History TooBleakStoppedCaring / ProfessionalWrestling

* "Wrestling/TheAuthority" storyline[[note]]Which has been going on in some form or another since ''1998'', though "The Authority" didn't come into use until the 2010s. Of course now Triple H is running the company ''for real'' and Vince and Steph are gone[[/note]], where Wrestling/TripleH and wife [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] set themselves up as bad guy corporate leaders of the company, pushing guys who aligned with them into the main event title scene under the guise of such actions being [[ArcWords best for business]]. The trouble is that The Authority never had any fierce competition. The {{kayfabe}} reason that Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin couldn't be fired during the Attitude Era was because he was too popular. The Authority had no such counterbalance, as top faces like Wrestling/JohnCena never set themselves up in opposition. Unlike with the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], there was not even the hope of a [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} masked savior]] waiting in the wings to bring down the machine, since the few superstars who tried to stand up to the Authority failed in their efforts, including said masked savior when he finally debuted. And so, fans watched as The Authority ruled the roost until the fans got sick of it and turned away. Over the course of the last 25 years or so the amount of people watching wrestling has shrunk to about a quarter of what it was during the boom period of the 90s. This and the previous two entries are the main reason why. It also [[TrendKiller killed the evil boss character trope in wrestling]] (which probably isn't a bad thing), as reception to this angle was so poor[[note]]As in ratings and attendance ''tanked'', when you only draw a crowd of 8,000 people for ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'' you've got a serious problem[[/note]] that no promotion has done an evil boss angle since.

* "Wrestling/TheAuthority" storyline[[note]]Which has been going on in some form or another since ''1998'', though "The Authority" didn't come into use until the 2010s. Of course now Triple H is running the company ''for real'' and Vince and Steph are gone[[/note]], where Wrestling/TripleH and wife [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] set themselves up as bad guy corporate leaders of the company, pushing guys who aligned with them into the main event title scene under the guise of such actions being [[ArcWords best for business]]. The trouble is that The Authority never had any fierce competition. The {{kayfabe}} reason that Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin couldn't be fired during the Attitude Era was because he was too popular. The Authority had no such counterbalance, as top faces like Wrestling/JohnCena never set themselves up in opposition. Unlike with the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], there was not even the hope of a [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} masked savior]] waiting in the wings to bring down the machine, since the few superstars who tried to stand up to the Authority failed in their efforts, including said masked savior when he finally debuted. And so, fans watched as The Authority ruled the roost until the fans got sick of it and turned away. Over the course of the last 25 years or so the amount of people watching wrestling has shrunk to about a quarter of what it was during the boom period of the 90s. This and the previous two entries are the main reason why.

* "Wrestling/TheAuthority" storyline[[note]]Which has been going on in some form or another since ''1998'', though "The Authority" didn't come into use until the 2010s[[/note]], where Wrestling/TripleH and wife [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] set themselves up as bad guy corporate leaders of the company, pushing guys who aligned with them into the main event title scene under the guise of such actions being [[ArcWords best for business]]. The trouble is that The Authority never had any fierce competition. The {{kayfabe}} reason that Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin couldn't be fired during the Attitude Era was because he was too popular. The Authority had no such counterbalance, as top faces like Wrestling/JohnCena never set themselves up in opposition. Unlike with the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], there was not even the hope of a [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} masked savior]] waiting in the wings to bring down the machine, since the few superstars who tried to stand up to the Authority failed in their efforts, including said masked savior when he finally debuted. And so, fans watched as The Authority ruled the roost until the fans got sick of it and turned away. Over the course of the last 25 years or so the amount of people watching wrestling has shrunk to about a quarter of what it was during the boom period of the 90s. This and the previous two entries are the main reason why.

