PWP’s Zak Fellows talks about what the true meaning of “go away” heat is.
You know despite the negative that spawns from certain subject matters it can, at least, be apparent that subjects spawn some form of opinion from the majority of wrestling fans. We experienced an insurgence of this fact on the Road to WrestleMania in the wake of Roman Reigns’ build up where, like or hate, fans had an opinion on him. And ultimately that is what all wrestling promoters should want in any and everything that they hope to achieve because people’s eyes will be on the subject matter and by extension the promotion.
I bring this up because in light of her recent happenings for lack of a better term, Eva Marie will be challenging NXT Women’s Champion Bayley in the near future in a move that has been met with a response. Eva Marie is kind of a sore subject for the more devoted wrestling fans at time of writing: Is she being shoved down our throats? Is she too dangerous for her own good? Are we not giving her a chance when we are prepared to bend over backwards for other wrestlers? I don’t know you tell me (Psst… comment section).
Something that has become heavily apparent, especially if you’ve visited the Pro Wrestling Powerhouse Facebook page (which you should totally do) is that the topic of discussion when it comes to Eva Marie is what heat is. Fellow PWP Nation writer Matthew Hollie recently wrote an article in relation to this fact, but for now let’s discuss another wrestling term that comes up quite often in relation to the red headed rookie: “Go Away” heat.
You may have heard this before: The general idea is that an audience’s negative reaction is not as a form of genuine hatred or playing along but rather that they bare such animosity for a wrestler that they just don’t want to see them. I’ve always found the term somewhat distorted in its definition as heat is integral to the success and investment in any wrestling product. So with that said I present a question:
Does “Go Away” heat actually exist?
Before we understand what the term means we should at least remember the importance of heat: Audience reactions as we know are a must: It helps promotions understand what does and doesn’t work in terms of the vocal majority and allows them to re-adjust their talent accordingly to match what that majority demands. Babyface and heel turns, title changes, who to push and who not to push is all decided by fan reactions.
Heat is depicted as reactions almost exclusive to heels/villains. The villain in most narrative drives the conflict and as such the audience needs to care about the villain and seeing them be defeated and as such heat and, by extension, reactions give the villain audience investment to work with to further their characters and storylines. A bad heel is shown as someone the audience does not care for and is not reacting to. And that is where the whole distortion about what Go Away Heat originates from in my opinion.
Go Away Heat, by its definition and intent, is supposed to communicate to a promoter that the audience cares not for someone but in reality reacting to them in what popular belief of Go Away Heat entails gives what a heel needs to sustain themselves. In short: Chanting ‘Please Retire’ at the Big Show is NOT Go Away Heat…because people are still reacting to him and giving him something to work with to further his own heel heat… hence shouting ‘Make Me!’ in response.
The distortion of what “Go Away” heat means of course stems from the generalization of what a reaction actually means. To put it simply: We can shout ‘Yay!’ Or ‘Boo!’ without anybody really knowing WHY you are reacting to a wrestler in a certain way. In a heel’s case this is normally split into two categories: Hate and Love to Hate which I’m sure you all know of. You see, some wrestling fans try to defend hatred of certain heels in wrestling with the sentence “But you’re supposed to hate him” which, to me, perfectly stresses the issue of the action over the reason.
To use a more personal example from the opinion of this writer: I don’t hate Seth Rollins in the same way that I hate CM Punk. I hate CM Punk because I find him overrated, boring compared to his opponents as well as having some of the most baffling logic I’ve ever seen and that’s why I used to boo him or in some cases NOT react to him at all. BUT… I love to hate Seth Rollins: I find him to be a good heel in the conniving little weasel way and I’m booing because I’m playing along.
So what is TRUE “Go Away” heat in my opinion? Well the worst thing that an audience can do in terms of reacting is to not react at all. As it signals to the promotion that they do not care about what is being presented to them and thus gives a wrestler nothing to work with. If an audience is not reacting at all, not on their feet and not having any signs held up in relation to what is going on than it pretty much acts as a death nail to a wrestler’s current placement.
Naturally we all have our own opinion on what Go Away heat, and all wrestling jargon, means as is the nature of a divided opinion of a fan base but in most cases the promoter will hear and understand what they need to. Hate to be stereotypical but if you think booing Eva Marie is going to convey a message that WWE will interpret in your way you’re getting your hopes up. And since you are all no doubt wondering: No I don’t have a problem with Eva Marie, just because she’s challenging doesn’t mean she’s winning, if Bayley is so great she will help Marie in that regard and some take longer than others to reach a status above bad or average… *cough* Mark Henry *cough*.
[Zak Fellows isn’t sick don’t worry]
Fair is fair guys so deal with it.