Line #36 MisaimedFandom/ProfessionalWrestling


1	Examples of Misaimed Fandom for characters in ProfessionalWrestling.
2
3	----
4	* [[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?'')[[note]]Over 20 years later and unfortunately [[Main/WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings fans still do this pretty regularly]].[[/note]]
5	** This in turn lead to a [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Crowning Moment Of Awesome]] for Wrestling/TheUndertaker:
6	---> '''Undertaker:''' I'll tell you what, why don't you say "what" if you like to sleep with your own sister.
7	---> '''Crowd:''' "WHA--Booooo!"
8	** Also one for Wrestling/HulkHogan, twisting it around into his personal CatchPhrase:
9	---> '''Crowd:''' "WHAT?"
10	---> '''Hogan:''' "-CHA GONNA DO?"
11	---> '''Crowd:''' "WHAT?"
12	---> '''Hogan:''' "-CHA GONNA DO?"
13	** In 2010, long after Austin's departure, the crowd at ''[[Wrestling/{{WWERaw}} Raw]]'' events uses the ''WHAT?'' to punctuate the reading of the anonymous general manager's emails by announcer Wrestling/MichaelCole.
14	** 2011 saw the crowd use the ''WHAT?'' to heckle a [[FaceHeelTurn freshly-turned]] [[Wrestling/RonKillings R-Truth]], to great comedic effect.
15	---> '''[[Wrestling/RonKillings R-Truth]]''': "Don't WHAT me!"
16	** In 2013, during a Wrestling/MarkHenry promo on Sheamus:
17	---> '''Henry:''' "Now, when Sheamus-"
18	---> '''Crowd:''' "WHAT?"
19	---> '''Henry:''' "When Sheamus-"
20	---> '''Crowd:''' "WHAT?"
21	---> '''Henry:''' "When Sheamus-"
22	---> '''Crowd:''' "WHAT?"
23	---> '''Henry:''' "Y'all just a buncha puppets."
24	** When Wrestling/KurtAngle came back from neck surgery he rejoiced in the "You Suck" and "What" chants just because he was glad to be back.
25	* After a few weeks of frustration concerning tag partner Tajiri, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero went [[BerserkButton berserk when Tajiri touched his low-rider]] (in reality, Tajiri had been thrown into the car by an opponent) and tossed Tajiri into the windshield. The next ''[=SmackDown=]'', Eddie cut a promo saying that he was only going to look after number one, which was supposed to be a heel turn, but the fans had begun to buy into the Lie, Cheat, and Steal face persona cultivated just a few weeks prior with Los Guerreros' feud with [[Wrestling/TheWorldsGreatestTagTeam Team Angle]] that the action fit the criteria, and the crowd ''cheered'' for Eddie. Suffice to say, Eddie stayed a babyface.
26	* In Wrestling/{{WCW}}, there was the {{Heel}} faction, the West Texas Rednecks[[note]]actually the West Texas Outlaws, but when the other wrestlers and commentators alike tried to call them Rednecks as an insult, WCW's predominantly white southern fanbase didn't take it as an insult[[/note]], 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.
27	* Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys' 2000 run in the WWF. During their matches, the Dudleys would drive their opponents through a wooden table. When they did this [[WouldHitAGirl to females]], it was supposed to give them heel heat, but the audience ''liked'' it. The point of [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale Double Standard Abuse]] can be argued all day, but in any case, it's a far cry from [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]] even ''attempting'' to hurt Miss Elizabeth being considered a MoralEventHorizon.
28	* 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[[note]]And his multiple domestic violence convictions[[/note]] 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.
29	* [[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\|Wrestler}} even lampshaded this in a promo during his confrontation with Orton.
30	* In the start of [=EV2=]'s feud with Fortune the crowd was rooting for the stable Fortune, even during the beatdown that Fortune gave [=EV2=], the night after [=EV2=] had their reunion PPV, the crowd was chanting for Fortune. Spoony even commented that it's hard to root against Fortune because they were booked as a fun heel group, and was the kind of group that you might like to hang out with. It also made sense that the group, outside of Wrestling/RicFlair, consists of a bunch of upcoming TNA superstars while [=EV2=] consists of a bunch of people that are past their prime.
31	* 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. WWF 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.
32	* 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[[note]]And had very little TV presence as Creator/{{TNT}} wasn't available in Canada, the only way to watch the flagship ''WCW Monday Nitro'' was being lucky enough to have an affiliate carry the syndicated version of ''Nitro'', which was edited down to 60 minutes and usually shown the weekend after it originally aired. Creator/{{TBS}} also wasn't available in Canada, so fans up north also missed ''WCW Saturday Night'', ''WCW Thunder'', and the quarterly ''Clash of the Champions'' shows.[[/note]], 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.
33	** That wasn't really a Canadian thing. The audience was starting to turn in favor of Hogan even before ''[=WrestleMania=] X8''. The crowd exploded in cheers at the Raw event the week before when Hogan pinned Rock in an nWo vs Rock and Austin handicap tag match held in Detroit. It was really much more of a "Rock is getting stale" feeling coinciding with a huge nostalgia rush for Hogan and the nWo who hadn't been around for a few years.
34	** 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[[note]]He was actually a ''Ken Shamrock'' ripoff, hence the MMA gloves and "martial arts" strikes. Bischoff came up with the idea after the WWF signed Shamrock, thinking he could book a fake UFC fighter better than the WWF could book a real one. Goldberg drew far more money in wrestling than Shamrock ever did, so it's safe to say Bischoff was right[[/note]], and Sid was previously an on-and-off WWF guy.
35	* Once during a British Bulldogs ([[Wrestling/DynamiteKid The Dynamite Kid]] and Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith) vs. Wrestling/TheIronSheik[=/=]Wrestling/NikolaiVolkoff (w[=/=][[Wrestling/{{Slick}} "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!"
36	** This happens WAY more often then it should. At nWo Souled Out 97, a match between Wrestling/MasahiroChono (Japanese) and Wrestling/ChrisJericho (Canadian) resulted in "USA!" chants. Wrestling/EricBischoff would lampshade this by saying something to the effect of "The fans know where they live." Another problem is that Chono and Jericho were both ''born'' in the U.S., Chono in UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and Jericho in Manhasset, NY.
37	* 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 PsychoLesbian 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.
38	* Happened big time with Wrestling/BeckyLynch 's Heel Turn. For what it's worth, the reason Lynch should have been viewed as the bad guy in-story made sense: She had backstabbed her best friend Wrestling/CharlotteFlair just because she couldn't handle losing to her. The problem was that Becky had been so massively over with the fans that they were willing to twist the story any way possible to justify refusing to boo Becky, saying Charlotte was at fault for not doing Becky a favor by stepping out of the title picture or otherwise "letting" Becky win the title (in-story, mind you, not just behind the scenes) when no self-respecting competitive athlete would ever want to be handed a win or title, especially not by someone they trusted as a friend.

Context MisaimedFandom / ProfessionalWrestling