Jim Cornette on Wrestling Crowd Reactions Then vs. Now

From Episode 335 of the Jim Cornette Experience
Artwork by Travis Heckel!
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[@MilMaska]

"Now the only time fans hit the ring is because they think they can do a better job as the wrestlers" - Jim Cornette

[@whoreshoe]

💯 💯💯💯

[@tammyforbes2101]

Some probably could man! Watching the Hart lady wrestle is like watching my aunt wrestle it’s just not believable! Now the part where she was 💩on everyone From bad gas that was believable! And that shows how sad it all has become. It’s no longer a show it’s a act! 🤦🏼‍♂️ If I wanted to see women built like my aunt act I would go to broadway not WWE! We want to see Hulks and Ultimate Warriors and not even the streriods side either just the gimmick their is still huge guys out their! Get the mountain throw him in their with Brock in his prime now that would have been a show! But instead we get aunt cannada Hart with a lose spickter 💩on people on tv!

[@GutsofEclipse]

For what it's worth, the trust fund babies that make up most younger fans of wrestling have had their egos protected from birth by the self-esteem movement, their coddling parents, and their chronic unemployment. They can be the dumbest person in the room and they'll legitimately think that it's everybody else that's stupid. So, you can't place 100% of the blame at the feet of the wrestlers on this one.

[@Cre8Lounge]

@@GutsofEclipse Nah, They have told it's not real and even saw the wrestling exposed programs that came on tv and now the internet has giving then all the inside info that was once held sacred. Vince has much to do with this too. Why keep up the charade?

[@charltonblalock2510]

I agree...... As a kid, I HATED THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS!! I ESPECIALLY HATED JIM CORNETTE!! I wanted The Rock & Roll Express to ANNIHILATE JIM CORNETTE (WCCW). Also Gino Hernandez. Boy, they got under my skin!! And to find out "Ice Man" King Parsons was a St. Louisan,that was so AWESOME!! When wrestling came to the Kiel Opera House (St. Louis), I badly wanted to go but I didn't because I didn't want to get laughed at so I would read the newspaper the next day after the event. I HAD TO KNOW IF DUSTY RHODES WON OR NOT. Wrestling was EVERYTHING to me. I miss those days.

[@kenpreston3898]

I remember hearing my aunt and cousins talk about their hate for Rick Flair. They went every show he wrestled, it didn't matter if it was in Atlanta, Columbus, Birmingham, or Montgomery just so they could boo and hope he lost.

[@tonyjackson4078]

I remember even WWF in the 80s the crowd would explode when Real American would blast over the PA. People were there to watch and be entertained, not be extras in a movie.

[@jesterr7133]

I've been going back and watching some clips of the Rock in the 90s, and it is amazing how loud they got. There is nothing like that today.

[@FirstLast-yh7gj]

I mean that's Hogan lol

[@LegionOfShrooms]

I miss the old ladies getting really into it. Those old ladies were vicious.

[@jedediahcoulbourne1791]

Makes me think of Cornette's stlry about the granny with the chair

[@tomr3422]

My grandma was one of those crazy old ladies... And on more then one occasion I was afraid she would get to a heal.

[@chisasa9509]

Oh baby

[@mikemiller539]

They still get into it 😏

[@philbarlow9041]

My nan was one apparently even when younger use tell how she hit Mick McManus three times with her handbag once why he was out shopping she just ran up and hit him 😂 oh and kendo nakasaki on backhead was walk back after match

[@DayFul]

I HATE modern crowds the chants feel so disconnected from the match. New Japan is the only natural sounding audience left.

[@cheftorte554]

UK

[@OmegaRedFan]

@@cheftorte554 the UK cheering for Fandango and Jack Swagger (we the people) literally saved their careers.

[@OmegaRedFan]

New japan is over fucking rated

[@cheftorte554]

@@angryninja lots of these guys only think USA wrestling matters. dont talk to them about mex, usa, aus etc geocentric americans

[@OmegaRedFan]

@@angryninja Lucha libre is also overrated

[@ajgdwn]

"Everybody is on their phones nowadays!" -someone watching this on their phone

[@Ben-3984]

No Laptop 💻

[@herpderp7264]

iPad here. Get a headache watching vids on a phone.

[@Baastilein31]

I've printed it out and read the dialogues. It's hilarious.

