Freddie Prinze Jr Thinks London WWE Crowds Made Cheering Heels Acceptable, Says It Angered Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon was not a fan of UK crowds cheering for heels.
For a long time, wrestling crowds kept it simple with how they cheered and booed, with the standard practice of heels and faces being booed and cheered accordingly.
However, when the WWE would go to foreign locations or for the RAW after WrestleMania, fans began to cheer for who they liked, regardless of whether they are heels or faces.
Speaking on his Wrestling With Freddie podcast, Freddie credited the London crowds of the past with being the first crowds to cheer for heals in a major wrestling company.
“I think London was the audience that made cheering heels acceptable and cool. I feel like they started that before AEW did, before WWE fans in America were starting to get hip to heels. In London, they were just like, ‘Look, we get these fuckers once a year. We’re cheering for whoever we want. If we like both dudes, both dudes are getting songs. If we don’t, they’re getting booed. That’s it. We don’t care how you book it.’ I saw it firsthand when Jeff Hardy and Undertaker went at it over there when I was at the company. I was like, ‘Man, they’re just cheering for whoever they want.’ It pissed Vince off. He didn’t like that,”
Freddie Prinze Jr
Nowadays, heels are cheered regularly by crowds, with many face turns simply beginning because the crowd has decided they won’t boo superstars like LA Knight any longer.
McMahon’s power in WWE has become “marginalized” as of late, as his duties to WWE creative have been scaled back, with bigger plans in mind for how TKO Group would like to use him to boost WWE.
H/T to Fightful for transcription
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