Fake crowd noises

[The Harlem Heat]

WHY!?!?! I know, hardly anyone on SD draws a reaction but is there any need to put over the top crowd reaction? There are visuals on the crowd, when they are sitting there dead why is there a huge pop when Ezekiel Jackson comes out? It just looks stupid, makes SD almost unwatchable for me.

 

[martymcfly]

I'm genuinely baffled and unsure what you're suggesting as an alternative. Would you rather watch quiet crowds on television?

The WWE execs are not stupid. Even if a wrestler generates no live crowd reaction, they're not going to make it obvious on television, because they want the guy to eventually succeed and make them money.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

It's not like SD's canned noises are that bad. It's not like what other companies do/have done. They do them decently enough. What I notice are more canned "ooos" and "aaahh" for DBs impact moves.

 

[Da Solo]

I get you, brah. The fake reactions annoy me. Especially now that they have RAW "Supershows" where a SD! superstar might show up and we see the real reaction they would get. In some cases, it's cool. Like if someone hits an impact move, I don't mind a machine generated crowd applause, but when Heath Slater's entrance, who hasn't drawn heat since Nexus split, gets the same heat as Cody Rhodes on my TV, it's just unrealistic to the point of annoyance.

 

[mrpops]

I cant stand that stupid fake "cheering" sound smackdown uses every 2 seconds. Its the same sound....everytime....and theyve used it for the past 8+ years. Its so obvious its fake because you NEVER hear that sound on RAW...ever. LOL.

Im pretty sure the smackdown video games uses the same sounds lol. It really does hurt smackdown. I would much rather the crowd be dead silent than the fake cheering.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Canned heat/pops isn't anything new. WCW was going down that route back in the early 90s and it's something just about every wrestling company that's financially able employs. Some guys on the SD! roster don't genuinely get much of a response but the piped cheers or boos can help with the overall image of a wrestler as long as they don't go overboard with them. Even if a wrestler comes out that you're not a fan of and he gets a decent response, it can affect how you might look at that wrestler even to a slight degree and usually in a positive light. I've watched ROH a couple of times since their show begain airing in syndication and there's usually little ot no reaction in 95% of the matches they've shown. It's so bad at times that I've been able to clearly hear the wrestlers talking to one another and giving each other cues for certain spots during their match.

If you want to see bad examples of canned crowd responses, watch Impact Wrestling. They're in such a small & confined area and with so little people that the crowd response in some cases could only be generated by a crowd 2 or 3 times larger than would fit in the Impact Zone. It becomes even more obvious during promos in which the cameras often pan out to get a shot of the crowd and you can clearly see the majority of fans in attendance sitting quietly and not making much of any noise at all despite a wrestler getting a huge pop or drawing good heat. If TNA could work on their timing and when they decide to employ the canned response and how often, it'd come across a lot better.

 

[Why Always Me]

It comes across bad and sounds fake, it says to me what it is being done so that they can cover up the fact that the person in question is not getting a reaction which is wrong, instead the WWE should aaddress the issue and make sure that in future a proper crowd reaction is generated.

 

[Rayne]

My brain, my brain, my fucking brain.

WHY!?!?! I know, hardly anyone on SD draws a reaction but is there any need to put over the top crowd reaction? There are visuals on the crowd, when they are sitting there dead why is there a huge pop when Ezekiel Jackson comes out? It just looks stupid, makes SD almost unwatchable for me.

Because if you show a dead crowd, people believe a dead crowd. So you fake it. More often than not, it works; it's like canned laughter in every sitcom in production. It makes stupid people believe that bad jokes are funny. People only notice it when the bullshit levels get extreme; do you notice it when Zack Ryder walks into an arena that isn't feeling him?

It comes across bad and sounds fake, it says to me what it is being done so that they can cover up the fact that the person in question is not getting a reaction which is wrong, instead the WWE should aaddress the issue and make sure that in future a proper crowd reaction is generated.

The only time people fanatically cheer for everything they have put in front of them is when they are at the point of a gun being told to cheer. A crowd isn't going to cheer for everyone unless you can actually force them to cheer, because some performers are just not going to be as exciting as others. You're asking the WWE to have a smash hit with every single wrestler they have. Prove to them that you can do that, and you'll be able to tell the WWE to screw off as you pursue a career speaking at psychology conferences.

VKM being VKM at his finest haha

When in doubt, blame Vince McMahon. For something promoters have been doing since long before everyone on this board was born, including my old ass.


Summation: Canned heat is nothing new. It is a very old ploy which has been around about as long as cinema, because people can be suggestively convinced of something by the opinions- real or manufactured- that surround them.