* "Wrestling/TheAuthority" storyline[[note]]Which has been going on in some form or another since ''1998'', though "The Authority" didn't come into use until the 2010s[[/note]], where Wrestling/TripleH and wife [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] set themselves up as bad guy corporate leaders of the company, pushing guys who aligned with them into the main event title scene under the guise of such actions being [[ArcWords best for business]]. The trouble is that The Authority never had any fierce competition. The {{kayfabe}} reason that Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin couldn't be fired during the Attitude Era was because he was too popular. The Authority had no such counterbalance, as top faces like Wrestling/JohnCena never set themselves up in opposition. Unlike with the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], there was not even the hope of a [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} masked savior]] waiting in the wings to bring down the machine, since the few superstars who tried to stand up to the Authority failed in their efforts. And so, fans watched as The Authority ruled the roost until the fans got sick of it and turned away. Over the course of the last 25 years or so the amount of people watching wrestling has shrunk to about a quarter of what it was during the boom period of the 90s. This and the previous two entries are the main reason why.

* ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 32'' was a unfortunate study in this; every match leading to the main event either was undone the next night on Raw (Wrestling/ZackRyder winning the IC belt, Wrestling/TheUndertaker def Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon), or had [[TheBadGuyWins the heel win]] (The League of Nations def The New Day, Jericho def AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar def Dean Ambrose, Charlotte winning the Triple Threat for the new Women's Championship, Baron Corbin winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal), and the final bout crowned major CreatorsPet and XPacHeat recipient Wrestling/RomanReigns WWE Champion over the [[RootingForTheEmpire heel-but-still-preferred]] Wrestling/TripleH. In fact, the event was so hated that not only was it immediately moved into FanonDiscontinuity, but [[CanonDiscontinuity the company itself began to ignore or outright negate its results afterwards with its booking]], including mercifully pulling the plug on the aforementioned Authority angle, implying that they were subtly and silently acknowledging that they had screwed up and that this was their way of apologizing.

** Also not helping WCW's cause (as detailed in the same book) was Bischoff's feud and subsequent burial of Wrestling/RicFlair, was was WCW's biggest and really only draw before the nWo angle. When he wasn't being kept off TV altogether because he and Bischoff were suing each other he was jobbing in the JCP/NWA/WCW strongholds like Charlotte (his hometown, no less) and Atlanta, usually in incredibly embarrassing fashion. This eventually led to the diehards (i.e. people that were watching WCW before Hogan) to abandon the company and for the most part abandon wrestling in general. This really kicked in right around the same time as the "Fingerpoke of Doom" and was a brutal 1-2 punch they never recovered from.

* This trope is why {{heel}} [[EvilVersusEvil vs. heel]] matchups are typically undesirable from a booker's point of view: the audience would have no one to cheer. When there ''is'' a heel vs. heel feud, it's usually a sign that [[EvenEvilHasStandards one of them is about to turn face]] (for example, Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} versus Wrestling/RandyOrton in January 2010 -- and even then, that only happened because [[MisaimedFandom/ProfessionalWrestling Randy was getting cheered so often despite being by far and away the biggest dick in the company]] (not named Wrestling/{{Batista}}) at the time that they had no choice ''but'' to turn him face).

* "Wrestling/TheAuthority" storyline, where Wrestling/TripleH and wife [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] set themselves up as bad guy corporate leaders of the company, pushing guys who aligned with them into the main event title scene under the guise of such actions being [[ArcWords best for business]]. The trouble is that The Authority never had any fierce competition. The {{kayfabe}} reason that Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin couldn't be fired during the Attitude Era was because he was too popular. The Authority had no such counterbalance, as top faces like Wrestling/JohnCena never set themselves up in opposition. Unlike with the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], there was not even the hope of a [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} masked savior]] waiting in the wings to bring down the machine, since the few superstars who tried to stand up to the Authority failed in their efforts. And so, fans watched as The Authority ruled the roost until the fans got sick of it and turned away. Over the course of the last 25 years or so the amount of people watching wrestling has shrunk to about a quarter of what it was during the boom period of the 90s. This and the previous two entries are the main reason why.