[@aaaaa-nw8hc]

PC here.

[@stinkypinkeee5085]

I'm listening on shortwave radio...

[@TheeCoachg]

As much as I love him, the Steve Austin "WHAT?" chant is the most god awful,annoying thing EVER. Thats when the crowd began to ruin the show for me and I stopped watching.

[@pizzahighfive2612]

The What chants are the exact same thing as the this is awesome chants. Non emotional, non soulful... They're just like seals clapping to a signal.

[@deweigle]

I agree! Hated the stupid "What?" chants especially how many years later? That is why I stopped going to live events. The crowd just ruins it.

[@thommichaels6593]

deweigle sixties and seventies in Chicago’s amphitheater...the only chant was “WE WANT BLOOD” and that was usually when Dick the Bruiser enters the ring

[@PhantomofDB]

Same. That drove me away from watching

[@kevinpayton2664]

The chants were funny at first, but they quickly got annoying. Now I can't stand to hear them.

[@brycemcneil4404]

I'm not one of those "back in my day" guys but I will say this: I wish more fans today would just root for someone. I don't even care if it's 50/50. I just want a crowd of people rooting for an outcome. Even if you know it's a work and even if you really *aren't* living and dying with the result, I honestly think it's way more fun as a fan to pick a side and root for them.

[@Ticketman99]

I will always root for the person the "smarks" despise, if that counts.

[@thesupervisor3270]

I just wish the fans would stop wanting to know everything that’s going on in the background! All the wanna know “who’s getting push” and “who are they putting the title on” its so lame!

[@BeeHatGuy]

@@thesupervisor3270 Amen. That's like going to the movie theater but needing to know the entire plot. I wanna watch wrestling and not have a clue what's gonna happen

[@tnbk_andrxw4474]

Root for the heel always. When they turn him face you will be way ahead of the curve and fans. 😉

[@arielgonzalez3997]

That’s makes sense if only these wrestlers had enough of a unique character or gimmick to where we actually could emotionally invest in their matches and the outcomes of the matches. Sadly the product today has become way too stale and generic where all these wrestlers are lacking in uniqueness to where people just don’t give a shit with who wins or who loses...

[@MarkSDD]

Vince has a big hand in this too. His weird control-freak ways have extended to actually micro-managing the whole crowd. From forcing certain wrestlers down their throats that they respond negatively to, to taking away crowd signs. The only crowd reaction that even matters to WWE now is the crowd of 1 - Vince.

[@ellemarr7234]

@Brian Hacker Could not agree more. Once a wrestler flubs their "lines", it kills kayfabe all over again. Completely ruins the brief moment the audience actually believes what they're watching. Vince killed the business and now he's killing his own business between the scripted promos, playing to empty arenas, unfinished storylines and putting every goddamn belt on Charlotte Flair.

[@Jackalblade9]

The final straw for me with the WWE was when they started referring to the fans as "The WWE Universe". When you start branding your damn customers as if they were your product.....that'll suck the life out of anything.

[@Kirbs2002]

Don't discredit the huge hand that Happy Heyman had in cultivating the "modern" crowd. He was the one who wanted smarks in the crowd so bad that he planted them in there to do and chant certain things through the mob mentality

[@ellemarr7234]

​@@Jackalblade9 Spot on. I could even eventually stomach "sports entertainment" but that WWE Universe BS and calling wrestlers "Superstars" still makes me cringe

[@DayFul]

The arenas where loaded with signs in the attitude era fans where so much more invested. Midcard matches back then had hotter crowds than todays main events.

[@tomr3422]

I always thought the "this is awesome" chant was sarcasm.. I didn't know they actually like it. Sadly gone are the times when 3 or 4 thousand people sound like 10 or 12 thousand and make it seem like the building itself is alive for a entrance

[@michaelhauser6440]

That’s what new audiences don’t understand. It’s better to have 3,000 people sound like 15,000 people over 15,000 people that sound like 3,000. It’s only about the numbers with new fans, it’s not about the energy

[@televiper11]

Security had to escort my Dad and I out of the Broome County Arena in Binghamton, NY back in 1986. I was 8 and cheered for “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff and a nearby Hulkamaniac dumped a beer on me. My Dad knocked him out and we were escorted out “for our safety.” Missed the finish. It was scary but awesome

[@alfredhardin5431]

Getting over to the crowd is a dying art

[@pizzahighfive2612]

It's because of the people in control, they want it like this.

