3-2-1: The Day The Wrestling Fan Died In The Steel City

The following editorial was written by Dominic DeAngelo and does not reflect the opinions of WrestleZone as a whole. We encourage you all to discuss Dominic’s thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this post and follow him on Twitter @DominicDeAngelo.

I get it – the headline comes across a little bit hyperbolic, but when you’re talking to kids, sometimes exaggeration is the only way to get your point across and in this case, I feel the wrestling fans of Pittsburgh (my very own stomping grounds) need a little embellishment to understand how childish they were last Sunday night during the main event of Extreme Rules.

I was there, in attendance for the show, doing live Twitter coverage for WrestleZone, when I, just as many, were pleasantly shocked to see Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler have their moment to showcase their Iron Man Intercontinental Title match in the main event. Finally, we weren’t getting the Roman Reigns agenda completely thrown in our faces (that is, until Monday night rolled around, but hey, another rant for another time). Instead, we were going to cap the night off with two competitors who arguably had the hottest storyline of the month to potentially show the fans a true headliner. You ask any ardent fan which match should end the show, Seth Rollins versus Dolph Ziggler was the one (that or AJ Styles vs. Rusev), and for once, it was what we were actually getting.

Unfortunately, what reared its ugly head but this “Wannabe Raw After WrestleMania”  phenomenon, an audience looking to have the spotlight turned on themselves rather than the talent in the ring. Wrestling towns like Chicago, like New York, like Philly, like Montreal and yes, like Pittsburgh typically bring the goods when it comes to that next-level fan reaction. More often than not, those dog-eared cities give the WWE a tough love reaction reserved for the right reasons, for matches or angles that Vince is trying to force-feed down the older demographic gullet. Stories that are either too sophomoric or too insulting to our intelligence get a swift punch in the solar plexus with a dose of reality. It can literally be the voice for the voiceless for many occasions, even when WWE tries to coopt those crowds as a “non-traditional” audience who “sometimes cheer who they normally boo and boo who they normally cheer” (is that why people still popped for Finn Balor or is he just the ultimate smiling heel that I was completely unaware of?)

That main event however, showed you what too much of good thing can turn into when Pittsburgh began to create their own Royal Rumble-esque atmosphere, counting down the final ten seconds as each minute ticked on by. The first time was cute, but the second time already showed its age. It very much felt like a bunch of five-year olds learned a new cuss word during a family road trip that initially got a laugh out of their stuffy parents, but Johnny & Sally kept going to the well once too often and cute becomes downright annoying.

This car couldn’t be turned around however, because Vince or whoever decision it was to pull the clock from the Titantron only poured gasoline on the fire as the situation went full Lord of The Flies and fans began doing it even more than once a minute. The match was hijacked by attention-seeking fanboys. For once, it was us, not Vince McMahon who came across as the bigger bad guy that night by us playing right into his skewed belief system he has on us.

https://twitter.com/ThisIsChev/status/1018689666587951112

I’m personally not a fan of too many pinfalls, but who’s to say that Seth and Dolph’s Iron Man match couldn’t have been more memorable if the 9,000 kids in attendance put counting class aside for a half hour? It’s something you and I will never know and sadly, something Seth and Dolph were both cheated out of.

Even despite that Sunday night sin I will say that this “look at us” monster is ultimately something Vince Frankensteined on his own accord. With constant disregard and dismissal to the desires of his loyal fan base, Vince has trained fans to rebel against his product. If he wasn’t so quick to wave a hand at anything contradictory to his prehistoric, “yes man” plans, then the beach balls wouldn’t be bouncing nearly as often and crowds, like Sunday night, wouldn’t be coloring on the walls in the very room they live in.

You won’t find me saying this very often, but Vince was right about us on Sunday night. Pittsburgh was way past its bedtime.

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