* "Wrestling/TheAuthority" storyline, where Wrestling/TripleH and wife [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] set themselves up as bad guy corporate leaders of the company, pushing guys who aligned with them into the main event title scene under the guise of such actions being [[ArcWords best for business]]. The trouble is that The Authority never had any fierce competition. The {{kayfabe}} reason that Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin couldn't be fired during the Attitude Era was because he was too popular. The Authority had no such counterbalance, as top faces like Wrestling/JohnCena never set themselves up in opposition. Unlike with the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], there was not even the hope of a [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} masked savior]] waiting in the wings to bring down the machine, since the few superstars who tried to stand up to the Authority failed in their efforts. And so, fans watched as The Authority ruled the roost until the fans got sick of it and turned away.
** Not helping the issue was the rise of Wrestling/RomanReigns during this same time, who was seen as a CreatorsPet by the fans of the era. The fans hated Reigns so much that they began to root for the Authority over him, creating a very cynical fanbase where the fans felt like they'd never see what they wanted to see. Things didn't get better until Roman violated the Wellness Policy three months into a championship reign, forcing the company to suspend him.

* ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 32'' was a unfortunate study in this; every match leading to the main event either was undone the next night on Raw (Wrestling/ZackRyder winning the IC belt, Wrestling/TheUndertaker def Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon), or had [[TheBadGuyWins the heel win]] (The League of Nations def The New Day, Jericho def AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar def Dean Ambrose, Charlotte winning the Triple Threat for the new Women's Championship, Baron Corbin winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal), and the final bout crowned major CreatorsPet and XPacHeat recipient Wrestling/RomanReigns WWE Champion over the [[RootingForTheEmpire heel-but-still-preferred]] Wrestling/TripleH. In fact, the event was so hated that not only was it immediately moved into FanonDiscontinuity, but [[CanonDiscontinuity the company itself began to ignore or outright negate its results afterwards with its booking]], implying that they were subtly and silently acknowledging that they had screwed up and that this was their way of apologizing.

* Wrestling/WrestleMania 32 was a unfortunate study in this; every match leading to the main event either was undone the next night on Raw (Wrestling/ZackRyder winning the IC belt, Wrestling/TheUndertaker def Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon), or had [[TheBadGuyWins the heel win]] (The League of Nations def The New Day, Jericho def AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar def Dean Ambrose, Charlotte winning the Triple Threat for the new Women's Championship, Baron Corbin winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal), and the final bout crowned major CreatorsPet and XPacHeat recipient Wrestling/RomanReigns WWE Champion over the [[RootingForTheEmpire heel-but-still-preferred]] Wrestling/TripleH.

** While the Wrestling/{{n|ewWorldOrder}}Wo [[EvilIsCool were cool]] for a while, they were [[{{Heel}} the bad guys]], which meant that the [=nWo=] ultimately needed to lose. General consensus among wrestling fans is that the New World Order should've ended at ''Starrcade '97'', after Wrestling/{{Sting}} defeated Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Championship. But the [=nWo=] story just kept going, on and on, with no end in sight. After years of watching the villains run roughshod over everyone, the whole thing just became depressing - people felt like the [=nWo=] was never going to lose, so people changed the channel.

* The ''inVasion'' angle of the summer of 2001. When [[EnemyMine WCW and ECW unexpectedly decided to team up against WWE]], the WWE writers sabotaged the concept by casting every WCW and ECW representative [[DesignatedVillain as a heel]]. The leader of the WWE team was Wrestling/VinceMcMahon; his opponents were his children Wrestling/{{Shane|McMahon}} and Wrestling/{{Stephanie|McMahon}} and ECW chief Wrestling/PaulHeyman, all of whom were {{Jerkass}}es.At the actual pay-per-view event, WWE [[CurbStompBattle trounced the WCW/ECW Alliance so thoroughly]] that when Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin defected to the Alliance, it was hard not to see this treachery as WWE getting its just desserts.
* The "Wrestling/TheAuthority" storyline, where Wrestling/TripleH and wife [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] set themselves up as bad guy corporate leaders of the company, pushing guys who aligned with them into the main event title scene under the guise of such actions being [[ArcWords best for business]]. The trouble is that The Authority never had any fierce competition. The {{kayfabe}} reason that Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin couldn't be fired during the Attitude Era was because he was too popular. The Authority had no such counterbalance, as top faces like Wrestling/JohnCena never set themselves up in opposition. Unlike with the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], there was not even the hope of a [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} masked savior]] waiting in the wings to bring down the machine, since the few superstars who tried to stand up to the Authority failed in their efforts. And so, fans watched as The Authority ruled the roost until the fans got sick of it and turned away.

