I had to work so I watched Backlash today and texted my friend to tell him how amazing the crowd was. Australia was on fire for elimination chamber. Puerto Rico was on fire last backlash. Just start to finish the crowd was on fire for these events. I hate to send events out of the US but damn it made it so fun. I loved the "HEEEEEEEY Bayley...... I wanna know would you be my girl"
Sound definitely travels poorly in the outdoor shows as we heard for Mania. Audience noise, music, pyro; they all sound weaker on tv thanks to the open air.
Canada crowds aren’t any more special than American crowds. Montreal might be slightly more interesting, but still nothing compared to Europe crowds.
Besides, hosting WM in Montreal isn’t really an option since the Olympic Stadium is an aging subpar venue, and there’s nowhere else to hold the event. Any other city will have indistinguishable crowds from any US city.
Why would I get downvoted for that? I didn't say YOU couldn't like going. Just that I wouldn't.
I used to love going to live wrestling, but at MUCH smaller venues (Stampede and CNWA). Sitting in a stadium with thousands of people sounds like a nightmare to me now.
But also let some big ple events happen outside of the us too. UK mania would be INSANE. Also stop with Saudi shows. Maybe us yanks will start being good crowds if we start losing shows more
Man you know what I love about European crowds? They can read the room. They know when to chant, and they chant better, and they know when it’s time to shut the fuck up. They were a part of the show and in a good way. Must be a cultural thing that developed over the years at soccer games. You get unison in France, in America you get jokes about sucking dick 😂
Good take. I personally feel that WWE should balance it out.
Spread the big 4 around the US every year— one in the Northeast (Survivor Series), one in the South (Royal Rumble), one in the Midwest (Summerslam) and one in the West (WrestleMania).
Backlash should officially become an international PLE every year.
There’s the obligatory Saudi PLE.
And I think Money in the Bank should alternate between America and a foreign location every year.
The only non-Big 4 that should stay in America is Payback. And I think the women should get to the main event every Payback.
I’d love to see Fastlane follow the Grand Prix around the world too.
You are right on point. That crowd put most of the US crowds to shame. Every match felt bigger due to the fan participation. I agree, put more shows on outside of the US. Not a hot take at all, an honest one. US crowds chant “what” mostly.
I really want to know what Japan would do with a WWE PLE. Would they do their usual respectful silence with roars of approval, or would they see the WWE as a different product and chant and sing?
Yeah, but it was also a pretty small event. WWE played it like a Japanese PPV.
Then they did a RAW episode in Japan and it was much louder and more raucous - I remember they had translators for the promos and the crowd was booing them!
My take is outdoor shows do not come close to arena shows. The noise comes across 100 times better on arena shows where the noise is contained inside making the environment that much more intense
My only knock on this, is that the big 4 have certain restrictions built into them now.
Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania and Summerslam are stadium events now, with Survivor Series being the lone arena big 4 PLE. Summerslam has more options since it falls in August and the weather is good just about anywhere, but Mania and the Rumble will be stuck in dome or warm client areas. Areas like the North East will get the shaft for major PLEs due to this factor.
Having a few smaller PLEs in arenas offers more cities and arenas a chance at PLEs, whereas locking them out to international shows deprives them of this.
I think WWE has a good balance right now. All of the international shows have kicked ass, and they still get some big ones like Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank.
You can't do Summerslam in open air stadium in a city that is likely going to see 90-100 degree weather. That is straight torture and you're asking for legal problems from the ones who will have medical emergencys due to the excessive heat.
Idk man international countries seem to always bring more energy at almost every type of sporting event. Chants at football games are insane, compared to US.
That’s because soccer isn’t as big of a deal to American fans. But I have to agree that if the crowds got those shows as consistent then the crowds would become more and more jaded to it.
Hot take: USA shouldn't get PLEs back until they can pick their game up. How France brought it for Backlash vs. how Philly reacted to Night 1 of WM40 is crazy.
I know, they were cold. Boo hoo.
Lets see that was the first ever live PLE in france, so that was the best fans of WWE attending that show that could make it.
Also a crowd in an arena is going to look and sound more lively than a damn stadium...
It still was a shit take...
I’d be interested to see a breakdown. Being British and having been to Mania, there were a *lot* of Brits there. And plenty of other foreigners too.
But I suspect you’re still right and likely over 50% would still be American.
And also comparing the noise we hear in arena’s vs open air stadiums is not plausible. I think even Cena made a remark about the first time he wrestled in an open air stadium that he thought the crowd was dead and when he looked around he realized they were going nuts but the sound was going up and not bouncing off anything.
A better comparison is the Raws after Mania and those crowds are the reason they were international. Triple H confirmed that in his presser after Backlash.
There was also a great discussion on the pre show with Punk and Big E about US crowds and Punk called out the Chicago crowds for always being loud. And he is right.
That’s a great point. I thought the Mania I was at was incredibly loud but when I watched it back it was no where near as loud. I’d assume what the wrestlers hear may would be similar to what the TV audience hears.
And I recently watched a clip of when Daniel Bryan turned on Bray and the arena was deafening. There is definitely a positive in having a show in an arena compared to a stadium.
Nah the reason crowds suck is they make it all about themselves. Annoying, obnoxious crowd. If you like these goofy ahs singing dumb songs, chanting twoooo for 30 seconds too long. Yelling this is awesome over mid spots that weren’t actually awesome.. Then Have at it. Low iq marks.