 

[Liberty Prime]

Summation: Canned heat is nothing new. It is a very old ploy which has been around about as long as cinema, because people can be suggestively convinced of something by the opinions- real or manufactured- that surround them.

Nailed it.

While I agree with the OP, that the SD crowd has a generic and unbelievable response. Does anyone actually give a fuck when Alicia Fox or Jinder Mahal's music hits? Fuck no. But imagine how awful both the product and the talent would look if it was dead silence and some crap song playing as well.

While I hate "Canned Heat" (as I saw it referred too) I understand the need for it.. and lets face it, you're going to watch SD whether its there or not.

 

[PrideWS]

There is a definite and obvious purpose, but it still is annoying to have heard the SAME KIND of crowd effect for years. It would make more sense to record different crowd noises and use them spiced throughout the show instead of one sound the entire time.

 

[Spunky]

I love it within reason. There's nothing I hate more than a completely dead crowd when i'm watching on t.v, I can't explain why but hearing the crowd getting into a match helps me get into it as well. In turn a dead crowd puts me of the match even if it's actually a well put together match.

Too much canned noise is also a bad thing as the OP stated.

 

[d3thRoW]

Honestly, sometimes the peeps at live shows are just "too cool" to make a whole lotta noise even for wrestlers they like. I don't like it, but i do understand why it's done...no different than moving the seating around and only filming from one side. They really should be less obvious about it, though...couldn't be too hard with a taped show

 

[FlairFan2003]

I remember my first experience with fake crowd noise - Erie PA Civic Center, Nov 1992 - There were no weekly live TV shows then, WWE Monday Show was a collection of matches taped at arena shows.

Midway through the night an unknown ring announcer comes out and asks the crowd "Tell Me What You Think Of Shawn Michaels" and everyone boos. He asks "tell me what you think of Randy Macho Man Savage" and of course we all cheer. He asks again and instructs us to "really let him know" - we cheer louder. Then he does the same routine for Ric Flair, Curt Henning, and Brett Hart, maybe someone else.

I also noticed on this card that Michaels wrestled four times!!! Three were against jobbers and mid carders, the last time was against British Bulldog, who was a big rival of his at the time. I couldnt understand why the brought Henning on the show since he wasnt wrestling, he does a run in at the end of a Tatanka-Flair match when Flair is beating down Tatanka, but why bring a guy to a house show when he's not even wrestling ?

Afterwards I learned that WWE, they had done this long before 1992, used the audience reactions to the "Tell me what you think of..." routine for fake crowd noise when showing matches on TV. Michaels was getting a big push at the time and they wanted him appearing on multiple shows, however transporting production crews to multiple house shows was expensive so they just taped him wrestling four matches and used them all on different shows. Henning was in a feud with Flair that was about to come to a head at Survivor Series. They wanted to show Flair's match on Monday Night along with Henning's save to further their rivalry.

fake noise is as old as televised wrestling, probably goes back at least to the 70's. I know WCW would use it sometimes in the early 90's when newer and un known wrestlers appeared so it would seem someone cared. I vividly remember catching one of Michaels jobber matches from that Erie show, maybe a month later on TV. The crowd noise was ecstatic, both for his entrance and for the match itself. Let me tell you, no one at the Civic Center was ecstatic for HBK when he came out for that match, it was the third time in probably 7 or 8 matches he had wrestled and his opponent was a nobody. However, Im sure WWE didnt want to show a bored crowd yawing through yet another "Sexy Boy" entrance while spotlighting their brash new Intercontinental Champion.

I titally get the fake noise, although its dumb to show shots of a listless crowd while the sounds of mass chaos are being blasted over the airwaves. It does bring back fond memories of that road trip to Erie though!

 

[DanTheMan3:16]

When Smackdown came to my town of Des Moines IA, it was the show where Christian turned heel and smacked Orton with the belt. The crowd was pro Christian and there was little boos given but when it was shown on tv. There were canned boos and Christian sucks chants when there was none.

 

[loucar86]

i hate the fake fan noise but i know why it is done on SD. ive noticed that when they use it for a backstage segment they always have what sounds like a little girls screaming at one point. i dont why but i have always picked up on it.

also at the live events themselevs its annoying. i went to this past survivor series and the place was very anti-cena which came across on the TV. but at live events (and those who have been to them can agree) when a big chant starts you can hear it starting to grow. at the ppv first off i would say that 85% of the ppl there were 18+ b/c of the prices and secondly place was like 95% anti-cena. but all of a sudden out of no where here comes a lets go cena chat from the kids.... who arnt in attendence and didnt cheer for him during the entrance. the chant didnt build up like every other chat that night it just started like someone pressed the play button.