Santino Marella is calling out a pattern he has seen in wrestling fans for years, pointing out how many fans immediately turn on wrestlers once they’re backed by WWE.
While speaking to Amir Jordan, Marella reflected on his own WWE babyface turn and explained how the audience played a major role in changing his character. According to Santino, fans helped turn him from a bad guy into a good guy because of his comedy, backstage skits, and years of entertaining segments.
“The audience was involved in turning me babyface. So, after I turned into a bad guy, I was a bad guy for a few years and then because of the comedy and because of all the skits and pretapes and all the stuff over the years, the audience actually turned me back into a good guy, and WWE did listen.”
Marella said that kind of shift does not happen overnight. He explained that wrestlers can get stuck in an awkward middle ground where fans cheer them, even though they are still officially supposed to be villains.
“But it’s not immediate and it’s not overnight. There was a lot of times when you’re an in-betweener and you’re getting over, the audience likes you, but technically you’re still a bad guy and you’re wrestling a babyface and it’s not what you want with regards to audience reaction. They shouldn’t be cheering for the bad guy. They shouldn’t be happy when the good guy loses.”
Santino said things become much easier once the writing team officially changes that wrestler’s role, because everyone finally knows how the crowd is supposed to react, since it’s known fans would cheer them.
“Once you officially change via the writing team and you become a good guy, then it makes everything so much better because you know they’re going to be cheering.”
But then Santino got to the part that really says a lot about modern wrestling audiences. He said fans often support someone when they are not supposed to, but once the company actually listens and pushes that wrestler, those same people can suddenly turn away.
“But the WWE audience, or wrestling audience in general, is funny. Sometimes they like somebody and they’re not supposed to like them, but as soon as they turn them, ‘I don’t like him anymore,’ because now the man is behind them and the system is behind them.”
Marella said some fans want to back the underground act, not the company-approved star. Once WWE starts pushing that wrestler, the magic can fade for those fans: “So, ‘I want to only be an underground guy. I want to go for the underdog, the guys that the company’s not pushing.’ And once you push them, you lose that romantic side of it, you know?”
Santino’s comments point to a familiar wrestling problem: fans often campaign for a wrestler to get pushed, but once that push finally happens, the reaction can change fast. For Marella, the underdog appeal is powerful, but it can also be fragile once the machine gets behind someone.
Do you agree with Santino Marella that wrestling fans sometimes turn on stars once WWE starts pushing them? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.
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