[@Ticketman99]

MMA 1 pro wrestling 0

[@Cre8Lounge]

@@Ticketman99 Maybe we need just real wrestling

[@newcountryguy]

Its attainable if you work at it right. I was a heel when I wrestled but I was able to get a lot of heat by taunting and interacting with them ( talking shit and insulting them) . it was the best fun I ever had!

[@SonnyBubba]

Real wrestling is still on. Turn on the Olympics. What happened was the professional wrestlers were so good at what they were doing that the matches stalemated and the crowd got bored. Then they added characters, charisma, but kept kayfabe. Now, kayfabe is dead, the fans know it’s a performance, and the sport is completely gone from what’s left of pro wrestling. The closest thing I can try to describe the old days to a modern audience is this: A few years ago ARod returned from his suspension for steroids. The first game back happened to be in Chicago against the white Sox. A Monday night game in late August with a last place home team sold 20,000 tickets (about triple normal). Top of the second, ARod’s first at bat, and he got hit by a pitch. That was the biggest cheer of the night. When ARod was on deck, the lines at the concession stands would all empty out. If you could stoke that kind of anger week after week to get the fans to keep coming back each week, you’d have the essence of 1970’s southern wrestling

[@MrJjburgess11]

These guys make fun of Corbin alot. But at least he tries to be a true heel. He even stays in character on his social media. Most guys today don't know how to do that . They try to hard to be cool.

[@nickm393]

The influence of people like Dave Meltzer is partly to blame for all of this. But Jim only recently realized how much Meltzer sucks.

[@Holden308]

Meltzer sucks ... you just made Conrad Thompson's enemies list lol

[@mrbadguysan]

I've always wanted to ask a modern fan; the sort of person who genuinely thinks Omega is the greatest wrestler on earth: if wrestling is just some sort of performance art, if there doesn't have to be a pretense to a faux competition, why does wrestling still have so many of the elements of a competition? Why don't wrestlers simply walk to the ring, do some moves, have the judges score said moves like a gymnastics floor routine, and calmly walk out? Why are there walkouts, intros, a bell, an official, a finish, and promos? Who cares who wins? Who cares who's champion? Why is there a champion?

[@pizzahighfive2612]

Cause they're being fucking brainwashed. The way you do it is simple and it works everywhere else... You give someone utter garbage, yet you tell them that it's the greatest every single day. Lowering societies standards every day, leads to a dumbed down society that is okay with low standard entertainment, and low standard government.

[@ringojones959]

Exactly. Since the argument is that everyone knows it's "fake" and therefore pretending it's real makes no sense, why does it make sense to do anything in the ring at all like the way it was done when it was supposed to be "real?" Why have a ref? Why have pins? Why do any moves to each other at all really? Why not just have three judges who hold up star cards after a certain amount of time? Hell, why have a ring? Why even call it wrestling? I swear that people watch it now in a "post-modern" or "ironic" way. If you go to indie shows, people will shout out "funny" lines and act like "fans who believe" just to get a laugh, but no one really "cares" about anything, they're just there to be there in a way. It's almost like a way to make themselves feel smarter than the people in the past who "believed" it was real, a way to make themselves feel superior to the "rubes" who fell for this goofiness, a "I'm no mark!" attitude.

[@Ticketman99]

Define "wrestling"

[@FirstLast-yh7gj]

I mean it really is a performance art lol

[@mrbadguysan]

@@Ticketman99 the same wrestling used in "All Elite Wrestling", Einstein.

[@sonnyblack71]

The Rock n Roll Express, The Von Erichs girls would scream non stop!!!

[@Janon48]

It was crazy watching the Dark Side of the Ring von Erich episode and seeing how over they were. I started watching in the 00's and I've never seen a wrestler get that type of reaction

[@kalen2465]

My favorite part of wrestling was this. If someone like Kurt Angie or Chris Benoit used a submission. The crowd would start shouting you tapped out. At the other guy after giving up. The crowds seem dead lately.

[@AmirMoin101]

I love old Jim, I am a huge fan of his kind of wrestling

[@jre-xf6uz]

Oh but not his politics?!?!?!? Your silence speaks volumes.

