Thoughts From Ringside…

Greenville Had the Ball…and Dropped it BIG Time…

One week after what could have possibly been the best episode of Monday Night Raw in 15 years, the WWE took its flagship program down to Greenville, SC, where not only the company, but fans all around the world were hoping for another great show, and another energetic crowd.

They got neither.

I was on hand this past Monday night at the BiLo Center for the program, and I knew we were in trouble right from the beginning. Being a Greenville native, I’ve had the pleasure of going to just about every WWE/WCW event that has come through the town in the last 20 years. In the last 10 years or so, the wrestling fans in Greenville have become all families, mostly consisting of little kids following after their favorite star, John Cena. So last Monday night, following the New Jersey experience, I tweeted that we were in trouble.

I said that Greenville would be terrible compared to Jersey. I was right.

The kids and parents that sat through the show Monday night had NO idea what was going on for 80% of the show. The look and feel around the arena was “yay…we’re at a live show…NOW WHERE’S CENA?!” Aside from about 20% of hardcore fans (myself and three of my close friends included), the blame of a terrible crowd can be placed directly onto the young, casual fans in the audience. Well, and on the WWE for producing a very lackluster show for us.

We were surrounded by kids dressed from head-to-toe in Cena gear, and that when the 20% chanted “YES” at Daniel Bryan, asked, “I thought his thing was ‘No’…why are these people saying ‘Yes’ daddy?”

It was frustrating. The reality was in the reaction: Greenville dropped the ball.

WWE didn’t help however. Most of the program seemed lazy. We didn’t get to see many of the backstage segments, which is why everyone on Twitter asked, “wow, they show Cena and he gets ZERO reaction!” It was because WE NEVER SAW IT.

The production seemed unorganized this go-around. I can recount being at the 2008 King of the Ring Raw broadcast in the same arena and the crowd being HOT, because the action and programming was tight. This time however, nothing seemed to click.

The young crowd, even after watching the Ziggler cash in ALL over again, barely reacted to him, because they just didn’t care about anyone that didn’t say “You can’t see me.”

The loudest reaction of the night came during the dark match for Christ’s sake. If everyone watching at home could have heard the pop that Cena received once he was tagged into the match that he, Team Hell No, and the Shield were having, they would have realized EXACTLY what was going on.

It was a pro-Cena crowd, and if he wasn’t going to wrestle, then we don’t care about ANYTHING else happening tonight.

The WWE producers basically had to tell everyone, except us and 2 guys across our isle, what “Fandangoing” was. NO ONE seemed to know what that was all about. The blank stares and “WTF” comments going on inside the BiLo Center during the new-comer’s segment was outrageous. Did no one from Greenville watch Raw the week prior?

It was embarrassing to be sitting there, listening to all the kids continue to ask their “daddies” where John Cena was. It was frustrating as a fan, because it made the whole event hard to sit through. If I had been watching at home…I probably would have checked out MAJORLY before the 3^rd hour even started.

WWE takes it’s programming to the UK next week, where the fans are SURE to show up and show out. PLEASE let that be the case.

For the progress of the WWE’s current storylines, programming, and overall enjoyment, one can only hope that next week’s crowds and scheduled cards provide the WWE Universe with something special.

UK…you now have the ball. Please handle it a LOT better than we did.

(Oh…and WWE.com captured some proof that at least myself and my 3 friends were trying. We made the Top Fan Signs of the Week.)

 

Want to hear more of my thoughts? Follow me on Twitter @DougOMac