Moments where the WWE Universe were the heels

[Slanted and Enchanted]

You know what I mean, when the WWE top brass try so desperately to get a wrestler or a storyline over that they resort to making the fans in the arena and watching from home into the bad guys for not buying into what the WWE is trying to sell them. Some examples that come to mind:

During Cena's feud with Bray Wyatt when the fans were given a choice for what kind of match they wanted Cena to take part in. The WWE Universe overwhelmingly voted for a three-on-one handicap match. The very next week Cena was cutting what seemed like a heel-ish promo chastising and berating every one of us. It felt like we were finally going to get that long awaited heel turn....only for him to vanquish the Wyatt family while retaining every aspect of his traditional white knight character. Basically the moral of the story was that the entire global fanbase of WWE fans were wrong in how they treated Cena and he once overcame all the odds to save us and forgive us for our sins.

Royal Rumble 2014: Fans wanted Bryan and chanted for him all throughout the night. Vince, via the WWE announcers, made sure to let us know what selfish shits the fans in Pittsburgh were being that night.

Post any other examples that come to mind!

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Depends how shooty you think the "You don't like what you like. You like what we tell you to like" was.

[N E O G E O B O Y S]

Did cena once really implied that fans were pricks for booing a guy that always help kids with cancer or it was just a parody of condescending cena?

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Obviously, it was based on circumstances that had nothing to do with him but poor Rey did not deserve all those boos when he came out at the 2014 Rumble, haha. Dude's a legend in this industry and that crowd treated him like Cecil the Lion.

[Chiral]

The fans were treated as the true heels of the Lesnar vs. Reigns build up for Wrestlemania 31.

[Old Baby]

Cena vs. Rusev.

[freeze Austin]

Basically anytime that the fans like someone that management doesn't, or don't like someone that management wants them to love. That really seems to be a much more recent trend for whatever reason you want to attribute it to (smarkier crowds? dumber creative? combination of the two?), because I have a hard time finding any examples before 10-15 years ago. I'm sure there were some instances like that, but none really come to mind.

Other than that, the closest thing I can think of where they wanted the crowd to be heels as part of the story is whenever they cheered on a reluctant Kidman to continue using the shooting star press even though he had concussed Chavo with it.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

To be fair, I am 100% sure that the Cena/Wyatt feud was intended all along to be that, and that they knew exactly what the vote was going to end up being. I don't think it's a coincidence that Wyatt, who looks like a stereotypical redditor and whose motivation was internet talking points run through the Wyatt Rambly And Dark-Sounding Nonsense Machine, was meant to personify his internet critics and have Cena beat them by proxy.

I'd say, Rey pop aside, Rumble 2015 was the bigger "crowd as heels" moment, because they shat on The Rock, and because every anti-Roman leading up to Wrestlemania was constantly preached at about being wrong and how Reigns was going to overcome the odds. Bryan's supporters eventually "turned face", while Roman's detractors just won that night when heel Rollins stood tall at the end.

[Bo Rida]

I'm sure I remember a time Lawler said fans were only booing John Cena because they can't lift as much as him in the gym.

That sounds ridiculous though so I may have have remembered it incorrectly.

[Allie Kitsune]

Oct 8, 2015 12:41:06 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

Obviously, it was based on circumstances that had nothing to do with him but poor Rey did not deserve all those boos when he came out at the 2014 Rumble, haha. Dude's a legend in this industry and that crowd treated him like Cecil the Lion.

Rey being booed as if he was a Genocidal Sub-Saharan Warlord did my heart so much good, though. I'd been waiting for it to happen ever since he'd joined the No Limit Soldiers in WCW and wore those stupid glue-on horns.

[Big Poppa Pumpkin]

Vince makes Trish strip and bark like a dog in the ring, dudebro audience cheers on Vince.

[SAJ Forth]

Booing Heyman when he proposed to his big beautiful Ryback. Even if it had been what many fans may have thought it would be, It was strange.

[Gerard Gerard]

Ahem. Directed at Bellas post-Mania RAW.

"You suck Cena"
"You suck Bryan"

Got a bit of an icky feeling toward my fandom-peers.

[Perpetual Nirvana]

Oct 8, 2015 14:29:04 GMT -5 Gerard Gerard said:

Ahem. Directed at Bellas post-Mania RAW.

"You suck Cena"
"You suck Bryan"

Got a bit of an icky feeling toward my fandom-peers.

Also "You suck Tyson" and "You suck Uso" at Natalya and Naomi. Strangely no "You suck Punk" directed at AJ Lee. Funny that.

[Martin: #TeamBella Treasurer]

Booing Triple H after his match with Brock at SummerSlam 2012. How dare they!!!!

[karl100589]

Oct 8, 2015 14:25:53 GMT -5 Big Poppa Pumpkin said:

Vince makes Trish strip and bark like a dog in the ring, dudebro audience cheers on Vince.

On that same note turning the Dudleys face when their gimmick was putting women through Tables.

[Deleted]

Crowd cheering for Bryan during the big Orton/Cena title unification promo on RAW.

I'd never seen such an authentic look of smug indignation on HHH and Steph's face before.

[Bub (BLM)]

Oct 8, 2015 15:50:05 GMT -5 @personman01 said:

Crowd cheering for Bryan during the big Orton/Cena title unification promo on RAW.

I'd never seen such an authentic look of smug indignation on HHH and Steph's face before.

I was in the crowd for that, and I don't think it's fair to call the audience heels. We were standing up for the most true blue babyface on the roster.

[gr1990]

Oct 8, 2015 13:30:29 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I'm sure I remember a time Lawler said fans were only booing John Cena because they can't lift as much as him in the gym.

That sounds ridiculous though so I may have have remembered it incorrectly.

More or less, he said they shouldn't boo him because he's really strong and you have to respect that. The highest paid announcer in the biggest wrestling company in the world, ladies and gentlemen.

[Famous Rocking Chimes]

Oct 8, 2015 13:29:08 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

To be fair, I am 100% sure that the Cena/Wyatt feud was intended all along to be that, and that they knew exactly what the vote was going to end up being. I don't think it's a coincidence that Wyatt, who looks like a stereotypical redditor and whose motivation was internet talking points run through the Wyatt Rambly And Dark-Sounding Nonsense Machine, was meant to personify his internet critics and have Cena beat them by proxy.

I'd say, Rey pop aside, Rumble 2015 was the bigger "crowd as heels" moment, because they shat on The Rock, and because every anti-Roman leading up to Wrestlemania was constantly preached at about being wrong and how Reigns was going to overcome the odds. Bryan's supporters eventually "turned face", while Roman's detractors just won that night when heel Rollins stood tall at the end.

To be fair, Rock got cheered when he turned up. It was only whenever he interacted with Reigns that he got booed.