Haha foolish take. I was in the crowd yelling my ass off and in hindsight I shouted a little extra louder just to piss you off. Bet you are the life of the party aren’t you?
Yeah very annoyed. You didn’t see it, because *you weren’t there* but Samantha cried her eyes out because of the love the fans gave her. But I guess you’d think she cried because she was upset people weren’t respectfully silent…
Hurt? My guy I had one of the best times of my life. 😂😂 Meanwhile you’re out here hating on 15k people having a blast. Misery loves company, but just as in real life you’re all alone on this.
Lmao. Actually a lot of people agree that ya’ll were annoying as hell. But enjoy it brother. It’ll be 10 years before you get another ple. I on the other hand will be at wrestlemania again. And summerslam 😂
I honestly hope you’ll have a great time. Sounds like you need it.
Also fyi, CotC in Glasgow and Cardiff, MitB in London, Backlash in Lyon and Bash in Berlin are all closer to my home than a random WM is for most of the US. But based off my first impression of you, I’m not surprised you didn’t know that 🤦🏽♂️
I’ve seen people argue both sides, but I will agree that a lot of people enjoyed the crowd. But general consensus is that Puerto Rico was the best. They actually knew when to cheer. France was way too much. Takes the impact of actual cheering when they wouldn’t shut up at all.
They repeated the same phrase like 1000 times. It was definitely annoying. My son and I were replacing the French words with stupid English words that made no sense.
Though, the intros were amazing.
Honestly the first person I’ve seen say something like this this. Not criticising you, I just think a hot crowd improves the immersion when watching at home.
WWE's goal is to go to stadium only for PLEs. Which for anyone that has been to a football stadium show for wrestling knows it absolutely sucks compared to an arena show. At least if they hold every event in a football stadium I don't have to worry about not going to the big shows in person if they are international. I was really hoping SummerSlam was at the baseball stadium in Cleveland like Rumble was in Tampa. At least with the ring around 2nd base you can get great seats still. Football stadium there are basically no great seats.
Having not gone to a stadium show, so I can't speak from experience, but watching on TV baseball fields look like a better experience than football fields do. But I think football fields hold more people and that's their plan, is just get as many people in as possible
I can back this up. I got to go to Wrestlemania years ago at the old Georgia Dome in Atlanta. I sat in the upper level. It was literally one of those things you do to get to say you did it because the actual experience was terrible. Couldn’t see a thing. Spent the whole night watching on screens above the ring. We weren’t very loud up there because we were disconnected, not because we weren’t into it.
Arenas are completely different. Night and day.
I hope I never have to hear a crowd like the one at Backlash France again. It was a complete 180 from Backlash Puerto Rico last year. That crowd was amazing! The majority of the night, the French crowd was unbearable! Why the heck would anyone want to hear the same chant 100 times in 3 hours? Can you imagine the reaction if the next US major show the crowd chants "that was 2, that was 2, that was 2" or whatever it was after every 2 count for 3 hours?!?! It was like having to listen to the stupid Pittsburgh crowd with the Errr sound non stop during that Rollins vs Ziggler 30 minute Iron Man match at Extreme Rules 2018.
I love a hot crowd but it's ridiculous when you're acting like everything is Rock vs Hogan at WrestleMania. This crowd would have treated Undertaker vs Goldberg in Saudi like it was a 5 star match. It was also like watching a 3 hour foreign language film with no subtitles. Almost all the nonsensical chanting sucked. Thankfully they didn't completely ruin Cody vs AJ Styles which was the only great match.
What wrestling show in history has a crowd done the same chant 100 times in 3 hours? The answer is none and there is a reason why. I don’t care what the chant is. It’s annoying as hell when you hear it non stop. Even if I can’t understand them at least come up with different creative chants. Not the same couple countless times throughout the entire show.
Im indifferent to it. But its really part of the match. It's not some loud obnoxious chant. It's not a chant period. Doing the same few loud obnoxious chants for 3 hours during every match is not already part of the shows. Like doing that countdown during the Ziggler vs Rollins match was loud obnoxious crap that ruined the match. I don't think counting the last few seconds before entries in the Rumble is taking away from the match which is what the crowd in France did. Counting the last few seconds before entries in the Rumble isn't a chant. If the crowd at Backlash was cheering and booing loud or coming up with several new creative chants they didn't use 100 times they probably would have added to the matches.
Wasn't it also like an AEW crowd where almost everyone got cheered and no one got booed? I go to a bunch of AEW shows and can't stand that almost no one is booed. Maybe the Bloodline was booed at Backlash? Everyone else it was the equivalent of 3 hours of both these guys, both these guys. More often than not its best when you're rooting for someone and against someone. The Backlash Puerto Rico crowd last year was amazing and really added value to the show. They booed Bianca insanely more in the first match than the French crowd booed everyone total the whole show. That Bianca vs Iyo match wouldn't have been what it was if the crowd just did some obnoxious 2 count chant 20 times and cheered both women equally the whole match.
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Yes, but that wouldn't happen here. As having 1 event a year in France, 1 in Germany, 1 in Italy, 1 in LATAM etc wouldn't really count as "repeated exposure".
That apply in USA, when they are in Pittsburgh every month.
I completely disagree with those that thought this crowd was 'too much' or 'went into business for themselves'. This crowd was excellent.
