How will Austin be treated by fans

[Guest Steve J. Rogers]

It just hit me. Granted marks will still pop for the glass breaking, the catch phrases, the "WHAT!?"s, ect but considering his domestic dispute was all over the national media I wonder how vocal certain smarks will be with chants such as "BEAT-YOUR-WIFE-AUS-TIN!" and such. Will that be enough to keep his face heat?

 

Granted in certain parts what Austin did will probably be viewed as "Doing the right thing" or "Keeping his woman in line" by the marks in the arena (not trying to sterotype but thats the way certain people think, hell you may find that kind of thinking even in the most "liberalized" markets such as LA and NY) and that will keep his face heat in tact (hell even walking out on the company is very much allinged with the "Take this job and shove it" mentality of that sterotypical southerners that I'm referring to) and the promos last night from Texas seem to foster the notion that the WWE intends to keep that sterotype as being "normal" for a face Austin (or any face Texan like Undertaker, Bradshaw, ect)

 

Maybe I'm making too much of it, but I have heard that chant, or variations of a wife-beater chants at sporting events where a visting player had been at the very least accused of domestic violence (best recent example of course is Boston fans taunting Jason Kidd and his wife during the NBA Eastern Confrence finals over their domestic problems a few years ago)

 

Steve

[Guest AndrewTS]

They've killed any interest with the baiting-and-switching and the Desperado-ish Search for Steve Austin. By the time Austin really comes, his pop will be diminished compared to what it could have been if they had it as a surprise or had promised and then delivered.

 

Austin won't show up until at least No Way Out, and probably not even then.

 

And really now, why does this whole post have to focus on the wife-beating? How many marks even know about that crap?

[Guest Violent Mahatma]

I don't think we'll hear anything like that, simply because I don't think most really give a damn about it, unfortunately. Everyone will be so overjoyed by the time Austin comes back that no dissenting voice will be heard for quite a long time, unless he sucks in the ring for having been gone for the better part of a year, or it's actually brought up for a storyline or something (I wouldn't be surprised to see that, given WWE's tastelessness as of late).

[Guest Brian]

National media attention?