10 Wrestling Chants That Changed Everything

4. "What?"

stone cold steve austin what
WWE.com

Steve Austin was in the midst of a 2001 heel run when he added a new catchphrase to his repertoire - "What?" According to lore, he repeated the word over and over again in a voicemail he left for Christian, and it made its way to television. Austin would punctuate sentences by yelling "What?" and would tailor his promos be as conductive to adding "Whats" as possible.

The fans liked it... a lot. They began chanting "What?" along with Austin. They began chanting "What?" when other wrestlers were cutting promos. They began chanting "What?" at the national anthem. The whole thing quickly got out of hand and became incredibly annoying. On one memorable occasion, The Undertaker got a crowd to stop chanting "What?" by suggesting that those who did it were sleeping with their sisters, but that was just a momentary solution.

Fifteen years later, crowds still chant "What?" when promos aren't entertaining enough, or when stars pause long enough between sentences to leave room for it. Odds are this one isn't going to completely fade away for a long time.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013