Twitter reacts to ‘cringey’ crowdless wrestling segment

A WWE wrestling event is going viral after several fans called one of its audience-free segments “cringey” and “embarrassing.”

The segment part of a March 13 edition of “Friday Night SmackDown” that aired entirely without fans, featured John Cena and Bray Wyatt, who goes by “The Fiend” in the ring.

While nearly every major sport is currently suspending its games or carrying on without crowds, this clip seemed to strike fans as being particularly strange.

“Thoughts on this segment to an empty audience,” a Twitter user wrote when sharing a video of the Cena-Wyatt confrontation, which has since been viewed more than 1.5 million times.

In the clip, Wyatt is monologuing and threatening Cena as the two stand close inside the ring — a practice generally common during WWE events.

But this time, without a cheering or booing crowd, some social media users seemed weirded out by the exchange. One user said Wyatt’s speech sounded like “middle schoolers performing their monologue for drama class.”

“Without the crowd there, it’s just a s***** high school play,” another remarked.

“This is some crazy slam poetry,” another joked.

Others were less jovial, questioning why the segment was even airing in its current form.

“This is so embarrassing. How did this get on someone’s TV?,” one Twitter user asked.

Meanwhile, many other wrestling fans were supportive of the segment, saying Wyatt’s speech had been “wasted” on a crowdless episode.

“Yeah, one of the best in-ring talk segments they had in years wasted on an empty arena when it could have been saved for when it’s safe enough to be in a full crowd,” one Twitter user commented.

The “Friday Night SmackDown” episode was meant to serve as a precursor to WWE WrestleMania 36, which was set to take place in front of a live audience in Tampa, Fla., on April 5. That event has now also moved to a no-audience format, but will still be streamed live for TV viewers.

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