--- description: Wrestling fans were seething after the WWE’s annual Royal Rumble event came to what appears to be an unsatisfactory end on Sunday night. title: Wrestling Fans Lash Out With ‘#CancelWWENetwork’ image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01dc0021090b223f/69877bcc2dce011c839dd2b5/ap595406143626.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Wrestling Fans Lash Out With ‘#CancelWWENetwork’ by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 26, 2015 9:02 AM CUT  John Cena, top, and Bray Wyatt compete during Wrestlemania XXX at the Mercedes-Benz Super Dome in New Orleans on April 6, 2014 John Cena, top, and Bray Wyatt compete during Wrestlemania XXX at the Mercedes-Benz Super Dome in New Orleans on April 6, 2014Jonathan Bachman — AP by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 26, 2015 9:02 AM CUT Wrestling fans were seething after the World Wrestling Entertainment’s annual Royal Rumble event came to what appears to be an unsatisfactory end in Philadelphia on Sunday night. After Roman Reigns emerged victorious for the evening’s highly anticipated battle royal finale, fans sounded off in mass on social media outlets with the hashtag: “#CancelWWENetwork” that was trending worldwide by the night’s end. According to wrestling [blogs](http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2015/0126/588887/fans-crash-wwe-network-cancellation-page/ "undefined"), spectators at the event were chanting for refunds as rumors swirled that the WWE Network cancellation page had crashed as fans bombarded the site. Sunday night’s fiasco was the latest in a long line of setbacks for the WWE since the company launched a subscription-based digital network last year that has largely failed to win over its own base. The network first hit the airwaves in early 2014, but appears to have all but backfired as disappointing subscription numbers sent stock prices [tumbling](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/10/30/wwe-network-is-still-struggling-to-hit-1-million-subscribers-nets-a-5-9-million-loss/ "undefined") and lead to large-scale [layoffs](http://nypost.com/2014/07/31/wwe-off-the-mat-as-new-pricing-plan-layoffs-lift-shares/ "undefined") at the Connecticut-based company. _Read next:_ [_WWE Is Taking a Beating—And Not the Fake for TV Kind of Beating_](http://time.com/102777/wwe-stock/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3682093/cancel-wwe-network-royal-rumble/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3682093/cancel-wwe-network-royal-rumble/"},"headline":"Wrestling Fans Lash Out With ‘#CancelWWENetwork’","datePublished":"2015-01-26T09:02:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:51:55.391Z","description":"The response to Sunday’s Royal Rumble was anything but scripted","url":"https://time.com/3682093/cancel-wwe-network-royal-rumble/","keywords":["WWE","Television","Ratings"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01dc0021090b223f/69877bcc2dce011c839dd2b5/ap595406143626.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01dc0021090b223f/69877bcc2dce011c839dd2b5/ap595406143626.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Cena, Bray Wyatt","caption":"John Cena, Bray Wyatt","creditText":"Jonathan Bachman — AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3682093/cancel-wwe-network-royal-rumble/","name":"Wrestling Fans Lash Out With ‘#CancelWWENetwork’"}}]}] ```