* Also during the same time as the Authority storyline was Wrestling/BrockLesnar and his complete dominance over the WWE roster since ending Wrestling/TheUndertaker's Wrestling/WrestleMania undefeated streak. Although still technically-booked as a heel, fans [[RootingForTheEmpire still cheered him at first]], since his "[[SpamAttack Suplex City]]" gimmick was used on traditional XPacHeat recipients Cena and Reigns. But as the WWE entered the latter half of 2015 where Lesnar first refused to be beaten cleanly by Undertaker in their Wrestling/SummerSlam rematch that year then defeating him again in Hell in a Cell, people began to start seeing problems with Lesnar's overprotective booking. It got worse in 2016 when at first Lesnar feuded with Wrestling/DeanAmbrose, arguably WWE's most white-hot babyface who fans believed could be the one to get the victory on Lesnar, only for their [=WrestleMania=] Street Fight to end up an embarrassing squash match in Lesnar's favor due to him not wanting to get injured before his fight at ''UFC 200'', then fighting Wrestling/RandyOrton at Wrestling/SummerSlam resulting in a finish that ended with Lesnar giving Orton a legitimate concussion. The darkness abated somewhat after Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} squashed Lesnar in less than two minutes at Wrestling/SurvivorSeries, but now that Lesnar has defeated Goldberg in their [=WrestleMania=] rematch, becoming Universal Champion in the process, the apathy is sure to come back in full force.
** Lesnar's title reign did, in fact, invoke this, along with ArcFatigue. Not only did it break Wrestling/CMPunk's historic 434 day-reign by '''two and half months''', he seemingly showed up for barely even a quarter of that to the point that viewers forgot ''RAW'' even had a world title. It didn't help that during that time he had only three challengers for the title: the aforementioned Reigns, Wrestling/SamoaJoe, and Wrestling/BraunStrowman. The fans eventually came to hate Brock's reign so much that when Reigns finally won it, he was cheered because they all knew he would show up regularly, have good matches with the rest of the roster, and wouldn't hold the title for as nearly as long. When Reigns had to relinquish it again thanks to the return of his leukemia and the company put the title back on Brock, the fans were furious (leading to Brock, ironically, becoming a ReplacementScrappy for Reigns) and were literally counting the days until he lost it to someone (who turned out to be a face Seth Rollins).
* Looking at the entire history of the WWF, it's understandable that one would see "sports entertainment" itself as this. Due to the Heel Face Revolving Door described above, almost everyone has been a heel at some point in his or her career. Even worse, many of these heels are unrepentant for their past actions ''even after turning face'', simply laughing along with the audience or just resorting to the HandWave whenever anyone [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun tries to bring up the crimes they committed in the past]]. So with the exception of Wrestling/JohnCena (who's been a face for so long now that all of his past evil deeds have [[FleetingDemographicRule been effectively erased from memory]]) and a few others, it's hard to truly care for any of these characters. Particularly true when they exhibit {{Jerkass}} behaviors even while playing the face, or when one realizes that they're just one swerve away from becoming heels again.

