Examining How Twitter Both Hurts and Enhances Fan Enjoyment of WWE

Watching WWE and flipping through Twitter at the same time is like sprinkling both salt and sawdust on a dish.

Twitter can add layers to the WWE experience, acting as an echo of a fan's excitement. Connections to the Superstars and the industry are available through Twitter as well.

It's not without its flaws, though. Negativity and distraction can sour one on what is unfolding in the ring.

The sports entertainment giant often brags about how much buzz its programming gets on Twitter. It's clear that fans are engaged on social media while the carnival of violence that is WWE plays out. Part of that is due to a dissolution of the barriers that once separated performer from audience.

Positives

A Seat Like No Other

Back when wrestling was done in dingy, smoke-filled arenas, fans watched wrestlers toil in the ring from their seats. Communication between the two groups was limited to cheering, booing and maybe crossing paths at an airport.

Twitter opens a door that didn't exist then. It allows fans to connect with their larger-than-life heroes, to close the gap between them.

United States champion Sheamus has 1.5 million followers on the site.  In early September, he asked fans to post photos of themselves doing his signature pose. They responded in mass.

Fans like Aaron Truss tweeted those pics to Sheamus:

The Celtic Warrior then wore out his finger retweeting them. 

That's an interaction that is unique to the digital age. Sheamus and his fans shared a bond here, creating a virtual community of sorts.

This kind of thing happens daily. It's often a one-way discourse, but there is still more communication with wrestlers today than there ever has been. If you dressed up like "Superstar" Billy Graham back in '77, there wasn't a chance he was seeing your photo and passing it around to all of his fans.

Twitter also adds a layer to the stories that play out on TV. Winners boast online. Losers seethe.

After The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler at Night of Champions, he tweeted out a shot of himself, the WWE Intercontinental Championship reflecting in his sunglasses:

For fans of the self-proclaimed A-lister, that's a fun addition to what happened in the ring. In a way, they get to share his triumph with him.

It would have been great to see what Shawn Michaels tweeted after winning the WWE title at WrestleMania XII or what Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas had to say after becoming tag champs in 1983.

Superstars not in action participate in the Twitter discussion as well. Follow NXT prospect Baron Corbin, and one can hear his thoughts on Night of Champions:

Or follow Lance Storm to read his take on Raw:

A varied collection of real-time opinions from folks in the industry and interaction with Superstars enrich a WWE fan's experience. The fans themselves do that for each other as well.

Amplification of Enjoyment 

There is something special about experiencing something collectively.

Stand-up comedians can seem funnier when you see them perform in person. Watching a band live as part of a mass of fans is simply more fun than hearing it alone. That applies to WWE as well, as anyone who has seen a pay-per-view from the arena rather than on TV can attest.

Unless you're one of those professional fans like "Sign Guy" Rick Achberger, you can't make it to all of WWE's shows. 

Twitter is a worthy substitute. Thanks to that medium, you don't watch Raw alone in the living room but with people all over the world.

Fans can share in their appreciation of Dean Ambrose right along with someone like Robby the Brain:

Or, like Captain Cubby did, they can discuss the emotional pull of seeing Kofi Kingston get love from the crowd:

Chances are many of your friends and family don't care about your thoughts on Kingston or Ambrose. Many of them probably don't even know who those dudes are. 

Being a wrestling fan means often being an outsider. It's an oft-criticized form of entertainment that many people just don't get. On Twitter, you build your own surroundings, and for WWE fans, that means seeking out like-minded people who speak the same language. Try talking heel turns and jobbers to random bar patrons, and the results aren't likely to be good.

With Twitter, though, fans are connected to other fans, regardless of where they live in the world. Before the Internet boomed, wrestling fans in London and Phoenix would have a much tougher time finding ways to chat about an episode of Raw as it was happening.

Negatives

The Infectiousness of Criticism 

Read the comments section anywhere, and you will find vitriol, snark and know-it-alls in surplus.

Maybe it's the freedom of anonymity that leads people to be so negative online. Maybe it's just that people choose to vent via their keyboards when it's harder to do so in real life.

However the Internet hate is cooked up, it exists. Wrestling fans join in on it every day. They seem impossible to please at times.

Perhaps you're really enjoying the Rusev vs. Mark Henry feud. You open up Twitter to type all about it, and then you see folks calling Henry old, Rusev a flop or, in the case of a fan going by Dale4Slammy, calling out their rivalry itself:

"

This rivalry better end soon, it is sooooo boring! #RAW #RusevvsHenry

— #Dale4Slammy (@JoshDWWE) September 25, 2014"

Regardless of how popular and talented a wrestler is, there is a group of people turning up their noses at them.

Slick Vick is not a fan of Seth Rollins:

Ruth apparently doesn't dig The Usos:

A ludicrous opinion is easy to toss out, but read enough negativity, and you begin to absorb some. It can sour you on a newcomer you're on the fence about. It can bring you down about WWE as a whole.

If everyone in the room is shrugging, scoffing and sighing, it's hard not to eventually have that affect you.

There's also a habit of making fun of WWE and its flaws because it's just fun to do so. Propping up a wrestler or a storyline might get you some retweets, but not like aiming a zinger at the product will.

When WWE announced that Randy Orton and John Cena would be facing off in the main event of Monday's Raw, Wrestling Memes were among those who poked fun at the decision.

Have Orton and Cena battled several times in the last 10 years? You bet. It's certainly a choice one can criticize, but sometimes people are looking for things to pick apart. Twitter too often becomes a festival of snide judgment.

When Raw doesn't feature the world champ, WWE Creative Humor can join the chorus in pointing that out:

Everything is a target. That includes the set on Christian's Peep Show segment, courtesy of Kayfabe News: 

WWE deserves the barbs at times. But with Twitter at one's fingertips, it sometimes feels like people are just waiting to tear things down. Besides, it's hard to soak up the spectacle when you're busy crafting witty tweets. 

Eyes Drawn Away

WWE already offers so much to see and hear at once, that it's surprising anyone has any focus left to read and write tweets while watching it.

The company wants its audience to have a two-screen experience, but is that really possible without partially ignoring one of the screens?

One can't help but marvel at a man moonsaulting off the ropes or a hero slipping free from a monster's grip—unless you're busy looking down at your phone.

If you scan Twitter timeline as Dolph Ziggler makes a comeback, there's a chance you'll miss some nuanced bit of showmanship, some slick counter. If you're busy thinking of some snappy comment about a storyline, it's possible you will miss some of the lines the wrestler is delivering.

Twitter is a distraction, even if it's a worthwhile distraction.

Raw sags so much during its three hours that it's hard not to have some supplemental form of entertainment. The show rarely demands our complete focus, so it's understandable that a fan would drift away from the TV and dive into Twitter.

The issue is that when that RKO comes out of nowhere or Zack Ryder rolls up his foe for a career-defining upset, some fans will be busy typing about what happened a few minutes ago.

It's an imperfect medium, and its users have to accept that. Though it may breed negativity and inattentiveness, there are plenty of reasons to keep it open and to tweet away.