Sound and storytelling in wrestling

[AnvilForever]

I've been replaying Wrestlemania XXVIII in my head over and over in the past 24 hours, and there is one aspect of it that I think hasn't been discussed enough yet. The SOUND.

Last night's matches really made me realize how important sound is to telling a great story in the ring. Look at the HIAC match. Aside from J.R. providing a great call as usual, the microphones in the ring picked up a lot of dialogue between HBK, HHH, and the Undertaker, and it added so much to the match. You didn't just see HBK desperately try to stop Hunter from his attempt to break Taker's spine with a chair. You could also hear his pleas.

"You know he is not going to quit, Hunter."
"Shawn, if you don't end it, I will!"
"Undertaker, please..."
"Don't stop the match, Shawn."

So many sound bites surrounded this match and added to the drama, and that wasn't the only instance that sound had a major impact on the match.

-- Big Show puts Cody Rhodes in the corner. He motions to the crowd to quiet down, and you can hear a noticeable decrease in the crowd volume. Then...CHEST SLAP, and the crowd lets out an almighty "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

-- Y2J and Punk also had sound bites, including Jericho taunting Punk with, "How's your father, Punk?" and Punk yelling, "Best in the World!" and "Tap out, you son of a bitch!"

This is the first time that I have really noticed dialogue during a match, and I think it's a great way to add to the drama. What are your thoughts on sound in wrestling beyond commentary, whether from the match or from the crowd?

 

[HBsam31]

Good thread, sound is so very important. I loved the commentary in the ring during HIAC more than the announcers, and JR was there. (My favorite all time). Great dialogue in all the matches the poster mentioned. I am going to take it a step farther, and go into the crowd. I do not like big events at open air stadiums. I understand the need to sell 70,000 tickets and all, but it just takes so much of the crowd noise out of it from a tv viewing standpoint. Imagine Rock/Cena in MSG, or in Chicago where MITB was. (sorry the name escapes me. I thought MITB was the best PPV of last year due to how hot the crowd was during the main event. Rock/Cena tried to recreate Hogan/Rock stare down listen to the crowd chant, and it just didn't come off well on tv. Hogan/Rock was the best crowd reaction all time in Toronto. I know all of it isn't to blame on open air stadiums. Some crowds are just better than others. The noise does escape though, and I wish this was a trend never started. I also know it won't change, and I can see why. Can anyone tell me how loud it actually was inside last night because aside from Rock Cena and HIAC it just didn't appear to be a lively crowd. Please correct me if I am wrong, and also prove my point about open air stadiums coming across on TV.

 

[AnvilForever]

From what I have heard from people at Mania last night, the crowd was insanely loud. Lower crowd volume on TV is something that has been common on WWE TV over the past few years. I was at a Smackdown taping last year and when I watched the show on TV later, I noticed the volume of the crowd was way lower I remembered live. Though I think crowds were generally louder a few years ago, I think that there are a lot of live crowd these days that do pop a lot that have the volume lowered for TV purposes.

 

[#BabyFace]

Very nice thread! Last nights HHH/Taker match was epic but the talking in the match made it that much better. And a crowd is the most important part of sound in the wrestling buisness. Look at the RAW that is going on right now. The crowd is one of the best crowds I have seen at a RAW in YEARS. They are hot...and its amazing howmuch they are into Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan is very over when he is getting x2 a better crowd reaction then the Rock IN MIAMI. This crowd is hot and when te crowd is hot like that all night...it can make a match between Hornswoggle and a Betty White electric.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

Getting in-ring dialogue is great, it's one aspect of pro wrestling that sets it apart from MMA, the opponents usually don't like each other and they verbally show the extent of their anger. The problem with trying to catch in-ring dialogue is when you can hear certain moves being called in the ring. I think it was during the Punk / Jericho match, where Jericho was talking shit, and it was audible, then he called out a move to Punk, which was noticeable because it was audible at first and then quickly became inaudible.

All in all, anything that can add drama to an intense match is worth it. But I wouldn't want someone like Zack Ryder talking shit to Mark Henry during a match. That would be ridiuclous.

 

[ANVIL]

I immediately noticed and mentioned how well "Mic'ed"up the matches were last night. We were a pretty large group watching Mania, and everyone commented on how much better it made the action. The emotion, the extra feeling it gave the matches, made WM28 even more special IMO

 

[Shotaro]

The sound mix for mania was absolutely perfect. I think it was a massive factor in how great the HHH / Taker match was. It would have been awesome either way, but the sound design is vital. I hope WWE do that for every show now. It would make every match that much more better. The sound of the edge of the chair was sickening and normally you can't hear it.

 

[BigC]

Excellent thread fella.

Yes, the sound is really, really important. However, it can work the opposite way. For instance, during the Rock Cena match, you could clearly hear the Rock calling the next three moves, which was to finish with a clearly heard DDT!

If they are to keep it working, the sound really needs to be played with in a big way to prevent that. It is good to hear that communication between the wrestlers, however, it is not good when you are getting the next moves. No use watching the match then.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Interesting thread, certainly one you don't see often. The in-ring dialogue in the HIAC match at WM helped make it about as close to perfect as it gets in my view. It wasn't as technical as Punk vs. Jericho or Punk vs. Bryan, but the pure emotion was there and was part of the build up of this storyline. In the case of Taker, for instance, I think there's a sense that most people have in that we're probably not going to see him too many more times. He's staring down the barrel of being 50 years old and it's common knowledge that the wear & tear of his career has taken its toll. The Streak has an emotional connection to a lot of fans because they've grown up and/or even grown old watching Taker do his thing. The fact that Taker is no longer in his physical prime, coupled with the promos he had with HBK & Triple H and their words during the HIAC match only makes it more interesting. Taker isn't physically what he used to be and it's understandable why, and that automatically puts The Streak in jeopardy. The dialogue coupled with everything else, including who these three men are, what they've meant to wrestling, & the atmosophere of WM itself allowed fans to connect to this match on an emotional level very very very rarely seen.

Another good example of using verbalization and sound to make things better is what Mark Henry has been doing. Henry talking trash to someone while beating the snot out of them no only helps add drama to the match, but it also serves to make Henry look like even more of a badass. It's easy enough to be intimidated by a man with the legit size and freakish strength of Henry, toss in the fact that he's verbalizing that angry attitude of his and it only enhances what he brings to the table.

 

[AnvilForever]

So agree with Jack-Hammer about Henry. I've never been big on Henry until the past few months. The only reason I didn't mess myself when Lesnar came out was because I already messed myself in fear when Henry yelled at Punk: "I AIN’T TOLD YOU TO MOVE! YOU MOVE WHEN I TELL YOU!"

Henry works that in-ring dialogue like a pro. The only thing scarier than Henry yelling how somebody's gonna get their ass kicked is when he's yelling at his victims while he's actually doing it. Dude is a scary MFer, and I hope he gets a great final run.

 

[cm ben]

This is a real nice thread. I definitely agree with how effective the audible dialogue was during the HHH/Undertaker match. Like ANVIL, my group of people at Wrestlemania made mention of it--it really intensified the match. Mark Henry's lines on RAW were awesome, too, as AvilForever (are you guys related?) said.

One less "important" but equally effective example of this is Brodus Clay's first match. When he came out, I was shocked and probably behind that shock, disappointed--this huge scary dude has turned into another fat dancing man. Why?? But his mic'd stuff during the match--"Did I do that?", "My bad!"--won me over. Very funny to me.