Out of nowhere pops

[Guest TheHulkster]

Sometimes in wrestling the fans pop or give heat to the most unlikely guys or give a polar opposite reaction to what is expected. So in a blatant attempt to add content (since this is a good section for content ), when are times when you have heard fan reactions that seemed to come out off nowhere. A few that i've seen or heard about that really suprised me were:

 

Buck "Rock and Roll" Zumhofe: I remember this from a story I heard on a classic wrestling message board. In the late-80's, the WWF had a TV taping in the Twin Cities and decided to use longtime AWA jobber Buck Zumhofe in the opening match. Now. jobbers back in the day were pretty much interchangeable. They would just raise their arms as the announcer quietly announced their name to the audience and proceed to get their ass kicked quickly by one of the stars of the time. This night went a bit differently. The AWA was on it's last legs at the time, so the Twin city fans had only the WWF as an option for live wrestling. On this night, a lot of old AWA fans must have been in attendance because once the Fink quietly announced Buck's name, the fans went apeshit. Throughout the match the only heat the fans gave was their unanimous chants of Buck's name. He had the biggest pop of the night, so big in fact, that they had to cut his match from the tv show so as not to show up the star.

 

Sivi Afi: I heard this story from Vince on one of his appearances on Byte This. He planned on doing this big introduction for this new wrestler from Fiji at Madison Square Garden in the 80's. He wanted this first appearance to turn Afi into a major babyface an a good attraction for the company at their main arena. They had loads of success with Superfly Jimmy Snuka in the early stages of the WWF and he was hoping for this to translate over to Afi because at the time, Snuka and the WWF had parted ways. So his opponent comes out first, then Fink does the big introduction starting with "From the Fiji Islands..." and the New York fans thought it was the return of the Superfly and exploded. Seconds later Afi comes out and is booed out of the arena and continued to recieve heat throughout the whole match. Vince's jaw probably dropped that night, but it's nice to see that he can now laugh about it after the fact (damn it Vince, write a book already! You know he probably has a million good stories).

 

Hulk Hogan: Wrestlemania X-8, nuff said

[Guest saturnmark4life]

the funniest out-of-nowhere pop i've seen was in a tag match with IRS/BamBam vs some babyfaces can't remember who, there was something going on in the crowd, either a fight or girls flashing or something, and the second the crowd noticed IRS got tagged in, to an amusingly loud pop. Course i'm an IRS mark so i found it all the more funny.

[Guest Sturgis]

Skyscrappers(Version 1) vs. Dynamic Dudes - Great American Bash 89'

Sid became the #1 face during that match and he was the heel, but that's was expected since no one liked The Dudes.

 

Also Barry Horrowitz(sp?) always got pops during the end of his WWF carrer

[Guest Smark Hammill]

Circa 1984. Butch Reed was an established heel in Mid South, but he made an appearance in World Class. Marc Lowrance announced him, and the crowd popped loud. I was a kid at the time, but I remember thinking to myself, "Don't these people know he's a bad guy."

[Guest dreamer420]

Brock at Summerslam this year was amazing too. I love how the Rock just knows when to kick it into heel mode.

[Guest treble charged]

The last 2 shows I've went to when he was there, Teddy Long got HUGE pops both times he came out. I don't know why, and it didn't seem like he did, either. Him and Tony Chimmel just kind of stood in the ring, shrugging their shoulders.

[Guest Ravenbomb]

not sure if this belongs, but...

the shortest face run ever: Shane McMahon.

One of the Raw's just before WM2K, all the McMahons and 3H were in the ring or at ringside, Shane came out and said that he would stand against 3H at WM and the crowed started cheering him, so apparently he was turning face. Then he said he agreed that change was needed and attacked Vince from behind, and the crowd booed him again.

 

Honourable mention goes to Big Bossman when he came out to the old Bossman theme and then re-joined the Corporation and left to the new Bossman theme

[Guest dreamer420]

Honourable mention goes to Big Bossman when he came out to the old Bossman theme and then re-joined the Corporation and left to the new Bossman theme

one of my biggest mark out moments ever!!!

[Guest ShooterJay]

How about No Way Out 200 when Shane got a HUGE face pop and became an immediate heel by hitting a chairshot on Rocky to cost him the WM shot?

[Guest Ravenbomb]

I didn't see that so I don't know how long it was between the pop and the heel turn.

[Guest Invader3k]

Well, I didn't see this one live, but I used to have a copy of an old WCW PPV, I think it was WrestleWar 1990 (Wargames main event). Anyway, Bobby Eaton wrestled someone unimportant, and when he came out, there was a massive "BOBBY! BOBBY!" chant. Unreal.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

I didn't see that so I don't know how long it was between the pop and the heel turn.

The pop for "No Chance" was MASSIVE (I'm telling you Vinnie Mac, Shane = RATINGS!!), and the crowd didn't turn sour until the very moment the chair impacted with Rock's head.

 

Damn Shane's weapon shots are always awesome.

 

I MISS SHANE!!!!!

 

(does his King of Sting shuffle)

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

[Guest kingkamala]

Anyway, Bobby Eaton wrestled someone unimportant,

You callin' Brad Armstrong unimportant ? Oh and the PPV is WrestleWar 91 from your descriptions not WrestleWar90

[Guest Anorak]

While it wasn't exactly 'out of nowhere' because it was a proper storyline/fued but the reaction Virgil got for standing up to The Million Dollar Man at Rumble 91 and beating him at Summerslam 91 still amaze me today. He was booked to go over as the brave underdog face all along but the sheer volume of his pops at those two shows were unbelievable and IMO still count as unique reactions.

[Guest JHawk]

Sid being cheered when he beat HBK at Survivor Series 1996, which you can read about here if you've never seen it.

 

Yeah, shameless plug, but I'm still amazed at the reaction for Sid that night.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

I remember cheering sid in that match and being legitimately pissed off when shawn got the belt straight back, i suppose that was my first instance of 'smarkyness'. Always hated the fuck. Never bought him as a world title contender as a mark.

[Guest areacode212]

I attended Survivor Series 1996, and the Sid pop surprised me too, but then again, it's NYC and the crowd was into cheering big badass-looking guys. I was kind of a workrate geek at the time, and this was before I heard about all about that Clique stuff, so I loved Shawn and hated Sid. I was disappointed in my fellow MSG fans (I sat on my hands when he won the title).

[Guest saturnmark4life]

i was always a mark for the big guys, save bret. Crush, diesel, sid, taker. God how i cry when i watch those tapes now.

[Guest kingkamala]

I attended Survivor Series 1996, and the Sid pop surprised me too, but then again, it's NYC and the crowd was into cheering big badass-looking guys. I was kind of a workrate geek at the time, and this was before I heard about all about that Clique stuff, so I loved Shawn and hated Sid. I was disappointed in my fellow MSG fans (I sat on my hands when he won the title).

I cried when Sid won the title *sigh* I was such an HBK mark....and I was only 9 at the time...I swear!

[Guest dreamer420]

when shane-o-mac returned to convince Vince not to appoint Bischoff as raw GM he got a nice pop, and that was only a 5 second appearance, the first since the alliance ended last year.

[Guest RedJed]

Whatever Raw it was, sometime in 99......but HHH was laying a verbal beating on Linda, and all of a sudden out comes Vince and he gets a HUGE pop, this was after a few solid years of major heat on him. Of course it was all planned out to be like this (with him out to save his wife) but still it shocked the shit out of me considering the last time we was on TV before that he was still hated like crazy.