wrestling crowds

what happend? years ago in the late 90's early 2000's wrestling crowds every eek would bring signs and cheer and boo and make chants all night long no matter who was in the ring and nowadays even if a big star returns then the crowd are silent......e.g maybe rock vs cena at wrestlemania. i imagine it would be the same after a week if austin returned and challenged punk after the big surprise it would be just another storyline whereas years ago the crowd would eat up and love a big main event matchup e.g rock vs hollywood hogan.

what happened to wrestling crowds to make them so watered down nowadays? half the time most of them look like they dont want to be there and only cheer and clap when a face wins a match other than that there is no reaction.

I really think a hot crowd makes a show. That RAW night after Wrestle Mania 28 was truly class thanks to the crowd that night. The Money in the bank 2011 may of been a lot different if the crowd weren't that good.

I personally i feel if there was a hot crowd for every Raw, Smackdown and PPV for every show all over the year, WWE would be a lot better.

I think it is just down to the way WWE do things now, I mean the product is so watered down now it's unreal. With the PG rating you can't even have your guys swearing at each other, I mean how am I suppose to get invested in a storyline between say Punk and Cena who supposedly hate each other when they are using kid friendly words. They also don't let people express themselves enough, I mean Punk vs Cena was so hot last year because they let Punk take the gloves off, he really portrayed his character with fire and the adult audience lapped it up, even The Rock who imo is the greatest talker of all time was a shadow of his former self because he was stifled by the current attitude towards programming.

Put this together with the stupid amounts of spots we see now leads to nothing ever really major happening. It's just not believable animosity between feuding superstars any more and it's a shame as some of the talent they have available is incredible. You have the likes of Punk, Ziggler, Bryan, Ambrose and Rollins who all excel in every area and could put on brilliant programmes and feuds. You have big names like Orton, Kane, Cena etc. who can all draw in crowds but the PG environment is just killing it all just so they can make a bit more money.

Just look at the product they had in the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression era when they had such feuds as HHH vs Austin, HHH vs HBK, Rock vs Austin, Rock vs HHH, Angle vs Lesnar, Angle vs Austin etc. You genuinely believed they hated each other due to not only being great wrestlers/actors but because everything from the matches to the language pulled no punches. Wrestling and the intensity that makes crowds hot just doesn't work when the guy in the ring is telling the world how he will "kick CM Punks butt". Who in their life since they went past the age of 10 has honestly said they are going to kick someones butt? It ruins the feud as it just simply nowhere near believable language.

Stonee21 wrote:I think it is just down to the way WWE do things now, I mean the product is so watered down now it's unreal. With the PG rating you can't even have your guys swearing at each other, I mean how am I suppose to get invested in a storyline between say Punk and Cena who supposedly hate each other when they are using kid friendly words. They also don't let people express themselves enough, I mean Punk vs Cena was so hot last year because they let Punk take the gloves off, he really portrayed his character with fire and the adult audience lapped it up, even The Rock who imo is the greatest talker of all time was a shadow of his former self because he was stifled by the current attitude towards programming.

Put this together with the stupid amounts of spots we see now leads to nothing ever really major happening. It's just not believable animosity between feuding superstars any more and it's a shame as some of the talent they have available is incredible. You have the likes of Punk, Ziggler, Bryan, Ambrose and Rollins who all excel in every area and could put on brilliant programmes and feuds. You have big names like Orton, Kane, Cena etc. who can all draw in crowds but the PG environment is just killing it all just so they can make a bit more money.

Just look at the product they had in the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression era when they had such feuds as HHH vs Austin, HHH vs HBK, Rock vs Austin, Rock vs HHH, Angle vs Lesnar, Angle vs Austin etc. You genuinely believed they hated each other due to not only being great wrestlers/actors but because everything from the matches to the language pulled no punches. Wrestling and the intensity that makes crowds hot just doesn't work when the guy in the ring is telling the world how he will "kick CM Punks butt". Who in their life since they went past the age of 10 has honestly said they are going to kick someones butt? It ruins the feud as it just simply nowhere near believable language.

I often write 'poopie' on work colleagues cars when they annoy me.

Crowds are different these days. I think football fans in this country would be another example. They are still loud, and have their moments, but even I have noticed a change in atmosphere and I'm only 23.

Two reasons I'd imagine are cost and the change in those who are in attendance. Some of the more passionate may not be able to afford it, or justify the expense. Also, the atmosphere changes when more kids are let in. People change their behaviour, plus the attitude of the old days is gone when it was full of drunk guys and such.

Of course, the product comes back with that. Punk v Cena was in the perfect place, and the product provoked the guys who make the noise into action, they justified the cost to themselves and the passion was there for their man.

I was lucky enough to be front row at MITB 2011 and I have never heard anythng like it, only other event that I have been to that is comparable for noise is Celtic vs Rangers. Even 30 minutes before the show started, the CM Punk chants were huge. It was the same in the Car Park. There has been a few hot crowds for Raw in the past few months but I agree most are quiet. I really think they should do away with Smackdown and amalgamate the roster, or else have stars appear on both shows every week but reduce the number of house shows. I think fans are over exposed to the show, its very hard to surprise a crowd these days.

I don't really agree with the premise. When wrestling fans are given something to invest their emotions in, they react as passionately as ever.

The only difference in my opinion is that WWE and TNA have become increasingly incompetent at telling a story that gets the fans invested on a regular basis. There's too much of a reluctance to play things straight, too much acknowledgement that it's all a show and everyone's there to be entertained.

When a match between two compelling characters is presented to the audience, they are as passionate as ever.

I also can't disagree strongly enough with the notion that the pg rating, specifically the lack of swearing, has anything to do with it. It's ridiculous and the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. There have been millions of profanity-free works of fiction that billions of people have invested their emotions in. Every single human being who ever lived has at some point found themselves invested in a real or fictional situation that didn't involve swearing. If a story is told well enough, swearing is simply not necessary.