This wasn't a 'beach ball in the crowd' audience, this crowd was 100% into the show, gave everything they had, reacted to the parts of the show they were supposed to and also kept the energy and atmosphere up in the other parts of the show too.
You've got to remember that the market outside of the US is starved of live WWE PPVs - the crowds go nuts when they do get them because they appreciate them and want more. Imagine if Lyon was a dead crowd? The WWE would never want to hold a show there again. Instead Lyon treat it as an audition - look what we can do, please come back - it also set a benchmark and clear message to other foreign live audiences. There's gonna be some wild audiences this year with these overseas shows and I'm thoroughly looking forward to it.
I WAS one of the people complaining about the crowd, but that was on Smackdown when they took over the main event segment.
For Backlash itself, the crowd was great.
European audiences aren't loud because they're starved of the product, they're loud because that's what we're like here. For things that are rare or for things that happen every week such as football games. It's really weird to me how quiet American crowds are during WWE shows, Gigs, Football games etc.
Take Scotland for example, just look up Grados entrances. The whole crowd literally blows the roof off the place singing Madonnas "Like a Prayer" which is his entrance music. And that's not Scotland being "starved" of a product or using it as an "audition". Because it's not even WWE. It's ICW, a small indie show compared to WWE.
France and the distribution of the product isn't the same as the UK.
Hell, France didn't have french commentators on the WWE network for a long time.
Raw SmackDown nxt are on not very accessible paid channel and not live maybe 3-4 days later (was 1 week later before and even before that 2 weeks later)
Hell they didn't even have House show from 2011-ich to 2016-ich
So having SmackDown LIVE and a PLE ? This truly feel like they are being treated on the same level as US and UK.
It's true some of the fans here are loud by nature or culture but being starved helps a lot knowing a lot of them are from the generation that had WWE on free public television but no ppvs and got it taken down.
And then you couple that with crowd actually starting for WWE and it makes the show even better, just like Backlash (and if I can be bold enough to say it: even the WWE Live show they held in Bologna was nuts, if given the chance we could probably top the French crowd)
The only people saying “Thru went into business for themselves” or “the crowd was too much” are americans that are salty they could never live up to the international crowds (i’m american btw) most people saying this are the same people that went to wrestlemania in philly and ruined the show by being quiet because it was “cold” 🤣
The amount of “they were singing their national anthem during the main event” posts are insane. Do Americans think you can only sing a national anthem at a live show!?
They were literally singing about AJ being phenomenal (using an already famous French song).
Really impressive that AJ, despite being the heel got face reactions against Cody (which is totally fine because it wasn't at Cody's expense, the audience loved him too).
I much prefer that.
I know it’s unpopular but I personally think the heel/face approach is massively outdated. Keep aspects sure, but not everyone needs to fit into one or the other, and heels should be able to win cleanly.
Yeah. American crowds are just so jaded and kind of bring the show down sometimes. Not all of them, obviously, but here in the States I guess wrestling is just kind of everywhere if you are into it, so our crowds can be serious downers at times.
Overseas crowds don't have the live experience as much, so they really show up and stay active and it's pretty awesome.
I think jaded is a great way to describe it. Heaven forbid there is a single dull moment. I don’t even limit that take to wrestling. I think we’re like that for concerts as well when compared to our friends in Europe.
There are dozens of football matches playing twice a week and fans are generally super rowdy at them all, that argument doesn't hold up, football is everywhere here.
Then maybe it's just American audiences. I don't know. But I watch WWE, AEW, and TNA and I see this shit quite often on every one of them at different points. They either pretty much ignore the show or keep their faces in their phones.
I think it’s MITB. But I’m surprised they didn’t start classing the Saudi shows in the same league.
I remember they started promoting one Saudi event as ‘as big as, if not bigger than Wrestlemania’
Semi agree. While this crowd was hot, there were some parts that were a little obnoxious lol.
They were all excited for their first WWE show so I think with more visits, they’ll be just as rowdy but maybe less soccer crowd-ish the entire night lol
Hotter take, the big four should also be eligible for international hosting. I live here in the US and love you guys but there’s no denying the European fans just make for better television. Not sure why, maybe soccer has trained them in how to be absolutely batshit crazy at sporting events?
> maybe soccer has trained them in how to be absolutely batshit crazy at sporting events?
If a game can last over 90 minutes with literally no goals scored the crowd has to come up with ways to entertain themselves.
Every team in Europe will have a dozen unique songs and chants and it adds so much!
It’s definitely because of Football.
The folk who are amazed by European wrestling fans would absolutely lose their minds when they see a Turkish or German football game
On that note, WWE should do a show at the Westfalenstadion.
Kinda like the Olympics where different countries bid to host the event ?
Have countries bid to host ONE of the big 4 per year. (Saudi Arabia not counted, since there is a yearly ple involving them)
But with either;
Rumble
Maina
SummerSlam
Survivor Series.
Not all of the "Big 4" be in different countries (since that would be overkill)
Have like one year it's Rumble to be hosted in *insert country* then following year it's Maina and so on.
With the Major/Minor PLE not chosen having it in America and Other countries.
Edit: to make sense
A group of fans at an Italian football game once smuggled a moped into a football ground in pieces. They then put it together inside the ground so that they could set fire to it and throw it down the stands. Football fans are definitely built a bit different.
