10 Wrestlers That Pissed Off The Fans

Not real heat, not go-away heat, but really WEIRD heat - featuring Cody, Danhausen and Sting?!

Danhausen ROH
ROH

You're an irritable lot, aren't you.

Not all of you. Some of you are "Just enjoy everything!" bores.

In reality, the vast majority of wrestling fans really are sound; they have their preferences, they simply tune out what they don't like, and they engage earnestly with that which they do like. They can admit when something is sh*te irrespective of what the initials of the promotion are.

A non-toxic AEW fan will acknowledge that Dan Lambert and Brandi Rhodes trading insults is televisual death that has somehow contrived to turn the promotion's Jim Cornette rib babyface. A non-toxic WWE fan meanwhile won't irrationally defend the hijinks in the 24/7 Championship division because it is irredeemably f*cking bobbins, literally the least funny material ever broadcast. Non-toxic GCW fans will shrug at the sh*t slung at WRLD, and go back to enjoying a cult thing that belongs to them. Non-toxic NJPW fans won't pretend that the House of Torture isn't an abomination that can't possibly draw the intended response even if it wasn't the most cursed tribute to US TV wrestling of all time.

And so on.

But the irritable amongst you are...incredibly irritable.

You like to kiss the badge, snitch-tag your favourite podcasters - and throw the toys out of the pram when the sanctity of this business is (apparently) threatened...

10. Danhausen

Danhausen ROH
Love That Danhausen

Danhausen recently signed with AEW, and a lot of people weren't happy about it.

At all.

A quirky, absurd comedy character, Danhausen has developed a significant cult following. They love his irreverent, cryptic schtick. He speaks in a funny voice, is evil but also nice, and pulls off victories with a creative blend of mischief and fortuitous cowardice. He also, of course, kills the business, leading to the usual nightmarish Twitter experience.

As ever, the furore was wildly overblown.

What some people often fail to comprehend is that Tony Khan isn't a cheapskate who almost exclusively promotes singles matches and won't even fork out to give a middling talker a manager to obscure their weaknesses. Khan embraces managers, "goons," mams, tag team wrestling, multi-mans and rarely-sighted side characters, all in pursuit of accentuating the main acts. Danhausen will fall within the latter character type.

He isn't going to beat Bryan Danielson or anything quite so daft as that. As an associate of the Best Friends, he's going to do some fun/"fun" stuff in the background, tease doing something substantial in the ring for a fair amount of time, and then simply do it in a specific context that isn't overbearing.

Already, a serious AEW act has treated Danhausen with disdain: Jon Moxley, who sized him up with zero respect before he was lulled into a Wheeler YUTA dive.

 
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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!