Let's talk fan
interaction at wrestling shows, shall we? With two fans being tossed
out of Impact Wrestling shows and Bully Ray bulling a fan at a recent
Ring Of Honor show I've watched so much back and forth talk about
this, but for all the talk and chatter people have forgotten three
things (or.. they quickly try to deflect away from that because the
facts hurt).
Number one...
Fan interaction, no matter what level.. Has ALWAYS been part of the
business, and always will be.
Number two....
Without fans, you have no show..
And Number
three.. When a fan buys his ticket, he buys the right to SAY..
Anything he wants at the show.. The moment he paid for that ticket..
he paid for that right... Something I guess ROH, and Impact want to
conveniently forget.
People have
forgotten that THIS, is actually way better than shit that's gone
down in the past. In the 70's fans rioted at shows put on at The
International Amphitheater in Chicago. The late Bobby Heenan talks
about the fans in Chicago and elsewhere here at this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDPRCk8fR_M
Then you have
the late Ox Baker who caused a right in Cleveland Ohio.. You can see
that footage here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG-FO6UnaeQ Go ahead and watch it... Yeah, I highly doubt that Atlas Security
would've been able to handle that one in Cleveland.
Or you can have
it like it is Puerto Rico where they throw rocks and batteries and
try to stab you.. Kamala speaks about this at this link here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMp18i80gRY
Back when I was
just a fan and didn't know shit about the wrestling business (except
for what I read as news in the magazines Bill Apter was apart of) I
went to several wrestling shows in the Chicago area as well as the
Hammond Civic Center in Hammond Indiana. The one thing I knew then is
what I still know now.. Fans have the right to SAY.. Anything they
want during a show.. Whether a Bully Ray likes it or not.. It's again
the fans right which they earned the moment they paid for that
ticket. Thru the years I head the “ show your tits” thing thrown
at Sherri Martel, Wendi Richtor, Tammy Sytch, China, etc etc.. Fans
say a lot worse back when I went to shows in Chicago and Hammond,
than these recent incidents and you know what? The talent, the
WRESTLERS actually handled it better back then, than they do now.
Because without that paying fan who's yelling whatever it is he or
she is yelling... They don't get paid.. The company doesn't make any
money.. It's that simple, and it's funny how people are conveniently
forgetting that.
Hell I remember
going to a WWF event at what is now the AllState Arena in Rosemont,
Illinois. I was front row ringside and Luna Vachon came and got right
in my face cause I was yelling stuff. Her and Bam Bam Bigelow were
together and Bigelow was going against Doink The Clown that night.
Her and I went back and forth for almost five minutes and Bigelow was
leaning on the top rope laughing, saying to her “You gonna take
that from him”? She wound up giving me the finger and going back by
the ring.
In 1997 I and
two others went to a WWF house show at the Cumberland County Civic
center in Portland, Maine. During a match between HHH and Scott
Taylor (Scotty Too Hottie) Fans three rows in front of me chanted
“Chyna gives blowjobs” over and over.. I added to it by adding
“at ten bucks a pop”. And the fans heard me and between them and
me we had it going nice and loud..
Now did Chyna
come and get in our faces? No.. We were tossed out of the building?
Absolutely not. HHH got out of the ring, pointed at us and told us to
shut up, while Taylor egged it on some more and was enjoying it.
which got even more crowd reaction. Chyna yelled at us and wound up
giving us the finger before turning around and continuing to do what
she was out to do.
THAT'S.. How
it's supposed to be done.. No knocking a fan's beer out of his hands,
no crying to your boyfriend in the back so that way he could have the
fan brought back and he can try and throw his weight around., none of
that coward shit... You go back to the ring and continue on with what
you're supposed to be doing out there, why you're out there in the
first place. Fan interaction has, and will always be part of the
show.. And how one handles that interaction, no matter how bad they
may 'perceive' it to be, it's HOW they handle it PROFESSIONALLY in
the end that's most important.
And if you're
going into a city like Philadelphia, where you already know how rowdy
and outspoken the fans are. WOULDN'T YOU THINK.. That wrestlers,
management, etc would be preparing for that ahead of time? HHMMMM.
Evidently the answer here is no.
Ric Flair,
Magnum T.A. And countless others have spoken on how the Philly, NYC
and Boston crowds are very rowdy and outspoken.. So it's not like
this is some newsflash that's come out of nowhere. It's been
established for HOW MANY YEARS now that the fans are like that?
It doesn't
matter if it's known as the ECW Arena or the 2300 Arena, it doesn't
matter if it's twenty years ago or now.. The one thing that's thru
and thru is fans are gonna say what they want at wrestling shows, no
matter what. It's just the way has been and the way it always will
be.
How many times
has Francine heard “show your tits” or “She's got herpes”
during her ECW run? How many fans were tossed because of that? None.
They'd have to eject more than half the building if they did that.
There's a huge
difference between SAYING something to the talent during a show, and
DOING something. That line is pretty obvious.. Never jump the rail
and enter the ring, don't take a swing at a wrestler, etc etc.. I
knew that back when I was clueless to the business.. On the flip side
if a wrestler DOES something to a fan, you think the fan is just
gonna stand there and take it? Of course not. Wrestlers SAT shit all
the time and even when I was an employee for the three indy companies
I worked for, I be sitting ringside and had all sorts of shit SAID to
me during shows. The late King Kong Bundy ripped me a new ass on a
Sylvano Sousa show in Nashua, NH back in 1997. And New England indy
managers Chris Grande in WWA New England and Everett Payne who was a
manager in the EWA (among other New England Indy groups).. God the
shit they yelled at me during shows would've riled up any 'regular'
fan. But they never touched a fan, never whined to whoever in the
back to have someone ejected, they carried on and used it as part of
the show. The way it's supposed to be.
