Dear WWE: Please stop insulting me for buying your product

I live with my brother, who is also a professional wrestling fan. We ran into a bit of a roadblock last night with the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view (PPV) and how we would be watching it. He has a subscription to the WWE Network (I let mine run out when I realized I was only using it for PPV shows and he already has one) and normally, we would fire up the PS4 and watch the events through that.

Well, we moved recently and the PS4 was not available to us.

Okay, no problem. His wife has a laptop and we'll just log in on that, hook up the HDMI cable, and stream it through the big screen that way.

Except we couldn't find the HDMI cable. (Related: Moving is the worst.)

My laptop is unavailable, of course, because I needed it to work to cover the event itself.

That left just one option that would ensure I could get my work done, and everyone else could enjoy the show: Order it via traditional PPV through our cable provider. No one was happy to shell out the extra money, especially considering the fact that this was on top of a subscription to the Network we couldn't use, but hey, at least we were getting to watch the show (and in my case, I was getting to do my job in comfort) in a way that ensured everyone in the house could watch.

The show gets to rolling and it isn't long before WWE cuts to ringside so Michael Cole, JBL, and Jerry Lawler can tell everyone who paid for the PPV at full price they're stupid for not just buying the Network, which costs just $9.99.

You can imagine how well that went over here.

Jim Ross was also watching the event and made note of this practice in his blog today:

I watched the event on my iPad which I still find to be a unique experience after watching on PPV TV for so many years. One thing that I wouldn't do if I were WWE is to inadvertently insult those who watched the show on PPV for $54.95 instead of spending the $9.99 to subscribe to the network. I understand that the WWE Network is the future of the company and that it must be successful for the brand to grow but essentially making fun of the decision of some to watch on PPV and not on the network isn't a wise one.

Like J.R., I get it. They've got a Network to sell, and considering how vital it is to the future of the company, they're desperate to gain as many subscribers as possible.

But telling me I'm an idiot for finding a way to purchase your product is a great way to ensure I never bother to purchase your product again. No one enjoys being insulted, but it's an especially strong kick to the gut when you end up having to fork over a $50 thanks to an unfortunate set of circumstances and almost immediately after doing so are told how stupid you are by the company you're forking that money over to.