WHAT?!

What?! What?! What?!

If you’re already confused, you probably don’t watch a lot of professional wrestling; specifically World Wrestling Entertainment.  And if you know what I’m talking about, you’re either laughing already, or really very annoyed.  What?!

The ‘What?!’ chant in the WWE is perhaps the most stupid, but it is also one of the most funny. (I would now argue that the ‘This Is Awesome’ chant is more stupid as it is shouted so often to have lost all of its meaning. ‘What?!’ never had meaning to begin with).

And that’s where the story starts.  Stone Cold Steve Austin, along with The Rock, the most revered member of the WWE roster during the Attitude Era at the turn of the century, invented the ‘What?!’ chant almost by accident.  Had Austin known that nearly twenty years later it would still be a thing, I wonder if he would have left it as a private joke.

Stone Cold tells the story that he started ‘What?!’ on a phone message to fellow wrestler Christian.  The former tag team champion thought the message was hilarious, and Stone Cold was inspired to bring it to the ring during the Invasion angle in 2001.

The ‘What?!’ phenomenon did not start as a chant.  Stone Cold’s character was becoming slightly unhinged during 2001, and he started saying What? to repeat his points.  It didn’t take long before the crowd filled the gaps in Austin’s promos with the chant.  The problem was, the chant began to fill the gaps in everyone else’s promos.

It still does.  R-Truth famously gave up during a promo when he taunted the crowd with “Don’t you be what-ing me!” Only to be hit with a barrage of WHAT?! from the audience.  Truth responded with “Okay – you be what-ing me.”

Some wrestlers hate it.  Most ignore it.  What is amazing is a simple throwaway phone message from a bored champion on the road has become perhaps the most known catchphrase in the history of professional wrestling.  And that’s the bottom line…WHAT?!

Read more about Stone Cold Steve Austin here