[@5minmajor32]

@@jre-xf6uz ei 🚫 oo ihan hyvä 👌 👌 ei ei oo enää ei oo enää ei ei ois tollasta 😬 🚫 iiris on nyt ii

[@DoomKitteh]

@@jre-xf6uz no one cares about his or your (which is prob Trumpism con artistry politics). If you don't like Jim's politics then listen to someone else. Git

[@jre-xf6uz]

@@DoomKitteh You dolt- I love his politics. I was critiquing Amir Moin. Mine as well change your last name to Bonehead.

[@unr3alGaming]

Even in the 1990s and very early 2000s: "Austin! Austin! Rocky! Rocky! Foley! Foley!" Nowadays the majority of it is "This is awesome" or people chanting the promotions name which is something that I believe started with ECW and hasn't stopped since. People should be cheering the names of your stars not the promotion or the moves they're seeing in the ring. But these companies don't really have stars anymore, because they don't know how to make new ones any longer and wrestling doesn't have the same mass appeal it did 15 to 20 years ago.

[@leomdk939]

Unfortunately, I think the culture has changed in such a way that pro wrestling just can't work the way it used to. Everyone has seen and knows too much. It's all an inside joke now. It took about 25 years, but the internet has now robbed two generations of fans of their wrestling 'innocence' and this is the result - jaded, disconnected fans that care about 'the product', not the match.

[@SonnyBubba]

In the 70’s, a promoters greatest fear was someone exposing the business. In Florida, two wrestlers who were supposed to be in a big feud were seen together in the backyard at one of the wrestlers houses, and they were just relaxing having a barbecue. Word got back to the promoter, who promptly fired both of them. In Mid South they had a rule: “y’all are being presented as being the toughest men around. I absolutely do not encourage anyone to get in a bar fight. However, getting into a bar fight will not get you fired. Losing a bar fight will get you fired.”

[@Masada1911]

Disengaged fans are an unfortunate reality in all of live entertainment. People looking at their damn phones. Very sad.

[@Cj-hj6rm]

Technology ruiend everything

[@jacobreeves3110]

Back then a lot of people thought it was real. New age, new fans.

[@spj187]

Depends.. im watching attitude era reading this all the crowds try to look themself on the titantron don't even look at the match soo yeah different time same shit

[@cheftorte554]

@@spj187 kinda it the more things change the more things stay samening

[@Wadzillia]

@@jacobreeves3110 I used to go NWA shows in the 80s. I've never met anyone who thought it was real.

[@stevegans731]

I'm 53 and everything Jim says is true.

[@DashingPunkSamurai]

As Mr. T said “ Be somebody or be somebody’s foo”

[@michaelhauser6440]

Well said Mr. T

[@thomas_2285]

I despise the chants and clapping in unison or whatever you want to call it. It seems like it's northern thing. It's not a genuine reaction to what's going on in the ring and it makes the bros in the crowd sound like they're competing in some sort of teenybopper cheerleading competition.

[@dr.floridamanphd]

Or the soccer chants. This ain’t Europe.

[@JRBA2906]

This is awesome chant is completely cringeworthy. I'd cut a heel promo on any crowd who started it

[@BungleJoogie68]

I remember some dweeb did alone at a (Shimmer?) show in Japan and the girl in the ring told him to shut up.

[@pizzahighfive2612]

I'd cheer for you if you cut a nasty heel promo on the this is awesome soul less chants.

[@DayFul]

The impact zone is oh wait no one goes there anymore.

[@xthe_nojx5820]

Of all the things that Modern Wrestling has watered down, it's the chants I mourn for more anything else. Like ECW or not, you can't deny those raucous choruses of _HOLY SHIT!_ were earned. Poor, poor Lil Spike Dudley....

[@currychips]

Wrestling fans these days think they're smarter than the product. They're just so woke.

[@pizzahighfive2612]

Nah man, ditch that woke word.. these guys are the opposite of aware of reality, they're incredibly dumbed down.

[@jcedars4784]

Woke is the worst form of terminology in human history. Usually said by those who watched a few KZbin videos and think that now only their opinion matters

[@stewwart6060]

Woke lol

[@currychips]

@@jcedars4784 Sarcasm, bro.

