Triple H Says WWE Can’t Dictate Who Fans Cheer For Anymore

WWE has changed a lot through the years. The company has morphed with society as it also went through many transitions since Vince McMahon Jr took over his father’s company. The company used to be able to dictate to fans who is the bad guy and who is the good guy. Fans cheered as they were supposed to, but this new era has changed all that.

While speaking to Inside The Ropes, Triple H opened up about how the fans have never been more free to express their opinions. They never pipe in crowd noise. That’s just hot much the fans care about who they want to cheer for. They also boo for who they please. The age of social media has created a way for them to be a part of the product like never before.

“The world now, and I think this is social media, make it okay to express what you want to express. If you go back to the 80’s and you were a WWF fan then, you didn’t want to say ‘I don’t like [Hulk] Hogan’, but you didn’t want to say it too loud because everybody else liked Hogan and you didn’t want to be the one guy who didn’t. Now I think it’s just that everybody has an opinion, everybody. No matter what you say it’s wrong to somebody, no matter what you do it’s wrong to somebody, everybody has an opinion, but you can’t dictate now.”

“You create a character that everybody is supposed to dislike but there’s a large portion of them that like that. Then when you create a character that everybody is supposed to like there’s a large portion of them that dislike that. If you tried hard to flip them, and I know everyone is going to say Roman [Reigns], there’s something to all that. Look at [Tommaso] Ciampa, it’s a unique thing and for whatever reason it’s happened, it just is. But that’s a more difficult thing now than it’s ever been to come up with a universal [baby face or heel].”

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The WWE Universe means so much to the television product. This was a huge focus on the company’s recent efforts to fill the void left when they lost their live fans.

Fans will be back at WWE events very soon. They will also likely express their opinions in the process. 25% of the venue might be full, but those fans in attendance will each have their favorite for different reasons.

Thanks to Wrestling Inc for the quote