NXT this past Friday. Stage AE, totally sold out. Baron Corbin vs. Apollo Crews. I’m sitting quite prominently on the stage above the ring. The chant starts:
“SUPER GENIUS! SUPER GENIUS!” A tribute to my radio persona and tested IQ of 166. You can’t teach that, BTW.
I put my right index finger to my lips, shushing the marks. Then I point to the ring. These guys deserve your attention. The chant goes quiet.
I AM AN ABSOLUTE GOD! In Pittsburgh, anyway.
NXT was, once again, excellent. The crowd was also excellent, and not just because they idolize me. That’s perfectly understandable.
As ex-WCW performer Disco Inferno said via a multiple of tweets: “One of the biggest problems with WWE is that half the fans that attend the live shows, you would rather they not even show up. All they do is troll the show. Listening to what they cheer and boo for is idiotic. They’re your indie smart-mark crowd that congregates at the PPVs like a comic-book convention and once they’re all together, they try to sabotage whatever direction the company tries to take.”
Bingo. Exactly correct. They don’t enjoy. They hijack.
NXT fans are different. Maybe some of them are the same fans, but they show up at NXT with different attitudes.
NXT fans invest in what the promotion does. If it’s working, they support it.
In WWE, the marks don’t care what works. John Cena is, by far, WWE’s biggest full-time star for the best part of a decade. But the smart marks ***t on him. Same thing with Roman Reigns.
That’s their right. They paid for the ticket. But too many asshats show up with the intention of serving their own minuscule agenda, not enjoying the show.
At NXT, you get a tiny fraction of that nonsense. NXT’s product is superior to WWE’s. That helps. Shows are shorter, better paced and more organized. Based on action, not based on a bunch of people who aren’t over babbling way too much.
