Last week we saw the debut of the Wyatt Family. For some, the experience fell flat after some of the crowd could be heard chanting Husky Harris. Both WrestleZone’s Bob Bamber and Mark Madden took their frustrations online and expressed their thoughts on the situation with Mark making the statement “The smarter they are, the dumber they are.”
Bob went on to say the following about these fans:
“These are the same fans that will fill Wrestlezone's Facebook and Twitter pages with comments about the fact that John Cena (one of the biggest stars in the history of the WWE, and a man who's body of high quality, main event matches is almost unrivalled) shouldn't be the top star anymore. He's “boring”. He's “stale”. He “can't wrestle.”
Now whilst I agree that the chanting of Husky Harris seemed pointless and unnecessary, I also think it’s dangerous to paint all fans with the same brush.
I take offense that because I think Cena is ‘stale’ that I am automatically in association with the fans who decides to chant “Albert”, “Goldberg” and “Husky Harris.”
Personally, the chanting of Husky Harris didn’t get to me as much as most because it was a response to someone who is a bad guy. Do you really need to be a ‘smart’ fan to remember that this guy used to be Husky Harris? It wasn’t that long ago. Maybe the chants were coming from casual fans that recognised him and didn’t like the fact that he acted as a heel and took out Kane (the babyface.)
Ok, that’s about as likely as a Cena heel turn, but realistically how much does it take to get a chant going today? The crowd for this RAW was dead and the audible chants didn’t have much to fight against during this show. If Jerry Lawler had farted there would have been a good chance I could have heard it on Monday night.
Another point which I think a lot of fans reading Bob’s article took offense in is this comment regarding Dolph Ziggler:
“Don't come crying to me in three years time when Cena's still the number one guy, because people like you are holding his successor down. The same fans that cheered Dolph Ziggler when he was a heel, you were holding him down too.”
I agree with the comment regarding Cena but I would also argue that if Bray Wyatt attacked Cena then there wouldn’t be ANY Husky Harris chants going on. Nobody gets the silent reaction when facing Cena because everybody is begging for that one person to be his successor, so maybe WWE directed the debut at the wrong superstar?
I would however argue the point regarding Dolph. Is it not possible to cheer for someone because you respect their agility, charisma and talent in the ring? People know that Ziggler puts everything on the line and they RESPECT that. That is the reason why they cheer him and that is also the same reason why the cash-in the night after WrestleMania was made so special. How on Earth can getting a reaction from the crowd EVER be classed as holding someone down? After all, Cena has been left in his current position because ultimately the crowd give him a reaction every night. The reaction isn’t positive and I’ve argued how it should be dealt with in a different manner but that’s another argument I’ve had with Bob on many occasions.
With all this said Bray Wyatt will not likely be affected by this, and whilst I agree that the chanting on Monday wasn’t ideal it is by no means the action of every fan who people like to tag as a ‘mark’ or ‘smark.’
I want change, I want Cena to be more realistic (wishing for a heel turn is like waiting to win the lottery), and I cheer for Dolph Ziggler no matter his characters direction but that doesn’t mean I would chant Husky Harris. With that being said maybe I should start a chant of “The Prototype” next time I see Cena, oh hang on a minute… “I Can’t See Him!”
