Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: wrestling, wwe
WWE Wouldn't Let Performance Center Crew Eat with Main Roster Stars
Orange County Florida Mayor Jerry Demmings once described WWE as a "small family" of "wrasslers," but in every family, there must be the black sheep. The sheep in question, it seems, are the performance center trainees and NXT wrestlers who have been used as the crowd on recent episodes of WWE programming. The wrestlers were made to stand through two ten-hour taping sessions last week as WWE recorded shows to air on television, and the results were clear for many watching last week's shows. Unlike AEW's use of wrestlers in the crowd, WWE's crowd felt disinterested and inorganic, politely clapping for babyface and mildly booing for heels. Though, admittedly, last night's episode of Monday Night Raw felt a little more lively.
Well, as it turns out, there may be a reason for that. Wrestling Inc. reports according to backstage sources that a disembodied voice over a PA system scolded the wrestlers to be more lively after a lackluster cheering and booing performance, resulting in the more upbeat tone on this week's episode of WWE Raw. But that's not nearly the most hilarious part of Wrestling Inc's report.
Apparently, the Performance Center crowd were forbidden from eating at catering with the main roster wrestlers. Instead, they were reportedly made to bring bagged lunches and eat them outside in a tent. Now, one might argue that the reason was to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but that explanation goes out the window when last week's episode of Raw ended with a massive pull-apart that saw the referee call the wrestlers in from the crowd to break up a fight (see video above). So clearly, safety concerns had nothing to do with it. WWE just didn't want to let the Performance Center crowd to dine with their stars.
Well, that is, if the report is to be believed. These kinds of rumors should be taken with a grain of salt, but we have to admit, we really want this one to be true, because if so, it would be one of the WWE-iest things ever.