5 times WWE listened to fans

Not really, Dave!!!Vince McMahon believes in his heart that he knows what the WWE fans want better than they know themselves. Promoting such luminaries like the Great Khali and The Miz to World Champions might be proof that McMahon might not have a clue afterall, and time and again the WWE has listened to the fans’ voice while taking decisions on the show.After all, the fans pay to see the product and they would not endorse it if they don’t get what they want. The self indulgence of Eric Bischoff and the heel nWo in promoting themselves regardless of what fans felt about it ultimately led to the demise of WCW. Vince McMahon would not want to go down that road.If you are listening Triple H and Steph, feel free to let some body else have the last word on the mic during one of your customary Authority Raw openings.Anyways, we look back at five instances when WWE actually listened to their fans.

#1 The rehiring of Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy and Lita’s relationship would end in 2005

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Matt Hardy had been released from the WWE in 2005 after spending almost seven years with the company. But news soon emerged that Hardy’s real life girl friend Lita had cheated on Hardy with one of his best friends - Edge and that the affair had a role to play in his relase. This soon led to chants of ‘We want Matt’ and ‘You screwed Matt’ whenever Edge or Lita was in the ring.

Wrestling fans started a petition on the internet to bring Hardy back and they collected over 15,000 signatures. WWE finally realised that it was the biggest news in wrestling that year and rehired Hardy soon enough.

The real life situation was put in to a stroy line and Hardy faced off against Edge in a series of matches before ending their feud onscreen. Hardy would capture the US, ECW and tag team tiltes during his second run in the WWE which would come to an end in 2010.

#2 New Day turns heel

When the trio of Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods formed the ‘New Day’ stable, it was designed as a group of squeaky clean baby faces who intended to inspire fans with the ‘Power of Positivity’. The trio beamed their ways to the ring and got booed right out of their boots.

The gimmick might have workded had the Attitude Era never happened, but the wrestling fans know the business better and no way were they going to cheer for a group that preached them to be cheerful like some Church pastor. The trio’s careers had been in standstill before the group was formed and it seemed ready to go further downhill when the fans rejected their new personas.

The WWE Creative had two options – either disband the New Day altogether or give the fans more reason to hate them. They opted for the latter. New Day were repackaged as heels and all of a sudden, their gimmicks became super entertaining.

A bunch of guys shamelessly asking people to clap and be positive while they did every cheap trick in the book was too good a concept for the WWE fans to ignore. The New Day have gone from strength to strength since the turn, becoming two time tag team champions, getting a hell lot of mike time every week and main eventing Raw on multiple occasions.

Kudos to the ‘Power of Positivity’!!!

#3 Zack Ryder wins the United States Championship

Ryder and Eve during his days as US Champion

Zack Ryder had been floundering in the WWE ever since his debut as one half of the Major Brothers. While an alliance with Edge led to Ryder and Curt Hawkins becoming tag team champions, the Long Island Superstar was back to the being anonymous after the angle ended.

Frustrated with his postion in the company, Ryder started a Youtube series called ‘Z! True Long Island Story’ in 2011. The series became so popular that ‘We want Ryder’ chants started echoing throughout WWE Raw where Ryder had hardly appeared in months. The WWE had no option but to give Ryder more airtime and he started appearing regularly on Raw.

Ryder became involved in an angle with John Cena and Eve and would challenge Dolph Ziggler for the United States Championship. Incredibly, he would be pushed to win the title from Ziggler at TLC 2011, in a rare instance of social media popularity leading to career development for a wrestler.

How ever, almost inevitably, the WWE Creative would lose interest in the Ryder and he would be relegated to the bottom of the roster soon enough.

#4 Jeff Hardy wins the WWE Championship

Jeff Hardy would win three World titles in the WWE

Jeff Hardy debuted in the WWE way back in 1998 and captured the imagination of wrestling fans with his ‘devil may care’ attitude and in ring moves. While he and his brother Matt, alongside the Dudley Boyz, Edge and Christian reignited interest in tag team wrestling in the early years of the new millenium, Jeff found himself slide down the pecking order once the Hardy Boyz split.

He would eventually leave the company in 2003, despite being a strong fan favourite. After three years in the independent scene, Hardy would make his return in 2006 and once it was clear that he had lost none of his popularity, he was pushed as a singles wreslter. In fact, his popularity reached sky high that the WWE was forced to place him in feuds challenging for the WWE Championship.

Hardy would score wins over company stalwarts like Triple H, Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker during this period, but would always be featured to be just falling short of winning the big one. But finally, WWE realised that they were sitting on a gold mine with the 215 pounder and booked him to win the WWE Championship in 2008.

Hardy would have two more World title reigns before he left the company and the man who was once a jobber for Vince McMahon’s ‘big guys’ should thank his supporters for his rise in the company during his final years.

#5 Altering the main event of Wrestlemania XXX

The main event of Wrestlemania XXX was supposed to be Triple H’s pet project – two of his favourite wrestlers fighing over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. While the Game might have been justified in thinking that Randy Orton vs Batista would be a credible Wresltemania mainevent, he forgot to consider what the people wanted – And the people wanted a goat.

Daniel Bryan had been riding on a wave of popularity after his entertaining tag team championship run with Kane and arena after arena witnesses deafening ‘Yes’ chants in favour of the former Indie star. WWE chose to ignore this wave of popularity, assured that the 210 pounder could never be the face of the WWE. Bryan was placed in a feud with the Wyatts and was booked to get beaten up in almost all their exchanges, with the final one coming at the Royal Rumble.

On the same night, Batista made his return to in ring competition, entering the Royal Rumble match. While initially cheering for the Animal, the WWE fans turned on him as the final member of the Rumble was announced to be Rey Mysterio and not Bryan. Mysterio, who had been a popular face thorugh out his decade long WWE career was subject to boos through out the match and the fans got behind then heel Roman Reigns in favour of Batista as they became the final two in the ring.

Batistia did win the Rumble, but could not handle the heat shown towards him by the WWE Universe and his attempts to somehow save his babyface status fell flat. WWE knew that having a heel Randy Orton face Batista at Wrestlemania would lead to a fan backlash and grudgingly put Daniel Bryan in the main event. Expectedly, Bryan won the main event and the WWE fans celebrated with the satisfaction that for once, their voice had been heard.

Edited by Staff Editor