16.08.2004, 22:18
Auf dem PW Torch haben 2 Canadische Fans eine "Kolumne" geschrieben bzw ihre Meinung geaeussert ueber den Summerslam bzw die Fanreaktionen im Air Canada Center.Ich denke beide meinungen sind interessant und treffen absolut die Wahrheit.Ich denke das beide absolut recht haben,der Grund warum die Fans so reagierten beim Summerslam ist zum einen der Stolz auf das Land und der Patriotismus der sich eben nicht mit der WWE deckt durch ihre staendigen Canada vs US Storylines.Eine Frage die man durchaus stellen kann,kommt Edge nur aus Toronto wenn er auch in Toronto antritt? Und dann erwartet WWE das man ihn bejubelt? Oh common das kann nicht ihr ernst sein.Und zum anderen das man nicht das gleiche macht wie die US Fans.Wenn die US Fans Wrestler A bejubeln kann man sich ziemlich sicher sein das in Canada Wrestler A ausgebuht wird.
By David Isaac of Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada
Torch VIP Member
I was there for Wrestlemania 18 for Rock vs. Hogan I. I saw how the Toronto crowd turned on Rock and cheered Hogan. It's always been like this, Canadian crowds have always consistently gone against established storylines and gimmicks and I'm going to try to explain why.
It goes back to the fact that historically WWE has run infrequent PPVs and TV shows up here in Canada, since the WWE's main fan base resides in the U.S. (despite the fact that attendance for house shows, Raws, Smackdowns, and PPVs are down across the board). Usually, the only way we get to see the WWE regularly is on TSN or UPN, both of which are on our basic cable package.
The problem is that the house show runs up here are usually small swings in areas which have the most concentrated fan base (i.e Southern Ontario's Toronto, London, Ottawa; Quebec's Montreal, Sherbrooke, etc.; Winnipeg; and Western Canada's Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver). While most Canadians do live in these areas, a lot of the Canadian wrestling fans are spread out and it takes a lot of money and time to travel just to see a house show where most of the wrestlers tend to dog it and don't really care about the crowd. I know for me, it usually can take anywhere from one-to-six hours or more of driving just to see a show in B.C. depending on where they are having it. So, as a result, at the "important" shows like Raw, Smackdown, or a major PPV, the crowd by then is restless, rabid, very very smart, and are vocal about their likes and dislikes.
Another reason the crowd jumps on wrestlers is because, yes, we do have long memories and we still do remember the Montreal Screwjob from '97. Vince never likes to stop reminding us about it by having it in some form or another when he runs shows in Canada; neither does Bret, but then again, he's retired and he needs something to talk about now that he doesn't get paid by WWE anymore. The fact is, it isn't so much that Vince screwed Bret that we're upset about, or the fact that the storylines are trite and insipid, or that the wrestlers are green and couldn't carry their end of a match to save their life. It's really about one storyline that in our minds the Screwjob was - a culmination of in Canadian wrestling fans minds:
USA vs Canada.
Yes folks, that is why Canadian fans are so different from the United States, we care, we're proud, we're damn patriotic. I AM CANADIAN! I could go on with a rant like that Molson Canadian commercial (but then again, it's been taken over by a U.S. company, another thing for us to grouse about), but I won't. Suffice it to say, we love being different from the U.S., and indeed a lot of times we'll do the opposite of what we're supposed to be programmed to do, just to spite the U.S. crowds.
That's the real reason fans in Canada are how they are, now I'm going to have a beer, watch a little hockey, and curl up in my chesterfield with my pet beaver that I've named Tim Hortons. No doot aboot it, eh?
By Kira Simpson of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
PWTorch.com reader
17,640 Canadian fans cheered on the heels last night at Summerslam 2004 much to the dismay of many television viewers. When Edge came out, being introduced from Toronto, Canada, I began to think; have Canadian's not been built as heels in recent months? If Trish is from Toronto to give her more heel heat; if Jericho is from New York to allow him more pops; if the biggest heel tag team sings my national anthem, shouldn't I be a heel, too? Perhaps it's not Bizarro World but rather Heel World that we're in.
