Former WWE Employee Talks Whether WWE Cares What the Fans Think

It’s a popular thought among wrestling fans–WWE just doesn’t care what they think. You might suppose that this antagonistic relationship would hurt either the fans or the company, but WWE and its audience has been pretty stable for a good long time.

Still, at least one former WWE employee is willing to say that this speculation is accurate, and that Vince McMahon truly doesn’t care what the fans are responding to.

That’s ring announcer Justin Roberts, who spoke to Memorabilia Guy this week.

“When you do a live wrestling show you have a live audience telling you what they like and what they hate. Instead of appeasing the fans and writing the show the fans like, and believe me they have some of the greatest minds and talent in wrestling, they could put on a Wrestlemania every week. Like the attitude era. You watch it now and its really flat for three hours and once in while the crowd kind of like some of it. It’s not the talents fault. As an example, say the crowd really like Cesaro but the company wants you to like Sheamus so they are going to give you Sheamus until you like him in the same way you like Cesaro. Look at Roman Reigns, the company wants you to accept him, but if you like someone else, no you have to like who the company wants you to like. The fans aren’t getting a show that is catered for them, it’s catered to running with the guys who they want to push.”

Roberts says the higher-ups in the company have an attitude of “You’re not going to tell us what to do. This is our company and we will run it how we want.” The loyalty of wrestling fans keeps them watching, but the shows could be much more than they are.

Justin Roberts was released by WWE in 2014, after a twelve-year career with the company.