It’s lazy punditry to aim fire on crowds when they respond to a wrestling show with collected indifference or vocalised protest via the “what” chants (more on that later) or other various hijacks.
Audiences pay to attend and reserve the right to react however they wish as long as they’re not harming others around them. The wrestlers and bookers are The Show, and are there to dictate the emotional responses if they’re effective in their roles. Too many people creating The Show haven’t been strong enough in their positions for much of this year, and the outcome was Wednesday’s sterile scene.
Chicago will always be one of AEW’s bases, but there were more lively events in Jacksonville in the summer of 2020 than this one. A lower number until a late walk-up should be an alarm bell, and flat disinterest to huge portions of the show shouldn’t be written off as just a still night in ‘The Windy City’.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