It lays at the hands of Vince McMahon, who a few months ago decided to announce face Canadian wrestlers as "residing in (insert your choice of American state here)." I for one was quite upset by this as a Canadian. It may not be well known, but Canadians are very patriotic, especially when it comes to celebrities coming out of Canada and making it big on an international, or even American, stage. Every time Jim Carrey, Matthew Perry, or Mike Myers are mentioned on American television, Canadians countrywide go crazy with cheers or proudly state that the person is from Canada. So when Vince McMahon decided to stop announcing Canadian wrestlers as Canadians, those fans got something big taken away from them.
This isn't the only Anti-Canadian campaign in the WWE. It's been going on for years; remember the Anti-Americans? But for the sake of being current I mention that La Resistance, the current Raw tag team champions are from Quebec, Canada and proudly "sing" their national anthem before their matches to a chorus of boos from the crowd. "USA" chants even start to oppose the team. This reinforces the fact that Canadian's are bad and should be booed, whereas American supporters (even those not from America like Tajiri) are cheered.
So is it really any surprise that Canadian fans were backing the heels and going against the faces? I don't think so. Canadian fans have always been a unique crowd and have been anything but predictable. For the record, booing Eddie Guerrero was probably not the best of ideas, it didn't even make a lot of sense, but the WWE could have found a simple way to have the storylines work with the crowd and to even advance this Anti-Canadian buzz. Instead of playing off the chants as being in Bizarro World, the King and J.R., Tazz and Michael Cole, should have been playing the crowd as heels, seeing as after the event the crowd was getting more heat than any heel wrestler on the card.
Sure, there are some ridiculous bits of the night, like cheering Triple H even after he threw Lilian Garcia to the ground. But what would Ric Flair do? He would cheer Triple H, he would clap him on, just as the Canadian fans were doing. Why? Because he's a heel. Heels don't change sides because their heel friend is doing something bad. That's seen as good in the heel world, so let's cheer him on.
Though I can see how the crowd may have ruined the event for many people watching on television, the WWE had it coming to them. If La Resistance sing MY national anthem, if Jericho is only Canadian if he's a heel, and the only time that Edge is from Toronto, Canada is when he's IN Toronto, Canada, then I stand proudly with Trish, Christian, La Resistance, and all the rest of my Canadian heel countrymen and will forever boo the hell out of any face that comes into town.
By David Isaac of Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada
Torch VIP Member
I was there for Wrestlemania 18 for Rock vs. Hogan I. I saw how the Toronto crowd turned on Rock and cheered Hogan. It's always been like this, Canadian crowds have always consistently gone against established storylines and gimmicks and I'm going to try to explain why.
It goes back to the fact that historically WWE has run infrequent PPVs and TV shows up here in Canada, since the WWE's main fan base resides in the U.S. (despite the fact that attendance for house shows, Raws, Smackdowns, and PPVs are down across the board). Usually, the only way we get to see the WWE regularly is on TSN or UPN, both of which are on our basic cable package.
The problem is that the house show runs up here are usually small swings in areas which have the most concentrated fan base (i.e Southern Ontario's Toronto, London, Ottawa; Quebec's Montreal, Sherbrooke, etc.; Winnipeg; and Western Canada's Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver). While most Canadians do live in these areas, a lot of the Canadian wrestling fans are spread out and it takes a lot of money and time to travel just to see a house show where most of the wrestlers tend to dog it and don't really care about the crowd. I know for me, it usually can take anywhere from one-to-six hours or more of driving just to see a show in B.C. depending on where they are having it. So, as a result, at the "important" shows like Raw, Smackdown, or a major PPV, the crowd by then is restless, rabid, very very smart, and are vocal about their likes and dislikes.