[@stephenrogers4537]

If you watch a good magician and he does his act at the point where you see it come together you don't judge if it's real or not you just are amazing how it works😊

[@fjccommish]

He doesn't show you the rabbit inside the hat.

[@michaelmclaren1333]

When goldberg was first getting over, BEFORE bischoff started jumbling the numbers of the streak the fans really were chanting GOLDBERG all night long until he came out, and AFTER his matches they started chanting again. Scott hall admitted he told bischoff to give goldberg a mic. Because he (Hall) knew for a FACT that part of goldbergs character that was white hot with the fans WAS HIS SILENCE. Was the mystique, the unknown part of his character. Once they handed him a mic he became "just another guy". He was still WAY over when Nash beat him (another Scott Hall admittance that he got into bischoffs ear about) i love how hall and nash say they wernt trying to hurt the guy, but then hall admits on kayfabe commentaries that he told bischoff they gotta get him talking and beat him.

[@Yurgin764]

I have to say there was 1 match were the modern fans reacted, like it was real or better phrased reacted right and that was when Lesnar broke Takers streak.

[@Dakatari]

I would put Ernie Ladd over JYD any day of the week. He was one of the most celebrated African-American wrestlers of the past and he became a big star without having to use a stereotypical gimmick.

[@thommichaels6593]

Lamingus Maytubbie damn right

[@cashmerethoughts8096]

Not to mention that he got over with a limited move set, limited mobility and no over the top ring attire

[@hobomeatballthemovies323]

The Junkyard Dog was amazing. I don't know, man. I just remember him as a kid. He just seemed larger than life.

[@johnmarshk]

Yup he was.

[@alpollard4784]

Without a doubt. He was the straw that stirred the drink at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Arkansas. The fans would go insane yelling JYD, JYD, JYD! Amazing memories.

[@Pogo113]

Jom mentioning seeing someone genuinely lose their mind makes me think of Ron Simmons winning the WCW World title from Vader. In the front row, there's a boy holding the railing jumping up and down in excitement. I love that moment.

[@isaacbutler8828]

JYD and the song Another One Bites the Dust were a match that was magic for his entrance. Atomic Dog was too obvious to me. 20,000 people in the Superdome screaming for JYD was something I witnessed in the early 80s. Similar reactions recently have been the Undertaker opening.

[@dr.floridamanphd]

I was kid during the 80s. I used to lose my shit when I got to see JYD or Koko B Ware wrestle. Those two were phenomenal!

[@phillipbrown2318]

I am 44 i remember my sister boyfriend took me to a wwf event at the spectrum in Philadelphia in 1989 it nothing like it was 31 years ago.

[@nickm393]

I was at the Spectrum in 1991, I saw Hogan beat Sgt. Slaughter. Really fun house show.

[@blondel8408]

Golden era WWE (wwf) was the best for crowd reactions. I was at summer slam 94 and it blew my mind and ear drums

[@DerrickMims]

“Avengers Endgame” opening night: we were cheering, screaming, applauding, crying. No one in that sold out crowd thought the movie was “real”. But we were legitimately into the characters and story. And the characters on screen didn’t wink at us to show they knew it was a work. That’s what good wrestling does. That’s why I fell in love with the sport, and I don’t feel that anymore most of the time when I watch today’s product.

[@JoeSmith-iv3sf]

Same principle, the story was earned. The ppl were invested in those characters. Just like wrestling after endgame, it won't be the same. There is an agenda now, and some characters are getting a clear push that ppl don't won't. Not the internet or Twitter the actual fans don't care about the next forced characters!

[@raphwalker9123]

That movie sucked.

[@Ticketman99]

It's not a sport.

[@lilmanmullins9193]

The crowd today are not even real fans

[@carbon.the.christ5626]

Who could blame them?what does wwe do to make you emotionally invested?Only way you could be emotionally invested in something like wrestling is if you forget its fake. What does wwe do to make fans forget that?

[@Cj-hj6rm]

@@carbon.the.christ5626 True

[@tomr3422]

I'm sure they are fans of oiled smooth young men but sadly not of wrestling

[@cheftorte554]

@@carbon.the.christ5626 I can be "invested" even knowing it's fake I like the athletic aspects

[@pizzahighfive2612]

Exactly why I still watch classic ECW. It's the realest.

