Beach Ball Controversy Grows: Father And Son Ejected From ‘Raw,’ Angers WWE Stars, John Cena Addresses Crowd
A hot crowd is always great for a wrestling event and that is what WWE always gets at the Barclays Center, but they may have taken things a little too far this weekend. During the Raw Tag Team Title Match, the fans started tossing around a beach ball which ended up distracting them from the match. On Monday Night Raw, the beach ball was back and it led to even more problems as two people were ejected and it even ended up angering a lot of people.
This isn’t the first time that a beach ball has found its way into wrestling events, but this one may have caused some of the biggest backlash. It didn’t last long during its first appearance at SummerSlam, but last night’s Raw saw it hang around a bit longer and bring about some problems.
On Sunday night, the beach ball ended up meeting its demise at the hands of Cesaro much to the delight and dismay of the crowd. He caught the ball while out in the crowd and end up popping it and ripping it apart.
Cesaro may have been doing it for the fun of it, but he probably had a reason for it.
Professional ball buster #SummerSlam pic.twitter.com/QIVXf6z2XD
— Cesaro (@WWECesaro) August 21, 2017
Sheamus, his tag team partner, joined in on it too.
We can win the Tag Titles back but as for this poor guy it’s off to that big beach in the sky… #RIPBeachBall #GoneTooSoon #SummerSlam pic.twitter.com/ZVjDZmm1tG
— Sheamus (@WWESheamus) August 21, 2017
During Raw, the beach ball came about last in the show and started to really take away from the action in the ring. It made a big splash during the Finn Balor vs. Jason Jordan match which had a lot of fans turning away from the ring and paying more attention to where the beach ball was bounding around.
Many took notice of this fact on social media.
Finn Balor might be popular but NY crowd would rather throw beach ball around & making security chase over watching his match #RAW
— Justin LaBar (@JustinLaBar) August 22, 2017
Next up was the main event which had John Cena teaming with Roman Reigns to take on the team of The Miz and Samoa Joe. This is a tag team match drawn up on the dream board, but the beach ball continued to be a problem. It even started to affect the superstars in the ring and rightfully so.
Crowd gotten so bad w/ beach balls it forces Miz to get on mic. Cena and everyone in ring frustrated. Fans wanting to be the stars #RAW
— Justin LaBar (@JustinLaBar) August 22, 2017
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, by way of Wrestling Inc., there were between seven to ten beach balls at Raw last night. While a number of superstars were bothered by them and they started to become a severe distraction, John Cena wasn’t really against them.
Cena took the mic and encouraged everyone to keep having fun and having some “brilliant play with a beach ball.” He continued on to say he loves seeing the fans having fun and just doing their thing while WWE is in Brooklyn.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYFrYprgh7b/?hl=en&taken-by=johncena
Not everyone had the same mindset as Cena and a video posted by Juan Perea on YouTube even shows a father and son being ejected from Raw by security.
Bleacher Report stated that a number of fans hopped on social media and stated they paid money for their tickets and can do whatever they want at wrestling events. Many of those in the wrestling industry did not feel the same way.
Disrespect at its core. Not just to Finn, to all the talent.
— Brian G. James (@WWERoadDogg) August 22, 2017
I feel for the workers in the ring while the crowd is being completely disrespectful. #Raw
— Paul Roma (@RealPaulRoma) August 22, 2017
THE BEACH BALL LIVES!!!!! #RAW @JohnCena @SamoaJoe @WWERomanReigns @mikethemiz pic.twitter.com/b6WYxpdHL9
— WWE (@WWE) August 22, 2017
Tonight, WWE is going to return to the Barclays Center for yet another night for SmackDown Live, and it will be interesting to see if another beach ball makes it in. After the issues at SummerSlam and especially on Monday Night Raw, it would not be surprising if security is instructed to take them away before fans get into the arena. Only time will tell, but it’s obvious that those in wrestling business aren’t overly fond of them.
[Featured Image by WWE]