Another reason the crowd jumps on wrestlers is because, yes, we do have long memories and we still do remember the Montreal Screwjob from '97. Vince never likes to stop reminding us about it by having it in some form or another when he runs shows in Canada; neither does Bret, but then again, he's retired and he needs something to talk about now that he doesn't get paid by WWE anymore. The fact is, it isn't so much that Vince screwed Bret that we're upset about, or the fact that the storylines are trite and insipid, or that the wrestlers are green and couldn't carry their end of a match to save their life. It's really about one storyline that in our minds the Screwjob was - a culmination of in Canadian wrestling fans minds:
USA vs Canada.
Yes folks, that is why Canadian fans are so different from the United States, we care, we're proud, we're damn patriotic. I AM CANADIAN! I could go on with a rant like that Molson Canadian commercial (but then again, it's been taken over by a U.S. company, another thing for us to grouse about), but I won't. Suffice it to say, we love being different from the U.S., and indeed a lot of times we'll do the opposite of what we're supposed to be programmed to do, just to spite the U.S. crowds.
That's the real reason fans in Canada are how they are, now I'm going to have a beer, watch a little hockey, and curl up in my chesterfield with my pet beaver that I've named Tim Hortons. No doot aboot it, eh?
By Kira Simpson of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
PWTorch.com reader
17,640 Canadian fans cheered on the heels last night at Summerslam 2004 much to the dismay of many television viewers. When Edge came out, being introduced from Toronto, Canada, I began to think; have Canadian's not been built as heels in recent months? If Trish is from Toronto to give her more heel heat; if Jericho is from New York to allow him more pops; if the biggest heel tag team sings my national anthem, shouldn't I be a heel, too? Perhaps it's not Bizarro World but rather Heel World that we're in.
It lays at the hands of Vince McMahon, who a few months ago decided to announce face Canadian wrestlers as "residing in (insert your choice of American state here)." I for one was quite upset by this as a Canadian. It may not be well known, but Canadians are very patriotic, especially when it comes to celebrities coming out of Canada and making it big on an international, or even American, stage. Every time Jim Carrey, Matthew Perry, or Mike Myers are mentioned on American television, Canadians countrywide go crazy with cheers or proudly state that the person is from Canada. So when Vince McMahon decided to stop announcing Canadian wrestlers as Canadians, those fans got something big taken away from them.
This isn't the only Anti-Canadian campaign in the WWE. It's been going on for years; remember the Anti-Americans? But for the sake of being current I mention that La Resistance, the current Raw tag team champions are from Quebec, Canada and proudly "sing" their national anthem before their matches to a chorus of boos from the crowd. "USA" chants even start to oppose the team. This reinforces the fact that Canadian's are bad and should be booed, whereas American supporters (even those not from America like Tajiri) are cheered.
So is it really any surprise that Canadian fans were backing the heels and going against the faces? I don't think so. Canadian fans have always been a unique crowd and have been anything but predictable. For the record, booing Eddie Guerrero was probably not the best of ideas, it didn't even make a lot of sense, but the WWE could have found a simple way to have the storylines work with the crowd and to even advance this Anti-Canadian buzz. Instead of playing off the chants as being in Bizarro World, the King and J.R., Tazz and Michael Cole, should have been playing the crowd as heels, seeing as after the event the crowd was getting more heat than any heel wrestler on the card.
Sure, there are some ridiculous bits of the night, like cheering Triple H even after he threw Lilian Garcia to the ground. But what would Ric Flair do? He would cheer Triple H, he would clap him on, just as the Canadian fans were doing. Why? Because he's a heel. Heels don't change sides because their heel friend is doing something bad. That's seen as good in the heel world, so let's cheer him on.
Though I can see how the crowd may have ruined the event for many people watching on television, the WWE had it coming to them. If La Resistance sing MY national anthem, if Jericho is only Canadian if he's a heel, and the only time that Edge is from Toronto, Canada is when he's IN Toronto, Canada, then I stand proudly with Trish, Christian, La Resistance, and all the rest of my Canadian heel countrymen and will forever boo the hell out of any face that comes into town.
eine richtig kluger konter auf die Canada-Verarsche der wwe .. 