[@Awells89]

Part of the problem is that way too many crowds think they're the OG ECW crowd plus they have some of the most obnoxious chants ever one good thing about the pandemic is we get a little break from people chanting "This is awesome" or chanting for CM Punk all the time.

[@lensonmabile1215]

I grew up in the old Mid-South. Jim, Dennis, Bobby, JYD, Mr. Olympia, Jim Ross a young ref at times. Lol. Jim explains this as well as it can be explained. He was a big part of it. I miss those days.

[@mooseraps]

My mother loved JYD so much. I never understood it until one day she showed me an old tape. The screams were so loud and sounded so bad on that old tape lol but I finally got it.

[@joefly6483]

You could see this a few years ago with John Cena. Yeah he would get pops, but even mid-carders would get bigger pops in former years. As far as people knowing it is scripted goes. It's all about suspension of disbelief. Look how people get when their favorite character dies on TWD when they clearly know zombies are not real. Wrestling needs to be booked or written by people who understand the dynamics involved with wrestling. And overuse of spots does hurt.

[@pizzahighfive2612]

I also use this anology of TV shows being fake too. But they still make us cry, make us feel real emotions and suspend our belief for a moment. If The walking dead not cared about showing the zippers on the back of the zombie costumes people would think the show is a fucking joke. BUT NO! they make that shit seem so real!

[@stevenallen4128]

Love cornette and hes almost always more right than not but I think some of those reactions are a thing of the past due to the fact that everybody knows wrestling is pre determined and not a legit athletic competition . I personally feel like that is one of the main things in wrestling that needs to make a come back and that is the appearance of legit athletic competition. Either way though I believe some of the difference in heat and the way the crowds would try to stab ya or riot is due to the fact they thought it was completely legit and that makes a Huge difference. Also with the plethora of podcast and radio shows with random talking heads from wrestling glory days almost always crapping all over the new product and romanticizing the golden years is counter productive as well because many folks that will get into wrestling may get chased off or stop watching if they keep hearing the now days stuff is crap (some of it is btw but not all) and those fans may have eventually turned into true wrestling fans that like a little bit if everything but either way I have always felt a lot of those types of reactions were due to the Times. Folks thought it was completely legit and there wasnt 10000 different forms of entertainment at the touch of a finger to help keep ya distracted so wrestling was a waaaaay bigger deal. Just my 2 cents on the matter

[@michaelscholz734]

A great example of fans knowing nothing behind the character . I will 47 on thurs. I never knew JYD as anything other than JYD .When I first heard of his death I was like Who The Hell is Slyvester Ritter

[@bobyoder3365]

Jim I hate to say this and I really do wrestling is dead it's going to have to go away before it can come back

[@CosmicJoe]

It was a promo by Tony Garea when he challenged Superstar Billy Graham for the WWWF heavyweight championship that got my father to bring me to the matches and I rode the bus every single month to see wrestling and when they started to have NWA/AWA mixed cards every other month that I saw the most awesome matches which were unforgettable.

[@PeterWhiteprowrestler]

Great story. Yeah it was another time. Or another world.

[@mrcent1]

The interest in wrestling trends similar to “The Simpsons”. Wrestling and The Simpsons were at their all time high in the 90s, however, towards the late 90s and early 2000s - the audience dropped in spades. As a result of the decline neither product managed to recapture the audience they once had.

[@andrewbooth5533]

The Simpsons decline was because the writers were different.. not because they made new people main characters, or try to tell us what we want, the Simpsons never changed there demographic and tv rating.

[@Cj-hj6rm]

Both warn out their welcome

[@Cj-hj6rm]

@@andrewbooth5533 eh Futurama better , plus Matt got tired of the Simpsons by 00's , anyways the show changed when mod died

[@andrewbooth5533]

@KaneMagus that's your opinion the writers don't decide what gets put on tv.

[@pizzahighfive2612]

Simpsons seasons 3 - 11 are god tier

[@Spoeism]

JYD was the wrestler who got me into wrestling as a very young kid. There was just something about his trunk colours and skin that made him aesthetically POP! Daniel Bryan replicated it.

[@clubbedsandwich1128]

Please, no one ever say "Nahlins" when you're down there. You'll be laughed at.

[@SegaDream131]

Yea but observe just whom is laughing please... 😌

[@SonnyBubba]

New War Lins Now drop the r, and that’s how you pronounce it.