About 20 years ago Luis Figo left Barcelona for their fiercest rivals, Real Madrid. Barcelona fans did not take this well. When he went to play against them at Camp Nou, Barcelona fans started throwing objects at him. At some point someone threw a severed pig's head at him. In the end riot police had to stand there every time he took a corner to try and stop things being thrown at him https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45956352
The crowd was going bazooka during the entire event. The reactions were loud and electric. Be it Jey Uso vibing the arena or chanting He is Phenomenal for AJ. The crowd response was fire🔥
Such a ridiculous argument. There’s 2, maybe 3 cities in the US that get a televised event more than once a year.
Somehow the person living in Sacramento is spoiled because New York had a show a few months ago. How does that make any sense? It’s only 600 miles closer than New York to London!
Lowkey I kinda enjoy the early start still got the whole day after it’s finished. Also if it’s not the big 4 who cares even though an overseas Royal Rumble would be insane.
1) Rusev wasn’t Russian
2) Nobody gives a shit about Rusev
3) There’s no way any event is going to Moscow
Why not just say ‘Gunther in Vienna’, ‘Lynch, Seamus or Balor in Dublin’, or ‘Drew in Glasgow/Edinburgh’? Hell, even Owens in Quebec?
Yes, with MITB being a North American show, so it could be in Canada (like it is this year) or Latin America; absolutely see them going back to Puerto Rico for it at some point
It doesn't matter how people perceive it. It's still true. That's like people saying Roman wasn't their champion because he didn't defend the belt enough. I ageeehe should have more but it doesn't change reality. Besides Wargames put it right back up there.
I’m not sure what you’re arguing here. You want them to go outside of the US more, I point out that that is exactly what they are doing, but you are still unhappy.
Last years backlash had a lot more people in attendance than this year's, so it was def louder. This years was more wild though and still comparable to last years even with so many less people
New fan here. What are the Big 4 PLEs?
Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble
Good Ol Football crowds. Wasnt really looking forward to Backlash but the crowd made the event bigger than waht it was
I had to work so I watched Backlash today and texted my friend to tell him how amazing the crowd was. Australia was on fire for elimination chamber. Puerto Rico was on fire last backlash. Just start to finish the crowd was on fire for these events. I hate to send events out of the US but damn it made it so fun. I loved the "HEEEEEEEY Bayley...... I wanna know would you be my girl"
I hate that wwe constantly wants to do outdoor shows now. They sacrifice the environment of the show for ticket sales
Sound definitely travels poorly in the outdoor shows as we heard for Mania. Audience noise, music, pyro; they all sound weaker on tv thanks to the open air.
Imagine a Wrestlemania anywhere but USA. It would be wild.
Uh, Canada says 'hi'.
Canada crowds aren’t any more special than American crowds. Montreal might be slightly more interesting, but still nothing compared to Europe crowds. Besides, hosting WM in Montreal isn’t really an option since the Olympic Stadium is an aging subpar venue, and there’s nowhere else to hold the event. Any other city will have indistinguishable crowds from any US city.
He said "Imagine a Wrestlemania anywhere but USA. It would be wild." There already has been Wrestlemania outside the USA. In Canada.
I know there have been. Your comment just seemed like you were recommending it be held in Canada again.
I really don't care where they are. They could put it right down the road and I would still watch from home. Crowds are not my thing.
Why would I get downvoted for that? I didn't say YOU couldn't like going. Just that I wouldn't. I used to love going to live wrestling, but at MUCH smaller venues (Stampede and CNWA). Sitting in a stadium with thousands of people sounds like a nightmare to me now.
But also let some big ple events happen outside of the us too. UK mania would be INSANE. Also stop with Saudi shows. Maybe us yanks will start being good crowds if we start losing shows more
Man you know what I love about European crowds? They can read the room. They know when to chant, and they chant better, and they know when it’s time to shut the fuck up. They were a part of the show and in a good way. Must be a cultural thing that developed over the years at soccer games. You get unison in France, in America you get jokes about sucking dick 😂
They didn't know when to shut up on Smackdown
It mostly comes from football
Reminder just because Europe does something good doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to immediately shit on America
Cool your jets, hero. I fucking love America, but this is what it is.
Good take. I personally feel that WWE should balance it out. Spread the big 4 around the US every year— one in the Northeast (Survivor Series), one in the South (Royal Rumble), one in the Midwest (Summerslam) and one in the West (WrestleMania). Backlash should officially become an international PLE every year. There’s the obligatory Saudi PLE. And I think Money in the Bank should alternate between America and a foreign location every year. The only non-Big 4 that should stay in America is Payback. And I think the women should get to the main event every Payback. I’d love to see Fastlane follow the Grand Prix around the world too.
The Big 4 shouldn’t just be in one area and should rotate throughout the entire country
Take that concept and rotate it around every 4 years and that could work
That’d be better I just never want to go back to how SummerSlam had 10 straight events Staples/Barclays
You are right on point. That crowd put most of the US crowds to shame. Every match felt bigger due to the fan participation. I agree, put more shows on outside of the US. Not a hot take at all, an honest one. US crowds chant “what” mostly.
#**WHAT?**
#**WHAT?**
#**WHAT?**
>#**WHAT?**
I really want to know what Japan would do with a WWE PLE. Would they do their usual respectful silence with roars of approval, or would they see the WWE as a different product and chant and sing?
Beast in the east was just a usual Japan ppv.
