Crest Fall

I've always wondered if it is important to other people whether or not a crowd is hot. Hot crowds can make a match that much more memorable, just look at Joe vs Kobashi, an already great match but one that was taken to the next level because of the amazing atmosphere. But I don't think I ever really experienced the opposite until ROH went on HDNet where the crowds are DEAD FUCKING SILENT. A lot of people say that Japanese crowds and the WWE audience are very quiet, but I think they're generally into the show and don't look like they're about to fall asleep in their chairs. Hell, I'd actually prefer a Japanese crowd from time to time because they really understand wrestling and know when and how to react at certain spots.

We've all seen quiet crowds but it never really bothered me until I started watching ROH's HDNet shows. They're just downright unwatachable! And it's not right either, because most of the shows are pretty good. Mind you, the crowds can get pretty hot for Bryan Danielson or a main event here or there, but other than that, they truly are quiet. It's not even like the undercard matches are bad. I can understand if they're not excited for a squash, but the one I'm watching right now (Delirious vs Dutt) is a pretty nice opener and they're completely dead except when Daisy pokes them awake with a couple slaps on the mat they can join in on.

Anyway, I'd like your take. I don't think anyone dislikes a hot crowd (unless they crowd consists of annoying D-bags) but I'm not certain if people can look past a quiet crowd or maybe if they even prefer them to be quiet. It never struck me until I started watching ROH's shows but I cannot watch a wrestling show if the crowd is drop dead silent.

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Marketh.

To be fair, Dutt/Delirious was a terrible match that went way too long for an opener...

Crowd reactions are very important, but to me it doesn't matter the size of a crowd as long as they're lively enough. CHIKARA's fans, for example, I think they must have like 100-300 on their regular shows, but they're still cheering, booing, chanting, ooh'ing and aah'ing to make up for it. As far as dead crowds go, they can most certainly ruin a great match. KENTA/Generico vs Nigel/Davey was easily ****, as far as the action goes, but the crowd was barely awake for whatever reason. They should've been very hot considering what was happening, but they didn't make a sound for Nigel hitting the Tower of London. I had to take that down a notch, because the crowd does affect my enjoyment.

I dunno about you, but I always find that the main events on HDNet are always lively and sometimes the openers, depending on who's involved.

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Tommy Platinum

There are a lot of examples of matches that have been made very good or great by the crowd, such as the Cena matches against RVD at One Night Stand and Triple H at Wrestlemania 22. Without the crowd, they were just good, but the crowd made them that much better. For me crowd reaction is just another thing that contributes to a great match, the same as the story being told in the ring. You can't say "yeah but only the crowd made it good", because crowd reaction is always going to be a big factor in a match and you can't seperate that from everything else.

A dead crowd can obviously kill matches, because it's all about atmosphere. If the fans don't seem to care about what they're watching, you don't get that "big match feel", and obviously this affects the match a lot.

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KenTheKiller

A dead crowd also makes boring matches worse. While a lively crowd can make a boring match or a botch happy match a bit more entertaining (say, Kozlov/HHH), a dead crowd and really put over how boring a match is (RKO/HHH WM).

PWG used to have some really dead crowds. From what I've seen lately the crowds are a bit more loud, but then again that featured guys like Dragon, Strong, The Bucks, and the Guns.

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Crest Fall

Yeah I was only a 1/3 the way through of the match when I made this topic, heh. It was still pretty decent at the time. Match ended up too long and a bit sloppy & nonsensical. Still think it deserved more than tumbleweeds blowing by and grasshoppers chirping though.

I guess I just can't understand the point of being dead silent at a wrestling show. I paid 20+ bucks to go to the show, so I'm going to be loud as hell. Maybe it's just because the wrestling shows I'm lucky enough to go to are few and far between so I'm really excited when I get to go to one, but meh. Glad I'm not the only one that gets really put off by dead crowds.

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horrorfan_1986

I'm not sure if it's still like this, but in the early episodes, the fans were just not mic'd up well. So even though they were making noise, the TV couldn't pick it up. The other problem with the HD Net show is burning the audience out. Taping three or so episodes a night, that's a lot to sit through. The WWE had the same problem when they were taping several weeks worth of shows all in one night.

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