*** In short, heel vs heel matchups can be saved if one invests enough RuleOfCool into the angle.

* Wrestling/TripleH has been responsible for this at times, most tellingly during 2002-2004, when he made a career of '''burying''' {{face}}s so completely that even today (coupled, it has to be said, with WWE's almost decade-long refusal to properly build new stars), WWE has an extremely small amount of top card {{face}}s, as there are so few people left for fans to take as credible threats. Granted, the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor makes it possible to turn a top heel into a top face at the drop of a storyline, but the top heels tend to spend most of their careers as heels for a reason: they're better at it.\\
\\
Wrestling/TripleH has also been largely involved in the "Wrestling/TheAuthority" storyline since mid-2013. Borrowing largely from [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince McMahon's]] "Mr. [=McMahon=]" character from the late 90s, Triple H and wife [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] set themselves up as bad guy corporate leaders of the company, pushing guys who aligned with them into the main event title scene under the guise of such actions being [[ArcWords best for business]]. The difference between this scenario and the one back in the 90s is that The Authority has not had any face presence to counteract their actions. Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin brought the fight directly to Vince and fans delighted in watching him make Vince's life a living hell, while Vince could never come out and fire him because he made him too much damn money. The Authority has no such counterbalance, as top faces like Wrestling/JohnCena are never really setting themselves up in opposition and simply acting within the confines of the boundaries The Authority establishes. Former top heels either align with The Authority and lose a great deal of their [[DemotedToExtra autonomy]] (like Wrestling/RandyOrton), or wither like dry weeds (like Wrestling/TheMiz, Wrestling/DamienSandow, Wrestling/VickieGuerrero, or Wrestling/AJLee) when Triple H or Stephanie tell them it's their way or the highway, get in line or it's the unemployment line. And the fans know it. Unlike with the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], there is not even the hope of a [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} masked savior]] waiting in the wings to bring down the machine, and so fans watch as The Authority rules the roost as the top bad guys either until a game changer comes along or until they get tired of the role.
** The few superstars who have tried to stand up to the Authority have failed in their efforts. Any victory they achieve has only been temporary, and the Authority always wins out in the end. Examples of those who've tried (and failed) to get the better of the Authority include Wrestling/DanielBryan, Wrestling/BigShow (who eventually joined them after over a year's worth of on and off feuding), Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/TheShield (who, despite going 3-and-0 against a reunited Evolution, ended up being dismantled by the Authority after Seth Rollins [[FaceHeelTurn turned on them]] and joined the Authority himself, and has since replaced Wrestling/RandyOrton as the group's main in-ring competitor), Wrestling/DolphZiggler (who actually succeeded in ridding WWE of the Authority, though it was another temporary victory, and they returned after a month's absence and got the last laugh as always), Wrestling/RandyOrton, and even ''Wrestling/{{Sting}}''.
** Another issue with the Authority is that during their long reign of terror there hadn't been a true face champion ever since Wrestling/DanielBryan had to vacate it due to injury. Wrestling/JohnCena, a major BaseBreakingCharacter, won it, only to lose the title to Wrestling/BrockLesnar at ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2014''. Lesnar later lost the title to Rollins at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 31'', who would hold it until he got injured in November of that year. The title was left vacated and a tournament was created to determine a new champion in his place. A face did win the title -- Wrestling/RomanReigns. Problem was, Reigns was regarded as a CreatorsPet due to his transparently obvious status as TheChosenOne to succeed Wrestling/JohnCena's role as face of the company. The fact that he was completely bland as a face made him a major recipient of XPacHeat. Then, not even five minutes later, Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} cashed in his Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank contract to become champ. Problem was Sheamus had gone through a lot of BadassDecay and basically had no storyline direction ever since he won the briefcase, making him so irrelevant that fans wanted him to be champion even less than they did Roman. Roman then managed to get briefly over at ''TLC 2015'' by returning to his badass Shield character and won the title the following night on RAW. However, they went back to booking him as a bland face, turning him into TheScrappy again. Then he lost the title to mega-heel Wrestling/TripleH at the Wrestling/RoyalRumble match to set up the main event of ''[=WrestleMania=] 32''. \\\
This is where things utterly fell to pieces. The fans hated Roman. ''Hated him''. They hated him so much that they began to root for the Authority, ''the ones responsible for starting all this TooBleakStoppedCaring''. It was for naught, as Hunter lost and they got another reign with Roman. Things didn't get better until [[EpicFail Roman violated the Wellness Policy three months into his championship reign]], forcing the company to suspend him, meaning they had to take the title off him as soon as possible. He dropped the belt in a semi-clean match to a returning Rollins at ''Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank 2016''. While fans liked Rollins or at least sympathized with him, he was still a heel. However, not even two minutes later, Wrestling/DeanAmbrose, one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster, if not the most popular, and the last member of the Shield, cashed in his newly won briefcase and won the title, ''finally'' breaking the chain. The fans were absolutely elated. That being said, the past two years had made the fans extremely cynical, to the point that they were convinced that Ambrose was a transitional champion and that Rollins and Reigns would win it back soon enough. It wasn't until Ambrose pinned both men clean to retain the title (Rollins in a one-on-one title match, Reigns in the Shield triple threat) that fans finally realized they were getting a nice, long reign with the first true face champion since Daniel Bryan himself.
** Another issue with the Authority angle, which has persisted beyond "The Authority" being explicitly mentioned, is Stephanie [=McMahon=]. While she is great at being [[LoveToHate the utterly loathsome authority figure]] like her dad, it seems to have been forgotten that what made the old Vince/Stone Cold dynamic work is that Stone Cold would routinely give Vince his comeuppance. Vince would be a dick about something, the crowd would boo, Stone Cold would beat Vince up, the crowd would cheer, Vince would have Stone Cold arrested, the crowd would boo, and Stone Cold would make bail in time to beat Vince up at the next show where the crowd would cheer. In WWE's particularly cheesy, politically correct PG era, they'll never have someone beat up Stephanie to payoff all the heat she builds up.
** Stephanie and Triple H would also show up in roles outside their kayfabe heel role, diluting what impact they did make as heels on the main shows by coming into places like NXT, or Stephanie being involved in charity work or with the Women's division and suddenly acting like a face.