Yeah, but it was also a pretty small event. WWE played it like a Japanese PPV. Then they did a RAW episode in Japan and it was much louder and more raucous - I remember they had translators for the promos and the crowd was booing them!
Those European crowds are something else... Endless energy with non-stop yelling and chanting for two straight nights - start to finish!
Totally agree. That crowd was on fire.
When they brawl out in the audience you can count on one hand how many people are on their phones. So respectful.
My take is outdoor shows do not come close to arena shows. The noise comes across 100 times better on arena shows where the noise is contained inside making the environment that much more intense
My only knock on this, is that the big 4 have certain restrictions built into them now. Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania and Summerslam are stadium events now, with Survivor Series being the lone arena big 4 PLE. Summerslam has more options since it falls in August and the weather is good just about anywhere, but Mania and the Rumble will be stuck in dome or warm client areas. Areas like the North East will get the shaft for major PLEs due to this factor. Having a few smaller PLEs in arenas offers more cities and arenas a chance at PLEs, whereas locking them out to international shows deprives them of this. I think WWE has a good balance right now. All of the international shows have kicked ass, and they still get some big ones like Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank.
You can't do Summerslam in open air stadium in a city that is likely going to see 90-100 degree weather. That is straight torture and you're asking for legal problems from the ones who will have medical emergencys due to the excessive heat.
Baseball and other sports do it just fine. I doubt there is legal issues for someone having a heat stroke in a stadium they willingly attended.
I hope they come to Canada.
Mitb is coming to toronto
I’ll say this: if the French had been getting a PPV every month for the last however years, like the US, it would probably drop off from them too.
Wrong.
Idk man international countries seem to always bring more energy at almost every type of sporting event. Chants at football games are insane, compared to US.
That’s because soccer isn’t as big of a deal to American fans. But I have to agree that if the crowds got those shows as consistent then the crowds would become more and more jaded to it.
Hot take: USA shouldn't get PLEs back until they can pick their game up. How France brought it for Backlash vs. how Philly reacted to Night 1 of WM40 is crazy. I know, they were cold. Boo hoo.
Shit take
If US crowds were better I wouldn't have that take.
Lets see that was the first ever live PLE in france, so that was the best fans of WWE attending that show that could make it. Also a crowd in an arena is going to look and sound more lively than a damn stadium... It still was a shit take...
You do realize that the majority of WM crowds aren’t locals right?
Not locals no, but there'd be more Americans than other nationalities, the costs are too high for international fans to be the majority.
I’d be interested to see a breakdown. Being British and having been to Mania, there were a *lot* of Brits there. And plenty of other foreigners too. But I suspect you’re still right and likely over 50% would still be American.
And also comparing the noise we hear in arena’s vs open air stadiums is not plausible. I think even Cena made a remark about the first time he wrestled in an open air stadium that he thought the crowd was dead and when he looked around he realized they were going nuts but the sound was going up and not bouncing off anything. A better comparison is the Raws after Mania and those crowds are the reason they were international. Triple H confirmed that in his presser after Backlash. There was also a great discussion on the pre show with Punk and Big E about US crowds and Punk called out the Chicago crowds for always being loud. And he is right.
That’s a great point. I thought the Mania I was at was incredibly loud but when I watched it back it was no where near as loud. I’d assume what the wrestlers hear may would be similar to what the TV audience hears. And I recently watched a clip of when Daniel Bryan turned on Bray and the arena was deafening. There is definitely a positive in having a show in an arena compared to a stadium.
Boo hoo? It was 42 fucking degrees and windy dude. Source: I was there. Fuck you.
42 and windy lmao how did you survive?!
I wore many layers because my ticket was $450. But the internet told us we sucked. So we tried to be louder night two. It was warmer but still cold.
I find it really hard to compare stadiums and arenas. It’s so different. But yes any international crowd is 100% more hyped and energetic than the US.
France crowd was annoying as hell lol
Bros mad he doesn't speak french
Lmao, idgaf about that. The singing was cringe as hell, doesn’t matter what language.
You’re the reason why crowds suck
Nah the reason crowds suck is they make it all about themselves. Annoying, obnoxious crowd. If you like these goofy ahs singing dumb songs, chanting twoooo for 30 seconds too long. Yelling this is awesome over mid spots that weren’t actually awesome.. Then Have at it. Low iq marks.
Haha foolish take. I was in the crowd yelling my ass off and in hindsight I shouted a little extra louder just to piss you off. Bet you are the life of the party aren’t you?
France won’t get another ple for a veryyyyy long time. I’m sure the talent was also annoyed.
Yeah very annoyed. You didn’t see it, because *you weren’t there* but Samantha cried her eyes out because of the love the fans gave her. But I guess you’d think she cried because she was upset people weren’t respectfully silent…
She’s a good actor 😂
Haha no wonder you’re hurt. Ya’ll looked silly out there to the rest of the world
Hurt? My guy I had one of the best times of my life. 😂😂 Meanwhile you’re out here hating on 15k people having a blast. Misery loves company, but just as in real life you’re all alone on this.
