10 Times Wrestling Fans Completely Rejected What They Were Seeing

9. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe – Backlash 2018

The crowd shunned this match as soon as the bell rang. At the time Roman Reigns was at his peak of being rammed down fans’ throats. He was dealing with the same polarizing headliner reaction that John Cena rode out for years in WWE. His storylines with The Authority, Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman hadn’t been well received with a large portion of the audience and critics for the way he was booked throughout them as a Superman-like saviour.

WWE programmed Reigns into a feud with Joe post-WrestleMania 34 which concluded at Backlash. Fans heavily booed Reigns throughout, drowning out the light cheers he garnered. The Backlash crowd chanted “Boring” and “CM Punk”, with lots of fans leaving before or as soon as Reigns hit Joe with the spear to pick up the win.

Those New Jersey fans and people online weren’t happy that Reigns was headlining a PPV above a WWE Championship match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura on the same card. There was an argument Reigns and Joe shouldn’t have even headlined over the Intercontinental and United States Championship matches on the card, never mind the 50+ year old esteemed WWE title. A big issue for Reigns was that in his Lesnar feud he often complained in storyline there was some conspiracy against him, with WWE higherups not wanting him as their main event Superstar going forward. Yet, here he was, headlining Backlash.