WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley has revealed his thoughts on the “What?” crowd chant, popularised by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The “What?” chant has a poor reputation in the world of wrestling, as crowds will use it to derail promos by all but the most beloved and accomplished wrestlers, making it difficult for others to get over.
It was started in 2001 by Austin, beginning life as an in-joke between himself and Christian.
While many recognise the chant as disruptive and annoying, some view it as character-building by providing inexperienced wrestlers with a hurdle to overcome on the mic.
Speaking on his podcast Foley Is Pod, the former Mankind explained his stance on the controversial chant:
“I started to write an article called ‘What’s What With ‘What?’,’ and I was going to say like, yeah, theoretically, a really good promo guy should be able to dig himself out of that hole, but you shouldn’t have to start in a hole, right? You shouldn’t have to start the count at 0-2.
“I just think that is not the best way to remember Steve’s career is by echoing that. I think we could have made something out of it.
“But it’s thrown a lot of people off to the point where I’ll argue when Mark Henry came, did his Raw promo on the heels of that great angle where he laid his shoes down and then he turned on John Cena, that he had a really nice heel run ahead of him that was somewhat diminished by not getting out of the batter’s box on the following the week’s promo because of the ‘What?’ stuff.
“So I was not a fan of it, and I think for everything great that Steve has done, that’s the one I wish people would just let go of.”
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Transcription courtesy of WrestleZone.
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