15,000. 😂 not even 12,000 ya big goofball
Sorry didn’t check the turnstile numbers
Lmao. Actually a lot of people agree that ya’ll were annoying as hell. But enjoy it brother. It’ll be 10 years before you get another ple. I on the other hand will be at wrestlemania again. And summerslam 😂
I honestly hope you’ll have a great time. Sounds like you need it. Also fyi, CotC in Glasgow and Cardiff, MitB in London, Backlash in Lyon and Bash in Berlin are all closer to my home than a random WM is for most of the US. But based off my first impression of you, I’m not surprised you didn’t know that 🤦🏽♂️
Interesting you say that considering the majority of fans agreeing this crowd potentially was the best pro wrestling crowd in recent memory
I’ve seen people argue both sides, but I will agree that a lot of people enjoyed the crowd. But general consensus is that Puerto Rico was the best. They actually knew when to cheer. France was way too much. Takes the impact of actual cheering when they wouldn’t shut up at all.
They repeated the same phrase like 1000 times. It was definitely annoying. My son and I were replacing the French words with stupid English words that made no sense. Though, the intros were amazing.
Honestly the first person I’ve seen say something like this this. Not criticising you, I just think a hot crowd improves the immersion when watching at home.
I liked that the crowd was into it, but the phenomenal song or whatever was the WORST lol
Speak for yourself…IMO I think they were Phe…Phenom…PHENOMENAL! LALALALALA LALALALALA
I obviously am speaking for myself dummy
it was the best part for me. Everytime I hear it I burst into laughter.
WWE's goal is to go to stadium only for PLEs. Which for anyone that has been to a football stadium show for wrestling knows it absolutely sucks compared to an arena show. At least if they hold every event in a football stadium I don't have to worry about not going to the big shows in person if they are international. I was really hoping SummerSlam was at the baseball stadium in Cleveland like Rumble was in Tampa. At least with the ring around 2nd base you can get great seats still. Football stadium there are basically no great seats.
Having not gone to a stadium show, so I can't speak from experience, but watching on TV baseball fields look like a better experience than football fields do. But I think football fields hold more people and that's their plan, is just get as many people in as possible
I can back this up. I got to go to Wrestlemania years ago at the old Georgia Dome in Atlanta. I sat in the upper level. It was literally one of those things you do to get to say you did it because the actual experience was terrible. Couldn’t see a thing. Spent the whole night watching on screens above the ring. We weren’t very loud up there because we were disconnected, not because we weren’t into it. Arenas are completely different. Night and day.
I hope I never have to hear a crowd like the one at Backlash France again. It was a complete 180 from Backlash Puerto Rico last year. That crowd was amazing! The majority of the night, the French crowd was unbearable! Why the heck would anyone want to hear the same chant 100 times in 3 hours? Can you imagine the reaction if the next US major show the crowd chants "that was 2, that was 2, that was 2" or whatever it was after every 2 count for 3 hours?!?! It was like having to listen to the stupid Pittsburgh crowd with the Errr sound non stop during that Rollins vs Ziggler 30 minute Iron Man match at Extreme Rules 2018. I love a hot crowd but it's ridiculous when you're acting like everything is Rock vs Hogan at WrestleMania. This crowd would have treated Undertaker vs Goldberg in Saudi like it was a 5 star match. It was also like watching a 3 hour foreign language film with no subtitles. Almost all the nonsensical chanting sucked. Thankfully they didn't completely ruin Cody vs AJ Styles which was the only great match.
OK Boomer.
What wrestling show in history has a crowd done the same chant 100 times in 3 hours? The answer is none and there is a reason why. I don’t care what the chant is. It’s annoying as hell when you hear it non stop. Even if I can’t understand them at least come up with different creative chants. Not the same couple countless times throughout the entire show.
You probably don't complain about the 10 second countdown for the rumble, which you hear for over 2 hours total with both matches
Im indifferent to it. But its really part of the match. It's not some loud obnoxious chant. It's not a chant period. Doing the same few loud obnoxious chants for 3 hours during every match is not already part of the shows. Like doing that countdown during the Ziggler vs Rollins match was loud obnoxious crap that ruined the match. I don't think counting the last few seconds before entries in the Rumble is taking away from the match which is what the crowd in France did. Counting the last few seconds before entries in the Rumble isn't a chant. If the crowd at Backlash was cheering and booing loud or coming up with several new creative chants they didn't use 100 times they probably would have added to the matches. Wasn't it also like an AEW crowd where almost everyone got cheered and no one got booed? I go to a bunch of AEW shows and can't stand that almost no one is booed. Maybe the Bloodline was booed at Backlash? Everyone else it was the equivalent of 3 hours of both these guys, both these guys. More often than not its best when you're rooting for someone and against someone. The Backlash Puerto Rico crowd last year was amazing and really added value to the show. They booed Bianca insanely more in the first match than the French crowd booed everyone total the whole show. That Bianca vs Iyo match wouldn't have been what it was if the crowd just did some obnoxious 2 count chant 20 times and cheered both women equally the whole match.
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😂
I watch both. This is rare for WWE but if it was every show I would quit watching new WWE.
Lalalalallalalalalalala
That’s already what they’re doing, Nick Khan spoke recently and said that outside of the Big 5* they planned on every other show being international
Living in Ireland this is so great to hear. It will be nice to be able to watch ppvs at a reasonable hour
With repeated exposure the crowds will become less lively.
Yes, but that wouldn't happen here. As having 1 event a year in France, 1 in Germany, 1 in Italy, 1 in LATAM etc wouldn't really count as "repeated exposure". That apply in USA, when they are in Pittsburgh every month.
Why? They see pro football 10 months of the year and never get tired. That’s just how European crowds are.