* Ignoring the insanity of Wrestling/VinceRusso's endless use of swerves, this trope was one of the main causes of Wrestling/{{WCW}}'s decline. While the Wrestling/{{n|ewWorldOrder}}Wo [[EvilIsCool were cool]] for a while, they were '''the {{heel}}s''', which meant that they ultimately needed to suffer defeats, and meaningful ones. This, however, was a fact seemingly lost on everyone there (especially those members of the [=nWo=] who were involved in booking the stories - funny that). After years and years of watching the villains run roughshod over absolutely everyone, gloating and laughing, the whole thing just became pointless and depressing - they were '''never''' going to be defeated, and that was that. So people just changed the channel. In the end, the one saving grace was that the group's leader, "Hollywood" Hogan, reverted to being Wrestling/HulkHogan and returned to being a face - but that in itself could be considered a KarmaHoudini. Most people would probably argue that the New World Order storyline should've ended at ''Starrcade '97'', after Wrestling/{{Sting}} finally defeated Hulk Hogan (albeit in controversial fashion), thereby proving that, if nothing else, the nWo wasn't invincible. Of course, that arc itself came close to resulting in DIAA, since Sting was early on [[{{Frameup}} made to look as if he were secretly working for the nWo]], and his immediate reaction - [[AchillesInHisTent abruptly quitting WCW and entering into semi-seclusion for a time]] - didn't exactly allay suspicion. Indeed, Sting's enigmatic, smiling declaration of [[LogicBomb "The only thing that's for sure about Sting... is that nothing's for sure"]] - the last words he ever spoke before [[WhiteMaskOfDoom completely whitening his face]] and refusing to speak publicly for more than 14 months - kept people guessing for quite a while.
* Literature/TheDeathOfWCW talks about this from a booking standpoint. According to the author, [[CaptainObvious the best way to make money is to create a match fans want to see and one that they're willing to pay for to see]]. However, fans won't pay to see a bout if they can easily perceive a winner. In context to WCW's own entry on this page; the apathy factored into money bouts as well. Not only was Bischoff trying to put PPV matches on regular TV, but the sheer apathy of the heels running roughshod constantly make it a drain to see. Fans began to perceive who the winner would be (especially on the Souled Out [=PPVs=]) that money stopped coming into the PPV matches.
* The ''inVasion'' angle of the summer of 2001 also suffered from this. Wrestling/{{WWE}} fans, WCW fans, and {{Wrestling/ECW}} fans had hated each other for years, so when [[EnemyMine WCW and ECW unexpectedly decided to team up against the big bad WWE]], it looked like a battle for the ages. Except... the WWE writers sabotaged the whole concept by casting ''every'' WCW and ECW representative [[DesignatedVillain as a heel]], even though many of them had done nothing wrong. Worse, the leader of the WWE team was Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, hardly a likable character; his opponents were his children Wrestling/{{Shane|McMahon}} and Wrestling/{{Stephanie|McMahon}} and ECW chief Wrestling/PaulHeyman, all of whom were likewise {{Jerkass}}es. Finally, at the actual pay-per-view event WWE [[CurbStompBattle trounced the WCW/ECW Alliance so thoroughly]] that when [[spoiler: Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin]] defected to the Alliance and helped them pull off an unexpected victory, it was hard not to see this treachery as WWE getting its just desserts. (And all the Alliance members ended up joining or rejoining WWE shortly afterwards anyway, so what was the point?)

