Summary
- Cena anticipates facing the “greatest crowd in WWE” during his farewell tour in Lyon, France.
- Cena mentions Toronto, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York City, and Boston as cities with memorable crowd reactions in the past.
- Examples of diverse crowd reactions: AJ Styles’ debut excitement, Cena’s disliked chants, and Triple H’s triumphant return at Madison Square Garden.
Every WWE Superstar knows that it’s the fans who are one of the big reasons they get over in the business. Either love or hate, it doesn’t matter, as long as the crowd feels something. John Cena is someone who knows that too well, and now he’s looking forward to meeting the “greatest crowd in WWE.”
Who Is This Greatest Crowd?
While he was promoting the new season of DC’s Peacemaker on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Cena brought up his WWE career. The former Undisputed WWE Champion brought up how he’s never been in a WWE ring in Lyon, France, which his contemporaries call the “greatest crowd.” This past May, WWE held Backlash in Lyon. He said:
“I’ve done a ton of stuff in my career, I’ve been in front of some crazy crowds, but I’ve never been in front of the crowd that our current roster calls “the Greatest crowd in WWE history” in Lyon, France. All the stuff I’ve ever done in my career, I’ve never heard the so-called ‘greatest crowd in WWE history’, and it’s supposedly in Lyon.”
Cena will get a chance to check out the crowd. His WWE farewell tour includes an appearance on the August 29 episode of Friday Night SmackDown at the LDLC Arena in Lyon, France. It’s two days before Sunday’s Clash in Paris. As noted, Cena is set to face Logan Paul at the premium live event.
Looking Back At Three of The Biggest Crowd Reactions
So what other crowds come to mind when thinking of the best? Toronto, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York City, and Boston come to mind. Let’s take a look at some of the loudest crowd reactions in modern WWE history.
AJ Styles’ WWE debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble will go down in history not only because it was shocking that the Phenomenal One was in WWE, but the excitement and awe of the Orlando, Florida crowd cemented it as an unforgettable moment in WWE history.
Back to John Cena, now this is where things show that the crowd can be very vocal, and it’s not always cheering. One moment showed that the days of ECW weren’t over. It was at the second ECW One Night Stand in 2006 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. In the main event, Cena defended the WWE Championship against ECW Original Rob Van Dam, and the crowd was not on his side. One infamous fan sign was “If Cena Wins We Riot,” while insulting chants included “F—K you Cena,” and “You can’t wrestle.” The crowd had also chanted “Thank you, Edge,” when Edge interrupted the match and speared Cena through the table. The match ended in the crowd’s favor with RVD becoming the new champion.
Looking at the third crowd reaction, we need to travel back to 2002 at Madison Square Garden. For eight months, Triple H had been out of action due to a quad injury, and the Game made his triumphant return during the January 7, 2002, episode of RAW. The fans went absolutely wild, especially when he gave Kurt Angle a pedigree for interrupting his promo.
