Paid Members BomberPat Posted February 2 Paid Members Posted February 2 I think that fan behaviour is just shaped by media culture in general. Something that really stands out when you watch old TV is how members of the public have no learned experience of how they're supposed to behave on camera, whereas now everyone does, they're all used to kind of performing at some level every minute of their life; whether they're posing for Instagram photos, filming TikTok videos, or just existing in a much more media-saturated world, so we all inherently know how we're supposed to behave on camera to some extent. I was in the audience for a quiz show that two members of my family were on, and the director told me that he kept cutting to me because I had big expressive reactions to everything, and I don't think I was conscious of any of that. There is definitely a feedback loop in that the bigger the reaction, the more likely you are to get on camera, but I don't think it's as simple as "people are doing it because they might go viral". I also wonder, though, about the specifics of it being Saudi Arabia. I remember hearing about WWE crowds in Japan, how it's not really the same audience or the same behaviour as at Japanese wrestling shows, it's treated as sort of it's own genre, people go in cosplay, and they behave a lot more like an American audience because that's their role, they're playing the part that a WWE show expects of them. I don't know what the media landscape is in Saudi Arabia, but it seems mad to me that I'm now seeing them credited as being an exceptionally rowdy crowd, when back at the first Saudi show they basically had to demonstrate to them how wrestling worked at all. Reading that Triple H was getting chants of "AEW" directed at him surprised me - how much access to outside media does a Saudi audience have now to know what AEW is, to know that they were dissatisfied with whatever they were dissatisfied with at the Rumble, and to know that chanting AEW was a way to express that? Quote
FUM Posted February 2 Posted February 2 I knew Brie Bella being the most over worker on the show would get queries about whether the fans were forcing their excitement. Quote
Snitsky's back acne Posted February 2 Posted February 2 2 hours ago, Ralphy said: i do find the crowd on these Saudi shows to be flat Did we watch the same show? As for it being forced - WCW at Disney where there were reportedly people holding up signs saying "Cheer" and "Boo" is forced. This was just people who do not get to see live wrestling regularly enjoying themselves and mimicking what they see on TV. Quote
Cousin Jim Bob Posted February 2 Posted February 2 1 hour ago, TildeGuy~! said: They kept panning to the same girl on multiple occasions throughout the night. Probably a plant. There only seemed to be about 5 women in the whole crowd. Quote
DavidB6937 Posted February 2 Posted February 2 Or they picked people they'd identified as enthusiastic, which is a fairly common thing to do for live sports and concerts etc. There's a lot of awful shit they're doing with these Saudi shows but conspiracy theories about empty seats and fake crowds just distract from the real issues surely. Quote
TheScarlettChad Posted February 2 Posted February 2 Women surely like WWE over there. Saudi fans aren't the problem Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted February 2 Paid Members Posted February 2 Whether a female fan was a plant or not, I don't think it would be a massive conspiracy to speculate that there would be a reason why they would choose to focus on female fans in a Saudi audience - "look, she's enjoying herself, we even let her drive here". Quote
RedTwoster Posted February 2 Posted February 2 1 minute ago, BomberPat said: Whether a female fan was a plant or not, I don't think it would be a massive conspiracy to speculate that there would be a reason why they would choose to focus on female fans in a Saudi audience - "look, she's enjoying herself, we even let her drive here". You’re spot on, if they were choosing to show that it’s clearly for propaganda reasons. I’ve not seen the show, but I don’t really have to in order to say the rights of women are severely restricted in that country (link to ECDHR website) which extends to attending sport events. While it’s true to suggest that things are better than they were, that’s very different than being able to say things are good. Quote
Snitsky's back acne Posted February 2 Posted February 2 38 minutes ago, RedTwoster said: You’re spot on, if they were choosing to show that it’s clearly for propaganda reasons. I’ve not seen the show, but I don’t really have to in order to say the rights of women are severely restricted in that country (link to ECDHR website) which extends to attending sport events. While it’s true to suggest that things are better than they were, that’s very different than being able to say things are good. I don't think anybody is saying otherwise. Quote
RedTwoster Posted February 2 Posted February 2 49 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said: I don't think anybody is saying otherwise. Of course not, but given that it’s a propaganda exercise dressed up as a legitimate event, I think it’s important to actually say that. I’m obviously preaching to the choir here, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be said - aimed at WWE, rather than anybody posting here. I’m pretty certain every regular poster is fully aware of why the Saudi shows are controversial. Quote
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted February 2 Paid Members Posted February 2 20 hours ago, JLM said: He’s 35, I cannot confirm who does or does not know. This the attributed age. But I’m friends with someone who knows him personally and he’s not 35. He’s in his early 40’s although won’t confirm how early. Royce, his eldest and WWE name sake, is 20 this year as well, which whilst isn’t mathematically impossible, adds to him being older than wikipedia reported. Quote
Paid Members Lenin Posted February 2 Paid Members Posted February 2 5 hours ago, SpykeDudlei1 said: I just think that’s what Joe Public wrestling fan, in any country, does now without being paid or encouraged. Ever since the likes of Angry Miz Girl or the fan reacting to Taker’s Mania loss were shown ad nauseum, and even more so as ‘going viral’ became even more of a thing, fans know they’ve got a good chance of being shown if they react in a truly OTT, ‘what they hell have I just seen?’ way. Fair point. I don't watch often enough to keep up so have missed a lot of the reaction/moments chat. It just came across as really contrived and a part of me thought some of it was canned reaction noise too given the thousands of empty seats on all sides. It was definitely better when I was a lad. 😂 Quote
DavidB6937 Posted February 2 Posted February 2 5 minutes ago, Lenin said: Fair point. I don't watch often enough to keep up so have missed a lot of the reaction/moments chat. It just came across as really contrived and a part of me thought some of it was canned reaction noise too given the thousands of empty seats on all sides. It was definitely better when I was a lad. 😂 They weren't empty. It was the stupid lighting on the seats making everything look empty. Terrible design choice. Quote
Paid Members Lenin Posted February 2 Paid Members Posted February 2 10 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said: They weren't empty. It was the stupid lighting on the seats making everything look empty. Terrible design choice. That's not so bad then although it did look terrible. I stand corrected! Quote
Chili Posted February 2 Posted February 2 52 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said: This the attributed age. But I’m friends with someone who knows him personally and he’s not 35. He’s in his early 40’s although won’t confirm how early. Royce, his eldest and WWE name sake, is 20 this year as well, which whilst isn’t mathematically impossible, adds to him being older than wikipedia reported. I absolutely love the idea of Hobbs pulling a Virgil and being like a 35 year old pensioner. Quote
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