5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (March 1)

3. Killing The Town

Brother Love
YouTube

Last week’s Lafayette crowd divided opinion, and opened up a tiresome debate: is it the responsibility of the promoter, or the crowd, to get a performer over?

The answer to that is the promoter, of course, because the crowd does not promote talent. And, since some fans out there once called for Ted DiBiase, Jr. to end the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak—“It’s all about the synergy, it’s all about the synergy!”—we’re probably best off with Vince, sadly.

WWE were clearly miffed enough with Lafayette to bury the city via the medium of YouTube video. Dispatching Pat McAfee to pop up on user screens and kill the town, WWE just pissed off a market that was already audibly uninterested in the product. These fans, and it’s not just those in Lafayette, have been conditioned to stay silent. Chanting doesn’t work. It didn’t work for Dean Ambrose in 2016, it didn’t work for Rusev last year, and it’s only working for Kofi Kingston now because Vince has realised that everybody else on SmackDown is a dead rubber insofar as the 'Mania main event goes. Until very recently, he surveyed Kingston, and thought “No, I’ll just go with the guy I instruct my commentators to call fat.”

Usually, when a company buries a city, they dispatch a heel to do it, before a babyface doles out their comeuppance.

WWE now simply buries the city, and annoys them into not coming back. That seems like a terrible promotional strategy, but he’s Vince McMahon damnit etc. etc.

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 surefire Undisputed WWE Universal 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!