Taya Valkyrie
knocked a beer out of a fan's hands. That led to some fans blaming
Taya for the situation, which is is true, This one is on her and she
is at fault. Would that fan spit at her if she didn't knock the beer
out of his hands? Most likely... No.. For every action there's a
reaction and because of her action of knocking that fan's beer out of
his hands, she got the receipt for it by being spit at. So that came
back to haunt her. Instead of tossing the fan why not have someone in
the company buy the fan another beer? Would it really been that hard
to do? I guess that concept was too difficult for people there to
figure out.
Of course.. All
the 'big time' and 'well known' wrestling writers don't and won't
consider that either.. Which of course is typical of them because
they want to keep kissing asses of promotions so they can have their
talent on their podcasts and stuff. Better to keep kissing that ass
than tell the straight facts or give of a story that's more sensible.
Impact had to
toss another fan out of their second NYC taping for harassing Don
Callis repeatedly, who was also tossed after repeatedly being warned.
A
fan was standing up in the front row, yelling random things all
night, putting down every match and every move. He's pushing on the
barricade and it's pushing against Don Callis' back.
After
the match, he gets asked to put the phone away because there's no
recording. He says on the ticket there is nothing that states that.
He's given three to four warnings in the same conversation and he's
not listening. Then, Atlas Security kicks him out. It was unclear
what exactly the fan was yelling or to whom.
I can understand
the first part because unlike say, WCCW, AWA or even Crockett's NWA
where the commentating team was right at ringside and not against the
barrier, Impact has it like WWE with the team against a barrier. THIS
would be the perfect reason TO HAVE them at the ring as opposed to by
a barrier, but of course, you know.. People will overlook that
obvious thing as well.
But.. The second
part? I bet there's a lot to be desired on this.. The fan said
there's nothing on the ticket about recording.. Most concert tickets
have that somewhere, OR... The arena where the wrestling
show/concert, etc would have signs posted, OORRR.. An announcement is
made at the beginning of the show about it will be made. I HAVE seen
this on my ticket to WWF shows, seen the signs posted at the (Now)
AllState Arena and United Center in Chicago and even the Whittemore
center in Durham, NH where I saw acouple wrestling shows there as
well. So if none of that happened, nothing on the ticket, no signs at
the arena and/or no announcements made, Guess what, it's open season
to record. And even with all that I mentioned. You can't stop
everyone from grabbing their phones and recording stuff. It's
impossible. You toss one person out for it there's four others doing
the same thing.
You'd think the
security there would've known if there were signs, an announcement
made, something? Apparently not. And if the guy showed his ticket to
where nothing was stated? Security loses the argument, then and
there. So since there was no announcement, etc etc.. and it's
'unclear' (be it unclear is really true or, the story they're going
by) what the fan was 'yelling (AKA SAYING...) Then the fan was
wrongfully ejected and should be compensated by the arena or the
wrestling promotion for that bad decision.
And yes, he can
be compensated.. I'll give you an example of my own personal
experience where security hassled me all night long at Crockett NWA
event ad after finding the right avenue to pursuit a complaint, I was
compensated, by the arena.
It was when
Crockett was running the UIC Pavilion in Chicago on a regular basis.
I bought the ticket for the same seat, every time. First the ticket
company printed two of the same tickets because someone else tried
claiming I was in his seat.. (and me showing the ticket stub to
various security several times revealed I had my ticket, and the
other person had the same seat as well).. And when security offered
me the 'opportunity' to leave my floor near the ring side seat, for
something “upper and away from the ring” and I refused. The
harassment from security over everything they could nitpick on
started. They tried to confiscate my camera and said I couldn't take
pictures of the event. I pointed all around the arena at all the
other flashing bulbs and said “you gonna get them as well”? Which
of course pissed them off even more. After I got home I got the
address for Jim Crockett's NWA as well as the UIC Pavilion and
something called “On your side” which was a segment they did on
my local news station. They looked into various complaints. About a
week later I get a call from the UIC Pavilion apologizing for what
happened and they offered me a ticket to any upcoming event they were
running. The woman went down a list of upcoming events and I chose
the Bill Watt's UWF show. Ticket for that same seat was at the 'will
call' window and I was able to see Gordy vs Dr. Death for free. That
ticket was mine before they even made the announcement on Watt's
Power Pro TV show we got every week. Not one hassle from security
came my way.. Not over the AWA shirt I wore, not the camera I had.
Nothing.
So it comes back
around to what I said at the beginning. A fan has the right to SAY...
Anything they want because when they bought the ticket, they have
that right. Somewhere in their training these talent must've not
learned the art of dealing with fans yelling at them, and another
thing is, if you can't take heat from the fans? Don't be a fucking
heel then, that simple.
Fans will always
be saying what they want at shows, no amount of ejecting them, trying
to bully and intimidate them, whatever, will ever change this. So the
sooner promotions remember this and prepare accordingly, the sooner
these kind of dumb ass incidents will stop. Continuing to infringe on
a fan's right to SAY whatever they want will just fans lose interest
in your product, and in Impact's case, can they really afford to do
that?
Think about
it...
No comments:
Post a Comment