The WWE feud between CM Punk and Seth Rollins is in full swing, after several months of the two popular performers pushing and prodding each other. Speaking on “Broken open radio” WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray predicted Rollins would struggle to gain fan support against Punk, leading the wrestler to delve into his thoughts on the relationship between wrestlers and audiences .
“Wrestling fans are very forgiving when they want to like you,” Bully began.
He then gave several examples to back up his statement, stating that AEW fans are often quick to forgive the promotion for its booking mistakes because they want to profit from the product. Bully also recalled a series of events involving Sabu in ECW, which saw him receive a monumental reception from the crowd just a year after Paul Heyman made it clear that Sabu had left the promotion and toured back to the fans. .
“CM Punk’s fan base will invade Seth Rollins’ fan base,” Bully continued. “And it’s not because of Seth, it’s because of Punk. People don’t care that Punk is gone.”
Punk’s greatest strength, according to Bully, is that his character hasn’t changed since his previous run in WWE. The company’s fans are happy to have him back, and that happiness will translate into loyal support, even against someone as popular as Rollins.
Bully Ray assesses the impact of individual stars on the company’s popularity
A little later in the show, the discussion continued to focus on Punk, but the hosts instead began discussing the effect of his departure on AEW. Bully believes the loss of Punk and Cody Rhodes hurt the promotion’s popularity, but the problems run deeper than that.
“I think wrestling fans like to be a part of the winning team, and WWE right now… is the winning team,” Bully said. “If you’re looking for what you get in AEW, and I’m talking about the type of matches…exciting and acrobatic,…you can find that in WWE as well, and you can find it with psychology and selling.
Bully believes Punk’s departure had an immediate effect, with a number of fans leaving after his firing. Since then, there has been an “erosion” in the promotion’s television audience and a notable drop in enthusiasm, and he blames AEW’s creative direction rather than any individual.
In WWE, Bully believes Punk, along with stars like Roman Reigns, make a minor difference in television viewership. However, most viewers tune in simply because they watch WWE TV every week. Although many of WWE’s numbers declined during Vince McMahon’s final years at the top of the promotion, popularity has been on the rise since Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over as creative director.
“WWE has always had competitions that fans wanted to participate in,” Bully said. “The WWE empire was never destroyed.”
If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” with ah/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