[@newcountryguy]

I sooo miss the old days!! It's very sad but true what Jim is saying. I remember the crowds being that way. I blame Vince M for a lot of this leading up to today.

[@tibbs3165]

When Kofi won the title at WrestleMania I was so happy I hugged my wife. I don't even remember anything about the match I just wanted him to win so bad. We need more emotion like that.

[@jordandennis6794]

Too bad he never should've won. A guy throwing pancakes is top in the company. Pathetic. Good thing he lost in 10 seconds to Brock.

[@fjccommish]

Um, no. Kofi is not part of real wrestling, a golden era.

[@sgtraytango]

Lesnar manages to do it right because he's managed to get genuine heat from marks. It's a shame things have changed for the worst because I genuinely feel awkward when I watch wrestling shows and the silence from the fans is what I notice the most. It was especially bad the last time I saw NXT back in 2016.

[@spungoflex3285]

“Fight forever! Fight forever!” So cringe inducing.

[@jedediahcoulbourne1791]

I wish I could have felt the building shaking pops but sadly I made my world debut in '94 but hey the attitude era was fun for a bit

[@thundertyrant]

JYD was our Superman here in New Orleans. 1980-84 he was untouchable and STILL revered today around here. I mean I remember when the first few notes of Another One Bites the Dust would start playing before he would come out for the main event all of us lost our s*** I mean the whole crowd was popping whether it was at the Saint Bernard Civic Center in Chalmette, the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans which was the dog's house and the Superdome which still belongs to the dog!!! He brought all of us together. All of us were dancing in the aisles standing on our chairs cheering for our hero. And during the match we'd chant "Who Dat say gonna beat dat dog? WHO DAT" years before it got adopted by the Saints. We wanted to see Junkyard Dog win and we wanted the bad guy to be hurt and lose!! It was an environment unlike any other I can't explain it you just had to be there. The stuff that you see online does not do any of that Justice whatsoever. We were invested in our hero those local promos he'd cut for us in Chalmette or us in New Orleans we were going to be there to root for our hero to see him beat Michael Hayes for blinding him, to see him beat the big cat Ernie Ladd for injurying all of his partners or when Teddy made the turn on him. We're still made about that! Jim I thoroughly enjoy you guys doing these. And I listened nightly. Of course I'm going to be biased to the Mid-South stuff because that's what we grew up on here in Louisiana but you were definitely a hated heel here too. it took me years to like you after hearing these podcast and these KZbin clips hahaha thank y'all. JYD !!!! WHO DAT!!!

[@joninwm]

Some of my best memories of my childhood was going to the matches and watching Mid-South Wrestling from the late 70's -until it shortly after JYD left for WWF. I even got to see Cornett get beat on several times. Lol

[@Virtual_Vinsanity]

I just said this a few days ago myself Corny...where would HBK, Rocky, Mick, SCSA and etc be if Vince held them back? I m not saying revive the AE but wheres the Attitude? Wheres the confidence? Wheres the men in pro wrestling? Nobody looks up to kids.

[@JLRules]

Going back to watching old wrestling, I'm heartwarmed that the people are just reacting at all. Nowadays (well, before the Covid lockdown), people just sit there and do _nothing_ . Fuck, even WCW in its dying days wasn't as lifeless as live crowds are now.

[@indieauthorjasonblayne7511]

I know with COVID-19 it's a different world as of this comment, but... things like baby faces interacting with the crowd and posing for pictures like Jericho used to do in WCW and the heels you know acted like they wanted to go after someone in the front row to create that hate from the fans. There isnt true emotion and appreciation for the fans anymore and they all know it. I love hearing these stories as it gives me more things to plug and have when I finally get to the two planned professional wrestling novels I have. The first one is based back in the late 70's thru the early 80's as a prequel to some of my other work that's been set up already. I'm a casual fan and I can feel the disconnect strong. My teenage son who loves AEW and NXT even he doesn't feel the same as he did as a kid when he got to meet guys like James Storm, Jeff Hardy, Bobby Roode, and others from TNA and WWE.

[@thesupervisor3270]

This what my problem was with Matt Riddle when he was disrespecting Goldberg because Goldberg doesn’t go out and have 5 star matches! Go back and look when Goldberg best Hogan for the World title or when Lex Luger beat Hogan for the belt. Now that’s loosing your shit!

