Why Listening To "The People" Would Make WWE Better

wm29 On this week's (4/8/2013) edition of WWE's Monday Night Raw, the WWE received a huge wake-up call. The East Rutherford, New Jersey crowd packed into the Izod Center (15 minutes from my hometown of Jersey City) and blew the roof off of the place. For every and any thing. While Vince McMahon will not figure out why for another few weeks, let us examine the reactions garnered through the night. In the shadow of possibly the worst Wrestlemania of all-time, 29, New Jersey was fed-up. Done with the Cena-Rock "Once in a Lifetime" rematch, the "No one cares, Triple H, just go away forever" almost-retirement match and the "Please Let CM Punk beat Undertaker So It Doesn't Wind Up Being Cena or HHH" match, as well as other lackluster matches, New Jersey decided it was going to voice its opinion. New Jersey is one of those places where you always get honest reactions, like New York, Chicago, Detroit, parts of Canada and California. Tonight was no exception because for a year of "Wrestlemania from NY/NJ" commercials, my home state realized we'd get blamed Mania. Since #30 wouldn't be in Madison Square Garden (as it should be) if WM29 was a flop, it'd be blamed on New Jersey not being a good enough host. But that ended on last night's RAW. Chants and cheers rang through the building for anything that was against what WWE pushes. Mark Henry is a tough guy and a heel? Let us chant "Sexual Chocolate." Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger in the ring? "Let's chant for Dolph Ziggler." Randy Orton versus Sheamus "Hell, we saw Rob Van Dam at the Hall of Fame Ceremony, let's chant RVD." Michael Cole, by the grace of the Lord Almighty, got his name chanted by roughly 17,000 people without a single death threat. WWE, take note. While my personal favorite moment was when the crowd started humming Fandango's music, it is a clear-cut sign. The crowd can take over a night and even the announce team of Cole, Jerry Lawler and John Bradshaw Layfield had to admit "this is the best crowd ever." Memes abound flood the internet calling for this particular crowd to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame and for good reason. On this night, a day removed from a half-heartened attempt at Wrestlemania, the fans in New Jersey spoke for fans world-wide. The fans delivered a pipe bomb of their own and now things must change. The WWE doesn't have to give in and deliver every little thing the Internet Wrestling Community (represented by the Izod Center crowd) wants, but does have to realize that when something is not going in the right direction, re-think it. Last night Dolph Ziggler (finally) cashed-in the Money in the Bank briefcase and won the World Heavyweight title. I don't know if it was planned (and Vince wouldn't admit otherwise) but it was a hot crowd who popped for the change and deserved to witness it. Ryback, at the end of the night, attacked John Cena to close the show. Team Hell No ran out to help The Undertaker against The Shield. When would that have ever happened (since Taker and Team Hell No currently don't have anything to do with Taker or The Shield.) These moments were responses to the crowd itself, the loud, opinionated entity that made Vince a hell of a lot of money in the Attitude Era. Now the WWE has an opportunity to respond in kind. If the direction of the company (usually changed after a Wrestlemania event) can keep up with what the fans want, Mr. McMahon may finally be able to make enough money to have The Rock star in a WWE Films production.
In this post: 
WrestleMania
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

New Jersey native, Mets/footballGiants/Knicks, WWE, Video Game (any system) and Batman fan. College graduate looking to explain this planet to all lifeforms outside of it. Heavy Sleeper by day, writer by night. (Insert your witty retort here, ha...ha.)