Drake Maverick does most of his WWE work on the microphone as the General Manager of 205 Live and now manager of the Authors of Pain. But prior to joining WWE, he made a name for himself as Rockstar Spud on the Independent circuit and in TNA.
Appearing on Edge & Christian's Pod of Awesomeness, the three discussed the heel-face dynamic and how they want the crowd to invest in the character, not the promotion.
"When I hear, 'This is awesome,' I'm like, 'Ah, you like both of us, but you don't love one and want him to win and you don't hate one and want him to lose.' It's like, 'Thank you for this great exhibition.' I miss 'love' and 'hate.' Love and hate is where the money is," said Maverick.
Edge agreed with the sentiment, following up by saying, "To me, when an audience chants a promotions name, I'm like, 'Alright, I haven't done my job.' They should be chanting my name or they should be chanting whoever the babyface's name is. If you're not chanting (for the babyface), I don't want you chanting 'ECW' or 'TNA' or 'NXT.' I want them chanting 'Gargano.' That's when you're over. Because now it's not about the company, it's about the character."
Finally, Christian believes the audience has been conditioned to chant for moments, but that doesn't mean the people involved are making an impact.
"Fans like to participate in the shows, but they are conditioned to chant when something big happens like a car crash. When those big things happen, performers get disillusioned and think, 'Oh, they're making noise, it means I'm over.' It doesn't necessarily mean that. Unless they're chanting your name, there's really not an emotional connection to the character."
Maverick was named General Manager of 205 Live this past January after signing a deal with WWE in October 2017.
