John Cena]]) [[CreatorsPet regardless of the fans being tired of them]] and expected said [[ViewersAreMorons audience to boo/cheer whoever they were told to]] (ex. Sheamus’s CurbStompBattle over Daniel Bryan) instead of who actually ''earned'' their reactions through [[ScrewDestiny hard work]] ''despite'' the bad (read: Jobber) hands management half-heartedly dealt them. This was the whole crux of CM Punk’s WorkedShoot that Cena actually agreed with as leverage against Wrestling/VinceMcMahon that “You (Vince) could make a dozen more of me.” At the same time, Ryder was [[TheDeterminator self-made]] through his online videos ([[GladIThoughtOfIt “inspiring” management to do likewise]]) as JokeCharacter or [[LethalJokeCharacter not,]] he got ''over'' with the fans in ''spite'' of the higher-ups intending for him to rot at the bottom of the roster. Basically [[DorkAge 2015,]] alone proved not only that [[ControlFreak [=McMahon=]]] (see his Trivia and YMMV pages for further emphasis) hasn’t [[AesopAmnesia learned]] anything from this, but would also sooner [[TakeThatAudience spite his own audience]] by putting over people ''he'' wants the way he wants and the people are tired of it.

** This happens WAY more often then it should. At nWo Souled Out 97, a match between Masahiro Chono (Japanese) and Chris Jericho (Canadian) resulted in "USA!" chants. Wrestling/EricBischoff would lampshade this by saying something to the effect of "The fans know where they live."
* No-one should have been surprised that in a company where the majority of viewers were young men, that the smoking hot Wrestling/MickieJames and her psycho lesbian gimmick would get over as a face rather than the plan for her to be the heel in her feud with Trish. Mickie was so over as a face that in her entire WWE career she wasn't ever booed.

* Once during a British Bulldogs ([[Wrestling/DynamiteKid The Dynamite Kid]] and Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith) vs. Wrestling/TheIronSheik[=/=]Wrestling/NikolaiVolkoff (w[=/=][[Characters/WWEManagers "The Doctor of Style" Slick]]) match, the crowd was chanting "USA USA", even though the {{Face}}s were British. Commentator Wrestling/JesseVentura {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d this by saying, "Oh listen, they are cheering for Slick!"

** When KurtAngle came back from neck surgery he rejoiced in the "You Suck" and "What" chants just because he was glad to be back.

** Except in the above cases, the Misaim was that [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem management were only going to put over stars]] ''they'' wanted/crafted (ex. Sheamus and [[Wrestling/JohnCena John Cena]]) [[CreatorsPet regardless of the fans being tired of them]] and expected said [[ViewersAreMorons audience to boo/cheer whoever they were told to]] (ex. Sheamus’s CurbStompBattle over Daniel Bryan) instead of who actually ''earned'' their reactions through [[ScrewDestiny hard work]] ''despite'' the bad (read: Jobber) hands management half-heartedly dealt them. This was the whole crux of CM Punk’s WorkedShoot that Cena actually agreed with as leverage against McMahon that “You (Vince) could make a dozen more of me.” At the same time, Ryder was [[TheDeterminator self-made]] through his online videos ([[GladIThoughtOfIt “inspiring” management to do likewise]]) as JokeCharacter or [[LethalJokeCharacter not,]] he got ''over'' with the fans in ''spite'' of the higher-ups intending for him to rot at the bottom of the roster. Basically [[DorkAge 2015,]] alone proved not only that [[ControlFreak McMahon]] (see his Trivia and YMMV pages for further emphasis) hasn’t [[AesopAmnesia learned]] anything from this, but would also sooner [[TakeThatAudience spite his own audience]] by putting over people ''he'' wants the way he wants and the people are tired of it.

* In Wrestling/{{WCW}}, there was the {{Heel}} faction, the West Texas Rednecks, who were fans of country music. They feuded against the hip-hop artist, Music/MasterP and the No Limit Soldiers, who were pushed as faces. Problem was, that WCW held their shows in the south, where rap music was hated. Not only that -- Wrestling/CurtHennig and company were charismatic wrestlers who deliberately acted funny, and had a catchy theme song, while Master P's crew were ebonics-spouting stereotypical thugs who drastically outnumbered their foes (thus coming across as bullies and the heels as brave victims). Because of this, the West Texas Rednecks were cheered by the Southern crowd, and their song, "Rap is Crap", actually received airtime on Country stations.

* It's well known in the WWE that it's really, really hard to get a Canadian audience to consider a Canadian wrestler as the heel in a given match unless they happen to be fighting another Canadian. WWE specifically renamed rising [[WrestlingMonster monster heel]] [[Wrestling/JohnTenta Canadian Earthquake (John Tenta)]] to simply Earthquake going into ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} VI'', which was held in Toronto.
* In another example of the Canadian audience turning things topsy-turvy for bookers, when Wrestling/HulkHogan returned to WWE they were setting him up to continue his [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan]] heel persona and feuding with then-face [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]]. The only problem was that the climax of the feud took place at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} X8'' in Toronto. Since WCW had rarely ventured north of the border, Canadian fans still largely remembered the classic face Hulk Hogan and proceeded to go completely wild over him, and booing The Rock, to the point where, by the end of the match, they had accomplished a completely unplanned HeelFaceTurn. You could hear the disbelief at the announcing table as this was going on.

** Similarly, at ''WCW [=Mayhem=] 99,'' November 21, 1999, which was held in Toronto, the Canadian fans booed the {{Face}} Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} and cheered the {{Heel}} [[Wrestling/SidEudy Sid [=Vicious=]]], because of the WWE party line that Goldberg was a "Stone Cold" Steve Austin ripoff, and Sid was previously an on-and-off WWE guy.

* No-one should have been surprised that in a company where the majority of viewers were young men, that the smoking hot Wrestling/MickieJames and her pyscho lesbian gimmick would get over as a face rather than the plan for her to be the heel in her feud with Trish. Mickie was so over as a face that in her entire WWE career she wasn't ever booed.