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Part of that is because going to wrestling shows has become an "event" for people to say they went toin the same way they can say they went to a concert or a live sporting event. It's less populated by people who truly "give a shit" and even more watered down by larger venues.
I'm not saying WWE should go back to running shows at VFWs or somesuch, I'm saying look at some of the earlier RAW shows- or rather where they were run, and then look at the massive arenas they fill up now that would have only been run during PPVs. A vast majority of the people on that opening wide crane shot of RAW or SD aren't "into" wrestling as much as they're on a social outing. As such, they really don't care about the show at all, thus, all the screaming girl cheers at "Voices" even if Orton is about to go punt a newborn baby into the crowd, or everyone chants "WE THE PEOPLE!" because its something to chant instead of booing the heels proper like.
Its one of the reasons why the ECW fans got the rep they got: the small venues were jam packed with people who cared. You got "you fucked up" for botches, you got the "oooohhh!" for huge shots/big moves in a match. You got standng o's for a technical display between two people who could go. You got the "holy shit" moments. You'd get massive, roof blowing pops for faces and heels getting boo'd out of the building and pelted with garbage. The crowd was into what they were watching. They didn't just go to an ECW show to say they were there and it was the cool thing to do. And with the few exceptions like Chicago, Philly, or damn near anywhere in Canada they run a show, you barely get that anymore.
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