3 Ups & 7 Downs For WWE Raw (18 Aug - Results & Review)

4. Philly Fans Fall Off

Once upon a time, Philadelphia wrestling fans were among the most vocal, cantankerous, and ruthless fans out there. They outright rejected Roman Reigns at the 2015 Royal Rumble so definitively that WWE was forced to do damage control right out of the gate and ultimately swerved to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 31.

Fast-forward 10 years, and Raw on Monday night played in front of a tepid crowd of Philly WWE fans that sat on their hands for good chunks of the show and embarrassed themselves a few times. Like most WWE crowds, they chanted “OTC” at The Vision, only to then quickly abide Paul Heyman when the heel spokesman said they were actually chanting “Paul E.” (Picture the Simpsons episode where Smithers said a booing audience was actually saying “Boo-urns” and then the crowd changed its booing to “Boo-urns” because the villain requested it.)

During the same opening segment, Jey Uso tried to get the fans to chant “Whoa!” with him while using the same “yeet” hand motion. The crowd kept chanting “yeet” despite Jey specifically asking them at least twice to listen to what he was saying before he finally gave up.

When Mr. Iguana – who was brought in specifically because he’d gotten a good reaction from fans – finally got into the tag match, the crowd decided to sing, “Dirty, Dirty Dom.”

Throughout much of the show, the ambient crowd noise sounded more like a dishwasher or a hairdryer – a low buzz or hum of indiscernible noise. It really is remarkable: The cheapest tickets available were about $75 (probably well over $100 after fees), and fans will just sit on their hands except for entrances, sing-along chants, a few signature spots, and the final five minutes of long matches where the false finishes start flying.

But for a Philly crowd – save for a “Baby Uso” chant, which was great – this was a disappointing reaction overall.