15 Of The Greatest Crowd Chants In WWE History
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Oh, the power of a wrestling chant. The audience is everything when it comes to the WWE, as it’s all about how the crowd reacts to a given scenario or superstar. In some rare instances a crowd reaction or chant has actually elevated a superstar into main event territory. Take Daniel Bryan for example; the “Yes!” chants directed towards Bryan turned into a movement of sorts. The love the WWE universe had for Bryan eventually propelled him into the main event of WrestleMania XXX, where he would go onto capture the WWE Championship. Without the support of the crowd, the probability of Bryan being something higher than a mid-level wrestler was extremely unlikely. The crowd powered him to the top.
Chants can also serve a variety of other purposes, whether it's the WWE universe voicing their displeasure or just being absolutely random. The world of wrestling has truly created some of the greatest chants. Here are 15 of the greatest crowd chants in WWE history. Let us know what your favorite chant of all time is.
15) “RANDY SAVAGE”
A couple of weeks ago RAW took place in Nashville, Tennessee. When WrestleMania is right around the corner crowds usually get hotter as the weeks go by. With this being said, the excitement turns into sheer entertainment for those watching at home when a crowd is hot, and it certainly helps the value of the product. This particular crowd tried to start a bit of a controversial chant while Stephanie McMahon was accepting her “Legacy of Excellence” Award. While Stephanie spoke you could hear the crowd slowly build a “Randy Savage” chant. With RAW being live, the chants were not edited. It seemed to startle Stephanie as she began to talk louder trying to overpower the chant.
In case some of you don’t know, according to urban legends, Macho Man was fired by the WWE for apparently sleeping with Stephanie when she was a minor.
14) “You Deserve It”
If you’re a wrestler, I’m not sure you could receive a better chant than this one. Just imagine all your hard work being acknowledged by an arena full of wrestling fans. When looking back at the legacy of Daniel Bryan, this post WrestleMania XXX moment stands alone as one of Bryan’s most memorable career highlights. Just standing in that ring the following night on RAW and being serenaded by the Seattle crowd chanting “You Deserve It”.
The NXT crowds at Full Sail University have carried on this tradition. The audience has used the chant for numerous wrestlers including Bayley, Sasha Banks, Paige and Finn Balor, just to name a few.
13) “HEY BAYLEY”
The NXT crowds have been known to start some of the most creative chants, so it was no surprise to hear yet another one when NXT made its debut in London, England. The crowd was absolutely electric all night, and the audience will go down as one of the best in the history of NXT. During Bayley’s title defense the crowd was on fire following her entrance, and this carried on to the start of the match when the crowd began to sing the lyrics of “Hey Baby” with Bayley’s name. The crowd sang: “Hey, Hey Bayley, I wanna know if you’ll be my girl”. Yet another tremendous NXT moment.
12) “LETS GO CENA, CENA SUCKS”
Give props to Cena, because despite so many terrible chants thrown his way, he’s managed to stay professional and take it with class. The “let’s go Cena, Cena sucks” chant is an absolute classic. Wrestling fans mock John over this because during the chants you can hear women and little children chanting the, “let’s go Cena” while the grown older wrestling fans chant “Cena Sucks”. This chant pretty much sums up John's popularity demographic with the company. Although most of the time, the fans that chant he sucks are really just having fun.
The “John Cena sucks” chant to the beat of his theme song is also a pretty unique chant I must say. I like the guy and found myself joining in on the fun. It’s contagious, I must say.
11) “TNA TNA TNA”
This chant was used by the WWE universe to voice their displeasure with the status of the company. With TNA becoming less and less relevant as the days go by, this chant slowly faded away. TNA went through some good moments (like signing a television deal with Spike TV), and they were gaining some serious momentum at one point, which got wrestling fans very excited. Ultimately though, the hype died down with TNA’s production value not meeting the standards of wrestling fans. Today, the only other promotions name you’ll hear during a WWE telecast is the one of their developmental brand, NXT.
10) “WE ARE AWESOME”
As we discussed earlier in this article, post WrestleMania crowds are electric. Following last year’s WrestleMania, the San Jose crowd once again followed suit. The night was filled with humorous chants including: “WE DON’T LIVE HERE”, “BROCK'S GONNA KILL YOU”, “SAME OLD S**T”, “WORSE THAN CENA” and of course, the infamous “WE ARE AWESOME”. Can’t wait to see what this year’s post WrestleMania crowd will have in store for the RAW telecast.