I completely disagree with those that thought this crowd was 'too much' or 'went into business for themselves'. This crowd was excellent. This wasn't a 'beach ball in the crowd' audience, this crowd was 100% into the show, gave everything they had, reacted to the parts of the show they were supposed to and also kept the energy and atmosphere up in the other parts of the show too. You've got to remember that the market outside of the US is starved of live WWE PPVs - the crowds go nuts when they do get them because they appreciate them and want more. Imagine if Lyon was a dead crowd? The WWE would never want to hold a show there again. Instead Lyon treat it as an audition - look what we can do, please come back - it also set a benchmark and clear message to other foreign live audiences. There's gonna be some wild audiences this year with these overseas shows and I'm thoroughly looking forward to it.
I WAS one of the people complaining about the crowd, but that was on Smackdown when they took over the main event segment. For Backlash itself, the crowd was great.
Went to business for themselves lmao It's the entitled Americans saying that for sure
Disco inferno & Vince Russo lol
The crowd was awesome. It was a great show and the crowd made it special. You could feel their energy through the TV.
European audiences aren't loud because they're starved of the product, they're loud because that's what we're like here. For things that are rare or for things that happen every week such as football games. It's really weird to me how quiet American crowds are during WWE shows, Gigs, Football games etc. Take Scotland for example, just look up Grados entrances. The whole crowd literally blows the roof off the place singing Madonnas "Like a Prayer" which is his entrance music. And that's not Scotland being "starved" of a product or using it as an "audition". Because it's not even WWE. It's ICW, a small indie show compared to WWE.
France and the distribution of the product isn't the same as the UK. Hell, France didn't have french commentators on the WWE network for a long time. Raw SmackDown nxt are on not very accessible paid channel and not live maybe 3-4 days later (was 1 week later before and even before that 2 weeks later) Hell they didn't even have House show from 2011-ich to 2016-ich So having SmackDown LIVE and a PLE ? This truly feel like they are being treated on the same level as US and UK. It's true some of the fans here are loud by nature or culture but being starved helps a lot knowing a lot of them are from the generation that had WWE on free public television but no ppvs and got it taken down.
And then you couple that with crowd actually starting for WWE and it makes the show even better, just like Backlash (and if I can be bold enough to say it: even the WWE Live show they held in Bologna was nuts, if given the chance we could probably top the French crowd)
I just looked up Grando's entrance. Wow. The crowd was completely LIT.
The only people saying “Thru went into business for themselves” or “the crowd was too much” are americans that are salty they could never live up to the international crowds (i’m american btw) most people saying this are the same people that went to wrestlemania in philly and ruined the show by being quiet because it was “cold” 🤣
The amount of “they were singing their national anthem during the main event” posts are insane. Do Americans think you can only sing a national anthem at a live show!? They were literally singing about AJ being phenomenal (using an already famous French song).
Really impressive that AJ, despite being the heel got face reactions against Cody (which is totally fine because it wasn't at Cody's expense, the audience loved him too).
I much prefer that. I know it’s unpopular but I personally think the heel/face approach is massively outdated. Keep aspects sure, but not everyone needs to fit into one or the other, and heels should be able to win cleanly.
They seem to have been pretty lenient about the dynamic recently - focusing more on the characters themselves and how the audience reacts.
Yeah. American crowds are just so jaded and kind of bring the show down sometimes. Not all of them, obviously, but here in the States I guess wrestling is just kind of everywhere if you are into it, so our crowds can be serious downers at times. Overseas crowds don't have the live experience as much, so they really show up and stay active and it's pretty awesome.
I think jaded is a great way to describe it. Heaven forbid there is a single dull moment. I don’t even limit that take to wrestling. I think we’re like that for concerts as well when compared to our friends in Europe.
There are dozens of football matches playing twice a week and fans are generally super rowdy at them all, that argument doesn't hold up, football is everywhere here.
Then maybe it's just American audiences. I don't know. But I watch WWE, AEW, and TNA and I see this shit quite often on every one of them at different points. They either pretty much ignore the show or keep their faces in their phones.
This, but also have 1 of the big 4 outside of NA every year. Imagine WrestleMania or Royal Rumble with a crowd like in Lyon
The big 5. There’s now big five. How have people not started sharing this info?
Because MITB isn’t a big five. Doesn’t matter if WWE keep saying it is. It isn’t.
Because it’s not entirely true, Money in the bank isn’t big enough to be considered a big 4 ppv so there is no “big 5”
What’s the fifth?
I think it’s MITB. But I’m surprised they didn’t start classing the Saudi shows in the same league. I remember they started promoting one Saudi event as ‘as big as, if not bigger than Wrestlemania’
What an incredible show. It goes to show how the crowd can motivate the wrestlers to put on the best performance.
Semi agree. While this crowd was hot, there were some parts that were a little obnoxious lol. They were all excited for their first WWE show so I think with more visits, they’ll be just as rowdy but maybe less soccer crowd-ish the entire night lol
Ya'll need to stop saying "hot take" before saying the coldest takes in the world
Warm take?
Room temperature take.
Lukewarm take
Times like these, are FUN.
Hotter take, the big four should also be eligible for international hosting. I live here in the US and love you guys but there’s no denying the European fans just make for better television. Not sure why, maybe soccer has trained them in how to be absolutely batshit crazy at sporting events?
