The Crowd - Most Important Aspect of a Match

[gd]

I've actually been thinking of this for a long time, but never bothered to put it into thread form. Anyway, there are a lot of different things that go into a great match. For some, it's technical wrestling. For others, hardcore does the trick. Maybe brawling really turns you on. It could even be the color of the ring ropes that tickles your fancy. However, there is one thing that every great match has in common - the crowd.

I don't think there's ever been a classic match that is widely well regarded were the crowd wasn't hot for most if not all of the match. Whenver I'm watching a match, that's the best indicator for me. A match filled with cheering and screaming is much more enjoyable than a match with a silent crowd even if the in ring action is comparable.

Not every match with a great crowd is neccessarily good, as fans can be very stupid sometimes, especially in the Impact Zone. However, every great match has had a great crowd.

Let's end with a quick example, Orton v. HHH at WM 25. Was the actually in ring action that bad? Not really. Sure, it wasn't great, but it was respectable. What killed it was the fact that the crowd was dead. If they were as into it as they were in the HBK/Taker match, Orton/HHH may be getting more nominees for best match of the year instead of the worst.

What do you think? Can you prove me wrong? Is there another aspect of a match that you consider to be more important? Why?

 

[Tenta]

See, here's the thing, GD... This is the question that's going to plague professional wrestling forever. The question is simple... "Does the fan make the wrestler" or "Does the wrestler make fans"? By that, it's a question of who's responsible for the match being as highly graded as it is. Are the fans responsible for the atmosphere to the match? Absolutely. And are the wrestlers just as responsible for getting crowds excited during matches? Absolutely. There's no way to conduct this as a completely fair question. Neither the crowd, nor the wrestler, is solely responsible for the great match. Without fans, there is no such thing as a good match, as you claim. However, without the great wrestler to place the crowd into a frenzy, there's absolutely no way the match can be great, either. A great match involves both a crowd's reaction, and the wrestlers keeping the fans on the edge of their seats.

However, there is one breaking of the code, and that's Puro. Puro crowds are silent, like they're in church. The audience chooses to show their respect by allowing the wrestlers to work in tranquility, only popping for very large moves, and then returning to stoic silence immediately afterward. And in terms of holding terrific matches, Japan is a hotbed for Five Stars. It seems as though Kenta Kobashi puts on a five star match every year, or even every half year. Still, the puro wrestler needs no ruckus crowd, nor chanting. He's far more used to the silence and peace of the Japanese arenas. And with this is mind, I'm tempted to say that the wrestler is a tad more responsible than the audience. We laud these matches not because of loud crowds, but because the matches are that great, and we respect their greatness. It's really a mutual relationship, but if push comes to say, I think the wrestlers are more responsible.

 

[NSL]

I can't help but agree that the crowd is important. In ECW, and more recently, TNA, the crowd is known for being excited and on their feet and being involved in every match. Did anyone else watch RAW Monday? The crowd was sitting with the thumbs up their asses, waiting for something big to happen, and then only "popped" when Cena busted out a pose, or scored a pinfall.

This is also a reason I can't watch Japanese wrestling in anything more than half hour bursts. The crowd has always been relatively quiet, only cheering for a really outstanding spot, and that's fine. It's how they are. But, it bores me to tears.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I think that the crowd and the wrestlers themselves are equally important in terms of the most important aspect of a match. You make a VERY good point, GD.... but what if the crowd (for some weird reason) is cheering/booing heavily for a jobber? Not saying that happens often, but it's a potential scenario. The guys higher up on the card need to get the fans to care about them, but at the same time the fans need to react to the wrestlers too.... Also, the crowd reaction IS really important but they have nothing to react to if someone boring is in the ring....

They are equally important because even though the fans' reactions determine a wrestler's fate, he still has to get himself over with the crowd too in order for them to even care about him. That's why the interaction between a wrestler and the crowd is the most important aspect of a match, rather than the crowd itself.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I absolutely think the crowd is the most important aspect of a match. I had never thought about this more than the other night, at TLC, when after a "long, grueling match" with that bum Sheamus, Cena tried to re-create a classic angle among wrestlers. When the match was finished, he struggled to get up, he was so hurt. But somewhere, deep down inside, he found the courage to get up...his music hit...and the whole crowd BOO'ED him! Haha I found that to be pretty funny. This same scenario has happened to most of the greats after big losses. It happened to Austin, Hart, Shawn Michaels, etc. The only difference: those guys got the ovation they planned on getting. I think some people in creative actually thought that might be some great turning point for Cena, like that would be the moment where he finally gained the respect of the masses. It Didn't happen. And as hard as the guy works and as good of a human being as he is outside of the ring, it will more than likely never happen for him.

 

[Billie Jean]

This is a thread that I was thinking of starting for some time and never knew were to post it. It is a very very good question. So I will try to answer your question as best as I can.

What do you think?

I think that you are entirely right in what you say. Sure the wrestlers can be as captivating as possible, but if the crowd is not into it, it may as well be backyard wrestling. It is like a pantomime at times it can be that silent. Even at house shows in rare countries the WWE visits the crowd can be depressingly low. It is just the way it works. But I do think the crowd helps big time in the match.

Through, Digger Dias also makes a good point, it takes a good match to get the fans into it. You can have the best crowd int he world, but if you are not putting on a show that will satisfy them then they are not going to give out any noise. But I agree with the thread starter when he stated about the Orton-Triple H match at Wrestlemania of this year. If the crowd looked or sounded like they gave a dam then it would have been a much better match rather than the highly negatively criticized match that it is today. I will also put that down the fans being blown out form the Undertaker-Michaels match through.

To answer your question-Yes I do think the crowd is the most important aspect of a match.

 

[Miko]

Yeah I'd agree, the fans can make or kill a match quite easily, take Lesnar/Goldberg at Mania for example, when that match got going it wasnt that bad, but the two guy's managed to kill it by doing fuck all for 10 minutes. The crowd shitting all over that one made it seem much worse.

Take Matt Hardy for example, now Matt is capable of putting on very good matches, and generally he's consistent with above average matches, but occasionally he'll bore the shit out of you, the match will already have gone on for about 7 minutes and everyones silent because of the boredom, but because he's loved by WWE fans a "Hardy" chant will break out and they'll pop for any of his big moves.

Those two things alone have made some of his worse matches more bearable. Same goes for Kane. So yeah, the crowd is definately right up there with importance.