10 Times Wrestling Crowds Actually RUINED The Moment
Maybe doing wrestling shows without fans might not be so bad after all.
Wrestling fans, like the wrestlers themselves, are essential to the product's success. A hot crowd can elevate the level of any match and help it break into a new category of quality. AEW, and latterly WWE, have both realized this and now line their barricades with other talent to make up for the absence of their supporters.
It is tough to beat the real thing. What the companies offer now is an okay substitute, but people want to see themselves when they watch wrestling. They want to see their friends. They want to see the wrestling community. They want to be at events and say whatever it is they want and make their voice heard.
Sometimes though, that isn't the best thing. While wrestling fans can help matches, sometimes they can hinder just as much by either not being interested or just straight up being toxic, killing matches and moments before they could even get going.
While the world will at some point allow wrestling fans to come back into the crowd, and fans will certainly be happy to return to their favorite seats in their local arenas and bingo halls, they'd do well to avoid recreating any of the moments on this list.
10. WWE Encourages The Boring Chant On Lance Storm
'Captain Canada' Lance Storm already had a reputation as a master technician by the time he came to WWE during the ill-fated Invasion. His matches and moves all had a level of execution that could rival the likes of Bret Hart or Dean Malenko. Any fan that could get past his vanilla aesthetic would see an intense competitor who could easily put on classic matches and vie for a top title.
Unfortunately WWE looked at Storm long and hard and could only think of one word. That word was a loud and elongated 'b-o-r-i-n-g'. Sure they gave him an Intercontinental title run one time, but never the attention that he had gotten in promotions like ECW and even WCW. What attention the brass did give him wasn't always positive.
On a July 2003 episode of Raw, Stone Cold of all people came out with a pillow and mic, leading the fans in the infamous "boring" chant as he snored on the stage. Most fans hate seeing wrestlers get buried, but WWE handed them the shovel this time and let them dig a grave for Storm. With all the confirmation they needed that Storm couldn't excite crowds, they slated him with a dreaded dancing gimmick. From there, the tombstone would be half engraved. His time in WWE was over, just nobody knew what the final day would be.