WWE fans cursed out the ownership group TKO during Roman Reigns’ interview after winning the WrestleMania 42 main event. Reigns once again became a world champion by defeating CM Punk in an exciting match, but fans were unhappy at the end of the night for different reasons. The interview featured Roman referencing the TKO era of WWE and getting negative reactions from the crowd.
Loud “F**k TKO” chants surprised Reigns and picked up steam during the live broadcast of the event:
Roman and the broadcasters at the desk clearly had no idea the audience would rebel with such a negative chant to the WWE ownership group. Fans have been unhappy with WWE over the past few months due to a relatively lackluster build making the show feel less important than in recent years.
Many of the audience members were consistently upset with massive ticket prices and a weaker overall product to utilize their voices in this unexpected moment. A post-show interview takes place with the diehard fans sticking around to watch since most of the casual fans leave after the final match ends. Reigns didn’t have an official response and tried to get past the chant without it worsening.
WWE Booking Made Fans Hate TKO
One of the main reasons for the growing disdain towards TKO is WWE using it in storylines. Both CM Punk and Cody Rhodes criticized the ownership for pricing out fans and sticking their noses in the creative via shoehorning Pat McAfee into a major main event storyline.
Triple H has used storytelling to have some of the top faces speak against the ownership in storylines. Fans already mad at the ticket prices and other business practices had more reason to hate TKO and to start expressing it as part of the show.
WWE took a risk here and it is clearly showing that a large percentage of the audience dislikes TKO’s influence. WrestleMania was heavily criticized for the ads and entrances getting more total time than the actual matches. Fans usually expect the biggest matches of the year here, but only a handful received more time than a random television match would.
TKO Must Make Changes To Appease WWE Fans
Endeavor purchasing WWE led to TKO becoming the group that now owns both WWE and UFC as massive touring brands. TKO has tried to run WWE similar to UFC, which is not appeasing wrestlers under contract and many of the fans.
Ticket prices for major events have become impossible for a large percentage of the audience to afford. WWE did strong numbers for WrestleMania 42, but they sold 13,000 fewer tickets than last year in the exact same venue for a similar two-day event.
John Cena’s retirement tour storyline certainly helped business last year. However, a weaker product and the price range feeling unfair has caused a lot of WWE fans to turn against TKO. Changes must be made or wrestling fans will continue to call out ownership with the creative and insulting chants. WWE has the chance to build positive momentum for the rest of the year with fresh stories and the opportunity to make changes.
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