9) “HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD”
Bray Wyatt has this "it" factor, and there seems to be some type of euphoria around his character, whether it’s during his entrance with the thousands of fireflies in attendance or during his matches. Once again, following a WrestleMania event, the RAW crowd united by chanting “HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS”. A song that Bray sang during some of his promos. It was a serial sight to say the least.
8) “CM PUNK”
The chant is still running wild today. In fact, just this past week on RAW, Punk’s hometown crowd in Chicago yelled “CM PUNK” in unison as Vince McMahon completely paused from his promo. Vince joked around saying “I wonder how long this ones gonna last”. This isn’t the first time Punk’s name was chanted during a live show. Wrestling fans are very split when it comes to Punk, some would welcome him back with open arms while others simply don’t care for the former WWE Champion.
7) “NXT”
There is just something about NXT; from the crowds, to the matches, to the arena, to backstage segments, it simply offers wrestling fans something new and exciting, and it just seems to be growing bigger and bigger. NXT Brooklyn was an indication of how far the developmental brand really has come. It is only just the beginning for this promising developmental brand. Wrestling fans are even starting to prefer the NXT product over the actual WWE product. The “NXT” chant is now being used outside of the promotion and into mainstream WWE arenas. You can expect the chant to only intensify as the years go by. What a job Triple H has done with the brand thus far.
6) “YOU SCREWED BRET”
This infamous chant lasted for over 13 years. Even when the two wrestlers finally buried the hatchet live on the January 4th, 2010 edition of Monday Night Raw, fans still continued to chant. The chant goes down as one of the most popular wrestling chants in pro wrestling history. The legacy of the 1997 “Montreal Screwjob” still lives on almost 20 years later. It's absolutely remarkable to think of the impact that moment had on the history of the WWE.
5) “THIS IS AWESOME”
This chant is music to the ears of pro wrestlers. Who wouldn’t want to hear a “THIS IS AWESOME” chant during one of their matches? The chant is a direct validation from the crowd that that they are being entertained. As a wrestler, there truly must be no better feeling than knowing you are doing a great job and being acknowledged by the crowd for it. It is clear wrestling fans aren’t afraid to voice their displeasure when they are not satisfied, but they are also not afraid to tell the WWE when something is good and to their liking. Just ask Shane McMahon how he felt after hearing those chants following his long awaited return to the ring.
4) “HOLY S**T”
What makes this chant so unique is the fact that it can be used for so many different scenarios. We’ve seen this chant start for moves, announcements and returns. Who can forget one of the biggest “Holy S**T” moments when Lesnar and Big Show broke the ring during Smackdown? It was even used for the unexpected return of The Rock, shocking the WWE universe when he randomly showed up in Brooklyn to confront Rusev during an episode of RAW.
3) “WOOOOOOOO”
This chant went beyond the world of pro wrestling, and escalated into pro sports. It was even used as a goal song for the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes at one point. The chant has gathered huge mainstream success and may be one of the most iconic chants in the history of pro wrestling. What makes it so awesome is the fact that it’s simply one word: “WOOOOOOOO”. The chant is absolutely contagious and can go on for hours. I’ve personally never been to a WWE live event that didn’t include a “WOOO” chant at some point. Even before RAW kicks off, live crowds just start a wave of WOOOO chants for absolutely no reason. Long live the "WOOOOOOOOO".
2) “WHAT!?”
Who would have ever thought that one of the most iconic chants in sports entertainment history came from a voicemail message Stone Cold Steve Austin left for fellow WWE star, Christian. While driving with his ex-wife Debra, Steve recalls being bored, and this prompted him to give Christian a call. Austin ended up leaving a 15 minute message which was littered with the word “WHAT!?” after every sentence. This message ended up motivating Steve to use it during a live telecast and boy, oh boy, did it immediately click with the fans. What made it even more popular was the fact that it annoyed the hell out of Kurt Angle, and this made fans want to chant it even more. The chant got so out of hand that it was used during the National Anthem before a Smackdown show. The chant is still alive and well today, and who knows how long it’ll last for and if it will ever come to an end.
1) “YES!”
The “YES!” chant turned out to be so much more than it should have been. The chant turned into a freedom of speech format for the WWE universe. The chant was not only used to spring Bryan into the main event picture, but is also used as a way for wrestling fans to express their agreement or joy with a certain storyline or matchup. The crowd erupted with a huge YES! chant recently on RAW after Shane declared that he was taking over the company from his father. The sight was absolutely surreal. Like the WOOOO chant, “YES!” has found its way into various pro sports arenas including the NBA, NHL and NFL.
Sources: dailymotion.com, wwe.com, bleacherreport.com
