Do Guys Still know How To Work A Crowd?

[STFU Donnie]

I picked up Ole Anderson's book the other week and found this interesting passage regarding his time at The Power Plant:

"All the prospective wannabees were standing around, listening. I called Erik Watts into the ring and we locked up. I don't remember the sequence, but we wound up against the ropes. I backed up, looked at Erik and said, 'Dammit Erik. I told you before. Don't do that again, all right? We're trying to show these guys how to make it look real.'

We went back to the center of the ring and locked up. We tugged around and I got him against the ropes again. I raised my voice and said, 'Jesus, Erik! Are you f***ing deaf or what? Can't you understand what I'm trying to tell you?' He gave me a strange, somewhat irritated look, so I slapped him on the face. 'Dammit get you act together or I'll kick your ass for real.'

We began again. Before too long, I hit him with a knee. I got him on the ground, grabbed him by the hair, and started ripping his face apart. The whole time, I was swearing at him. 'You stupid son of a bitch! How many times do I have to tell you?' Then I stopped right in the middle of my tirade and looked over at the kids outside the ring. Their eyes were as big as saucers. Their mouths were hanging open. I looked over at them and said, 'Well, did you buy it?'

Erik started laughing as he stood up. As understanding sank in, every one of those guys let out a long breath. 'Do you see?' I asked, as the tension slowly left the room. My whole point was, how many guys did I convince that it was a shoot when I was working with Erik?

The answer?

All of them"


This got me thinking about how I can watch stuff from the 80's and 90's (although this is when the change began) and see nothing but guys who understood that wrestling at it's very core was a simulated fight...yet when I watch today, all the wrestlers just seem to be doing a choreographed exhibition and few are those who can work the crowd into suspending their disbelief.

Wrestling is no different than any other performance art, and in the ring it just seems like guys today don't understand the nuance of the performance that guys of yesteryear understood intrinsically. Wrestling isn't about a move set or high spots. It's about anger, rage, fear, jealousy, and any other emotion you can think of.

So am I just an old 34 year old, yelling at the kids to stay off my lawn, while muttering to myself that "back in the day, guys knew how to wrestle"...or do you think the art of working and manipulating a crowd is dead and what we are left with is more of an sterilized athletic exhibition as opposed to the dramatic simulated fight of days past?

 

[jrush1978]

Great post. We're the exact same age so I kind of know where you're coming from. I agree that alot don't. Im not willing to say "none do". Perfect example I saw in ROH recently. R.D. Evans was speaking to the crowd. He made some comment about them being quiet so they could hear him speak. Of course they all boo-ed. That was the point of him saying it, some good cheap heat. But he didnt capitalize. He didnt act annoyed that they were being loud. He didnt scream for them to quiet down (which would have caused a louder reaction most likely). He dropped the microphone and calmly stood there with no expression on his face until the boo's died off and then he just went on talking. Some will say that doesnt mean much because its just a low level guy in ROH but I do think its a prime example of performers today not knowing how to work the crowd as well as their predecessors.

 

[STFU Donnie]

@ jrush1978

Once I reread my post, I realized I came off just a little too harsh. You're absolutely right that there are still guys who know how to do it, they're just few and far between.

Just one more thing I want to add from Ole's book (although he does have some other interesting stuff that raises some good questions for discussion...at least I think so...which I'll post when I get the chance) that really speaks to what I'm talking about.

He talks about how he approached tag team wrestling. Before the match, Ole would tell the babyface that they were going to work him over really good and when he said "go" it was a shoot and that it meant he was supposed to fight like hell to get to his corner to make the tag. Ole would cut him off and wait for the right time moment to let the babyface make the hot tag and the crowd would buy into the drama that much more and pop that much louder once he made the tag. You can see evidence of this in his later matches with Arn vs the R&R Express. Ricky Morton was always great, but seeing him legitimately fighting to make that tag really added to the drama.

I just don't think guys today are able to create that same type of drama. And they don't need to "shoot" to get it, rather they just need to really commit to the psychology behind the idea. It's like I was saying about the small nuances like the guys trying to imagine what they're doing in the ring is real and their characters are real, which emotionally will translate to the audience. It's basic method acting.

 

[asiatic7]

This is an interesting post. The thing about this generation of wrestlers first: Is that they are to be referred to as Superstars (what?). Second: Most of them are marks and fanboys themselves (the Codys, the Kofis, the Brodus Clays, Ryders etc.) They are more fan than they are wrestler and some are content with doing just enough to stay on the roster. I don't blame them. The agent that work with them are handcuffed and limited to what they work with. And there are some great minds for the biz behind the scenes, Steamboat, DiBiase, Dusty, Arn, Hayes, but the business itself has been watered down too much. All these young guys think highspots every thirty seconds is what wins the crowds appreciation.

Years ago, before a guy made it to WWE, he made his rounds on the international scene and learned the psycology of the the sport of wrestling. They learned how to work different crowds and how to sell certain moves using emotion. Eddie Guererro is the best example of this.

Nowadays, a guy shows up to the doors of FCW with a six pack and they try to rush them to stardom. They don't learn anything despite having some of the greatest minds in wrestling teaching them. You can't teach expeience.

Working a crowd is magic, but it doesn't make a difference now because in WWE, everything offends everyone and they have to make shareholders and sponsors happy...no headshots with chairs, no blood... those kind of things offend people now.