Professional wrestling’s history is full of fans being pushed too far by a heel gimmick and it’s let to riots during matches and death threats.
One of the more popular ones over the years came form when Sgt. Slaughter turned and became and Iraqi sympathizer after the first Gulf War. He said he had to have security follow him for safety as he received numerous threats.
A couple of years ago, Baron Corbin feuded with Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship and Corbin did a heel thing by attacking Becky Lynch and hitting her with an End of Days.
Needing thick skin
He recently appeared on Ryan Satin’s Out of Character Podcast about that and the threats he received because of it.
Special thanks to @the_wrestling_news2 for the transcript.
“When I hit Becky with the End of Days, I was getting death threats,” Corbin said. “On a regular basis. 95% of [critics] are on the internet or safely behind somewhere they can’t be accessed. Roman said it the best one time, that he’s never met a hater in real life. That’s the same kind of thing with me. It would be funny if at the airport, all the guys hanging there for autographs were like open your Twitter and let me see if you’re blocked or not to decide if you can get an autograph. It’s funny, it’s the cool thing to do now in life, people just want to drag people down, it makes them feel good but my whole career has been that way with social media but now it’s 10x with the way the world is. You got to have thick skin man.”
While it’s not a surprise that fans would be outraged as a man should never harm a woman, going so far as to send death threats is a bit much.
It’s toxic and no reason for it, but many may feel it helps them be part of the storyline being told in the matches and promos. For some it may be harmless and it shows the heel is doing his or her job.
It adds another layer for the wrestler when they enter the ring as they’ll know they’re pushing buttons. But at the end of the day, it’s just entertainment and remembering that is the key.
There have been some rumors that some view receiving threats as a badge of honor that they can push the right buttons and they’re doing it right.
It definitely takes a certain type to do this and deal with the results. Do you think fans take things too far or is it justified? Let us know in the comments below.
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