* Ignoring the insanity of Wrestling/VinceRusso's endless use of the ShockingSwerve, this trope was one of the main causes of Wrestling/{{WCW}}'s decline. While the Wrestling/{{n|ewWorldOrder}}Wo [[EvilIsCool were cool]] for a while, they were '''the {{heel}}s''', which meant that they ultimately needed to suffer defeats, and meaningful ones. This, however, was a fact seemingly lost on everyone there (especially those members of the [=nWo=] who were involved in booking the stories - funny that). After years and years of watching the villains run roughshod over absolutely everyone, gloating and laughing, the whole thing just became pointless and depressing - they were '''never''' going to be defeated, and that was that. So people just changed the channel. In the end, the one saving grace was that the group's leader, "Hollywood" Hogan, reverted to being Wrestling/HulkHogan and returned to being a face - but that in itself could be considered a KarmaHoudini. Most people would probably argue that the New World Order storyline should've ended at ''Starrcade '97'', after Wrestling/{{Sting}} finally defeated Hulk Hogan (albeit in controversial fashion), thereby proving that, if nothing else, the nWo wasn't invincible. Of course, that arc itself came close to resulting in DIAA, since Sting was early on [[{{Frameup}} made to look as if he were secretly working for the nWo]], and his immediate reaction - [[AchillesInHisTent abruptly quitting WCW and entering into semi-seclusion for a time]] - didn't exactly allay suspicion. Indeed, Sting's enigmatic, smiling declaration of [[LogicBomb "The only thing that's for sure about Sting... is that nothing's for sure"]] - the last words he ever spoke before [[WhiteMaskOfDoom completely whitening his face]] and refusing to speak publicly for more than 14 months - kept people guessing for quite a while.

* Looking at the entire history of the WWF, it's understandable that one would see "sports entertainment" itself as this. Due to the Heel Face Revolving Door described above, almost everyone has been a heel at some point in his or her career. Even worse, many of these heels are unrepentant for their past actions ''even after turning face'', simply laughing along with the audience or just resorting to the HandWave whenever anyone [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun tries to bring up the crimes they committed in the past]]. So with the exception of Wrestling/JohnCena (who's been a face for so long now that all of his past evil deeds have [[FleetingDemographicRule been effectively erased from memory]]) and a few others, it's hard to truly care for any of these characters. Particularly true when they exhibit {{Jerkass}} behaviors even while playing the face, or when one realizes that they're just one ShockingSwerve away from becoming heels again.

This is where things utterly fell to pieces. The fans hated Roman. ''Hated him''. They hated him so much that they began to root for the Authority, ''the ones responsible for starting all this DarknessInducedAudienceApathy''. It was for naught, as Hunter lost and they got another reign with Roman. Things didn't get better until [[EpicFail Roman violated the Wellness Policy three months into his championship reign]], forcing the company to suspend him, meaning they had to take the title off him as soon as possible. He dropped the belt in a semi-clean match to a returning Rollins at ''Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank 2016''. While fans liked Rollins or at least sympathized with him, he was still a heel. However, not even two minutes later, Wrestling/DeanAmbrose, one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster, if not the most popular, and the last member of the Shield, cashed in his newly won briefcase and won the title, ''finally'' breaking the chain. The fans were absolutely elated. That being said, the past two years had made the fans extremely cynical, to the point that they were convinced that Ambrose was a transitional champion and that Rollins and Reigns would win it back soon enough. It wasn't until Ambrose pinned both men clean to retain the title (Rollins in a one-on-one title match, Reigns in the Shield triple threat) that fans finally realized they were getting a nice, long reign with the first true face champion since Daniel Bryan himself.