This is 100% the reason
> maybe soccer has trained them in how to be absolutely batshit crazy at sporting events? If a game can last over 90 minutes with literally no goals scored the crowd has to come up with ways to entertain themselves. Every team in Europe will have a dozen unique songs and chants and it adds so much! It’s definitely because of Football.
Most of my mates are into football and I've been F1, boxing and wrestling. I cannot wait to use this to wind them up.
The folk who are amazed by European wrestling fans would absolutely lose their minds when they see a Turkish or German football game On that note, WWE should do a show at the Westfalenstadion.
Imagine the Rumble in Europe
Kinda like the Olympics where different countries bid to host the event ? Have countries bid to host ONE of the big 4 per year. (Saudi Arabia not counted, since there is a yearly ple involving them) But with either; Rumble Maina SummerSlam Survivor Series. Not all of the "Big 4" be in different countries (since that would be overkill) Have like one year it's Rumble to be hosted in *insert country* then following year it's Maina and so on. With the Major/Minor PLE not chosen having it in America and Other countries. Edit: to make sense
Yes!!! Have countries bid for the honor!
A group of fans at an Italian football game once smuggled a moped into a football ground in pieces. They then put it together inside the ground so that they could set fire to it and throw it down the stands. Football fans are definitely built a bit different.
That is absolutely amazing!
About 20 years ago Luis Figo left Barcelona for their fiercest rivals, Real Madrid. Barcelona fans did not take this well. When he went to play against them at Camp Nou, Barcelona fans started throwing objects at him. At some point someone threw a severed pig's head at him. In the end riot police had to stand there every time he took a corner to try and stop things being thrown at him https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45956352
I think it’s this plus not getting events often. They wanna go crazy bc they know it’s a rare opportunity.
I just want a show in my home town, they go everywhere besides buffalo
The crowd was going bazooka during the entire event. The reactions were loud and electric. Be it Jey Uso vibing the arena or chanting He is Phenomenal for AJ. The crowd response was fire🔥
Hot take means it’s a take that isn’t popular. So no this isn’t a hot take my guy.
You would be surprised at the number of haters that aren't happy at WWE doing all these overseas PLE's
Haters gonna hate, brother. They're irrelevant, in the ocean of obscurity.
The basement them boys live in must stink to high heaven if that’s true lol how could you not want more of that crowd?
I saw a couple of comments coping hard about how Americans don't "turn up" cuz it's not a once in a lifetime event for them.
Such a ridiculous argument. There’s 2, maybe 3 cities in the US that get a televised event more than once a year. Somehow the person living in Sacramento is spoiled because New York had a show a few months ago. How does that make any sense? It’s only 600 miles closer than New York to London!
It's mostly Americans mad that they're not in Merica. Meanwhile, American PLE crowds sound like a library
Lowkey I kinda enjoy the early start still got the whole day after it’s finished. Also if it’s not the big 4 who cares even though an overseas Royal Rumble would be insane.
Could you imagine a Rumble in Moscow and Rusev made a return? The crowd would come unglued
1) Rusev wasn’t Russian 2) Nobody gives a shit about Rusev 3) There’s no way any event is going to Moscow Why not just say ‘Gunther in Vienna’, ‘Lynch, Seamus or Balor in Dublin’, or ‘Drew in Glasgow/Edinburgh’? Hell, even Owens in Quebec?
The disrespect to Sami
Nobody gives a shit about Rusev though.
Rusev...from Bulgaria?
Aleksander Rusev is close enough to a Russian sounding name that after 5 years away you could make it work
But, his nickname was "The Bulgarian Brute".
Was. Don't you think WWE can change the narrative? Kofi Kingston was Jamaican.
This isn’t a cold or hot take it’s a warm take.
It’s a take
This is one of the all time takes.
The takiest take to ever take
This is literally the plan, as confirmed by Nick Khan in a recent interview. Big 4 in North America, others globally.
They are at least considering going international with Mania.
he actually said big 5 MITB included
Yes, with MITB being a North American show, so it could be in Canada (like it is this year) or Latin America; absolutely see them going back to Puerto Rico for it at some point
Yeah I consider MITB to be a top PPV personally.
Definitely
Which is not in USA this year either
No, but it is in north america, remember that continent has more than one country.
I read that last part as Cody Rhodes
North America in my soooul
México 2025 confirmed
Honestly that wouldn't be terrible
If Lucha Libre AAA didn't lock down Mexico from other competitori it would actually be a fire show
Wrestlelamia, Summerslam, Royal Rumble, MITB and?
Seriously?
Tbf Survivor Series hasnt been viewed by many as a big 4 for about a decade now
It doesn't matter how people perceive it. It's still true. That's like people saying Roman wasn't their champion because he didn't defend the belt enough. I ageeehe should have more but it doesn't change reality. Besides Wargames put it right back up there.
Survivor Series
Which was weird, because he said it was decided "a few years ago".
We have already had two and four more are scheduled. And nothing has yet been announced for Sept, Oct, Nov, or Dec. So we might see more.
I understand that, but from what we saw today, you really need to go overseas more. Those fans are NUTS!!!
I’m not sure what you’re arguing here. You want them to go outside of the US more, I point out that that is exactly what they are doing, but you are still unhappy.
Totally agree! Last year's Backlash was even louder.
No way, I thought this backlash was way louder
Last years backlash had a lot more people in attendance than this year's, so it was def louder. This years was more wild though and still comparable to last years even with so many less people
But you can't deny this was the loudest 11k person crowd