What percentage of live events crowds...

[Guest NoCalMike]

.....and...do you think that percentage has gone up or down in the past couple of years?

 

I remember back in '98 I wore an ECW shirt to a Raw taping when I had front row seats and almost everyone in the vicinity of my seats was giving me compliments and such, sans an 8 year old kid that proceeded to scream "ECW sucks, extremely crappy wrestling" about 50 times during the dark matches.

 

Anyways, I am just wondering, as a smark do you go to live events, do you refuse, is it too much money, is it not worth your time?? I am a smart mark but I still will go to Smackdown or Raw as long as the price is reasonable. I have never gone to a ppv, because I am not paying $300 to sit on the floor level, and I have no desire to sit in the nosebleeds.

 

You'd think with wrestling's "cool era" being over with, that more smarks and more opposition would be present in the crowds, but we continue to just see the same robotic responses from the crowds week in and week out. Are they all marks, or do even us smart marks get caught up in the show when we are there live??

[Guest Lightning Flik]

.....and...do you think that percentage has gone up or down in the past couple of years?

 

I remember back in '98 I wore an ECW shirt to a Raw taping when I had front row seats and almost everyone in the vicinity of my seats was giving me compliments and such, sans an 8 year old kid that proceeded to scream "ECW sucks, extremely crappy wrestling" about 50 times during the dark matches.

 

Anyways, I am just wondering, as a smark do you go to live events, do you refuse, is it too much money, is it not worth your time?? I am a smart mark but I still will go to Smackdown or Raw as long as the price is reasonable. I have never gone to a ppv, because I am not paying $300 to sit on the floor level, and I have no desire to sit in the nosebleeds.

 

You'd think with wrestling's "cool era" being over with, that more smarks and more opposition would be present in the crowds, but we continue to just see the same robotic responses from the crowds week in and week out. Are they all marks, or do even us smart marks get caught up in the show when we are there live??

Well, I went to a PPV at a local Famous Player's and yes, I know, that technically doesn't really count... But then again, when we're all screaming just like that crowd that is REALLY there, so it's all good.

 

Yes, I suck for not being able to bust my ass down to the real event. Shall we advance on?

 

And yes, sometimes you DO get swept up in the moment. I mean, I watched Angle against Rock (like two years ago Summerslam[?], I think), I couldn't help but join in with others as we started up a Rocky chant as he won his title back. Sure, I think Angle is God when it comes to protraying a good heel, and hell, I even got a chant of Angle going once or twice during that match for when Angle did something good.

 

But what I'm getting at is that it's hard not to get caught up in the moment of anything that happens.

[Guest NoCalMike]

Ok, so at the sportsbar you went to, how big was the crowd for the ppv, and what % would you say were smart marks(if you even had conversations with anyone)

 

At the players bar here, our group of anywhere from 6 - 15, depending on what ppv, is a group of smarks for the most part, some more than others. Other than us though, I'd say the majority of the crowd are 100% MARKS....I mean sometimes we will be the only ones cheering for a certain wrestler, and we get "the look" The best was some drunk middle-aged man trying to get everyone to sing, "You Suck" during Angle's entrance, and right when it started he said, "alright everyone, on cue....." Hilarious stuff. The best though is you get people who may have been smarks at one point but have lost touch or something because they will spout out info from about 5 years ago and act like they should get a pat on the back for it. I just keep my mouth shut and turn to Dangerous A and we usually get a good laugh over it.

[Guest The Old Me]

The best was some drunk middle-aged man trying to get everyone to sing, "You Suck" during Angle's entrance, and right when it started he said, "alright everyone, on cue....." Hilarious stuff.

I would have put that guy in the ankle lock.

[Guest The Tino Standard]

Crowds are becoming increasingly smarkish. Witness the general NY area's violent turn on the Rock. And at sports bars and stuff when I watch PPVs, its the same thing. The Internet is engulfing us all.

[Guest bob_barron]

I went to the Survivor Series and most of the crowd just seemed to be people who enjoyed wrestling. There were a lot of Triple H fans and they all hated Edge.

 

Jericho was insanely over though and the crowd was on their edge of their seat hoping he would make Triple H tap out.

 

Brock Lesnar was also crazy over and got the loudest reactions of the night.

 

I try to go to as many live events as I can and when I go I just cheer and have fun. When it came down to HHH v. HBK I was chanting 'Triple H' like a lot of people in my section were. I don't go: DON'T CHEER HHH- HE PLAYS POLITICS!

 

I just go to have a good time- I don't really care who the crowd cheers or boos unless it takes away from my enjoyment of a match. (ie crowd booing Kidman v. Noble)

[Guest myburninghammer]

Chicago tends to have a weird mix of embarrassing marks and cynical smarks; it all balances out I suppose, but when I'm at the bar I watch PPVs at, it would appear more effort is utilized for one side to sneer at the other than watch the matches. Then again, the former tends to be way more rewarding than the latter...

[Yuna_Firerose 0]

Speaking of crowds, here's another mini-topic...why don't the crowds cheer, boo, do anything? Sure there wasn't much to cheer for at the last Raw, but that doesn't mean you just sit there....that's a complete waste of money, imo. Perhaps it's "the crowd effect?", ie, everyone else is silent, which makes the rest afraid to do anything else...

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

When Raw or SmackDown comes back to the Worcester Centrum Centre, and NOT to the bad-seats-galore Boston Fleet Center, I'll go to a show/taping. Until then, no WWE shows unless somebody else is paying and giving me a ride.

 

On the other hand, I'm gonna try to make the next RoH show in Cambridge...

[Guest bob_barron]

Yea- if the rest of the crowd is silent you look like the annoying loudmouth if you try and cheer

[Guest NoCalMike]

Speaking of crowds, here's another mini-topic...why don't the crowds cheer, boo, do anything? Sure there wasn't much to cheer for at the last Raw, but that doesn't mean you just sit there....that's a complete waste of money, imo. Perhaps it's "the crowd effect?", ie, everyone else is silent, which makes the rest afraid to do anything else...

Well, I know that security tries to calm down any one person, or group acting more into the show than the general audience. Often, you will get told to sit down and be quiet. It really sucks. I don't pay the money to sit and watch in silence. I remember once at a Nitro, during most backstage promos I would flip off the big screen in frustration of WASTED TIME, and some big security buff came up to me and said, if you stick your middle finger up one more time, you are outta here........