10 Times Wrestling Changed Due To Fan Backlash
Agents For Change.
Vince McMahon is a stubborn man.
Vince McMahon is a man that refuses to insert an off-season into a schedule wrestlers came to call the "Killer Calendar". He's also a man that inserted a "Killer Kalendar" into his in-house magazine at the same time, quite possibly to rib those breaking their bodies into early retirement for the good of his bank balance.
He's a man that has taken the numbers out of WrestleMania in recent years because anything beyond 30 is old. He is a man who gleefully uses ageism as a narrative device towards women under 40. He is a 74-year-old man.
He is a stubborn man, but also a rich man.
As usual, it all comes back to the money. One might say it's all about it, but your writer doesn't need any more memories of his brief-yet-maniacal catchphrase.
Only when he can draw a line to his incredible wealth (and insatiable thirst for more wealth) has he worked against his better instincts. When fans can't get to him, they can get to others than can get to him, and it's then - literally only then - that he adjusts course. Such as...
10. Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal
WWE's infamous climbdown after naming the inaugural WrestleMania women's battle royal after The Fabulous Moolah was entirely as result of sponsor pressure, but it took audiences needling Snickers into going nuts at WWE for the choice before any action occurred. And the discerning voices of disdain earned their success.
Moolah's legacy was clouded long before WWE brought her back to the front of everybody's collective conscience in 2018, but Vince McMahon himself seemed blissfully unaware (or not even slightly fussed) about the transgressions that had come to light later in her life and especially after her death.
WWE have made good on years of neglect by adding women's variants of popular gimmicks to the regular pay-per-view calendar over the years, but this got everything all wrong - including the booking of the battle royal itself.
As if to pay tribute to the mess they'd made of the build up, WWE relegated Sasha Banks and Bayley's blooming conflict to the middle of the mess, undermining the match, the Boss N Hug Connection, and the rest of the wrestlers in it.
A rapid rethink resulted in a p*ss-weak trophy for the winner, but eventual victor Naomi looked like the biggest loser for daring to aspire to its broken brief history and future failed legacy.