[@josheisert8380]

To be perfectly honest it's what we are all doing right this second that ruined the business. Shoot interviews and social media to be more precise. And we all love shoot interviews so I'm not condemning them. What happens is the fans feel like they know the person behind the mask these days so to speak. Take Corny for example. If we were at a live event and he came out as a heel it's gonna be pretty hard for any of us not to cheer him. Because we have gotten to know him. Also when fans watch youtube and such it goes past just shoot interviews. Social media. We follow wrestlers and get into their personal lives. So and so has a kick ass car and cute puppy. One guy has a kid on the way. One of them is going through addiction problems and we are pulling for them to get through it. On and on and on. It's almost like we actually know them personally. So when fans go to the wrestling event they are actually cheering for the real person not the character. It's a f#@kin' mess and there is no way to fix it that I can see. All that being said. Would I change it and erase history if I could to save the business. Hell no I love shoot interviews. I get to see the wrestlers I watched and believed in as a kid tell us how it was. I got a chance to get to know guys like KAMALA "THE UNGANDAN GIANT" watching his interviews. I was scared to death of that guy as a kid! And we find out he is a great human being. How awesome is that? So I look at it like this. Wrestling will never be the same again. And young people today will never be able to experience what we have and get to experience. We are being told the secrets we always wanted to know when we were kids. It's great. Young fans can't have that because today there is nothing being hidden from them. So even though I can't stand todays wrestling, shoot interviews from old school wrestlers, podcast from old school wrestlers is just as fun if not more fun than what wrestling used to be. I have given up on wanting wrestling to be like it was. As far as wrestling goes I am now content (and happy with it) in riding out the rest of my life watching shoot interviews and podcast about wrestling. Boy that got long winded.

[@renafan3333]

I didn't start watching wrestling til riots and people storming the ring was starting to not be a thing anymore,I was born and raised and still live in The Northeast where that mostly wasn't a thing. I've never seen wrestling in a small arena where it could have fallen apart people screaming but I have been to see shows Hulk Hogan in his prime and Stone Cold and The Rock in theirs and I can't imagine anything being louder or more raucous than that.

[@lowbudgetcomicsthings7068]

Video games never gave anyone the clap

[@mickshaw555]

One of the problems with today's crowd is that they are "100%" sure the wrestlers are acting. That's why they don't react in such an intense manner they did before. Earlier, almost half of the crowds used to think its actually real.

[@Maxbear1112]

I can't stand when I see fans argue these days saying "oh this guy sucks, he only does 3 moves". It's all about how many fuckin' moves they can do to each other and kick out of high spot after high spot desensitizing everyone to everything. I do really miss those interviews that we all knew was coming directly from them...not a writer.

[@cbod14]

Listen to a Greensboro crowd, A Charlotte crowd or an Omni crowd and you will understand what Jim is talking about. Listen to fans chant Rock & Roll when the RNR Express are in the ring you will understand.

[@TheBassJourney]

Yeah the crowds now will say "Holy Shxt" over anything. It frustrates me.

[@mrg8581]

Same reason why MLB or NFL fans don't storm the field after their team wins a championship. Fans just aren't into things as they once were.

[@SonnyBubba]

That and security has gotten a lot better….

[@kylew.4896]

Could you imagine asking for your money back because you don't like the outcome of a show/movie/game?

[@IanSane]

The romantic sub-plot was tacked on!

[@tomr3422]

I guess you missed the point it wasn't some game, or whacky ending to a cartoon back then.

[@kpllc4209]

That happens all the time now. Boycott! Fire them! etc.

[@slyfox2022]

Tell that to the Karens

[@jmd11185]

The same thing happened to reactions at concerts. I think it has a lot to do with television losing some of its allure. People don’t go nuts for celebrities anymore because everyone views themselves as a sort of celebrity. Everyone has a camera and can broadcast themselves at any time.

[@slightlybetterthanaveragej6777]

@7:30 this! Preach it, brother! We definitely talked about the fakeness then but we really didn't care.

[@BrettTheBratly]

Jim, I saw a match on Florida Championship Wrestling when I was a teen that made me laugh my ass off. I'm sure Dickie was there and I'm guessing the other guy was Dusty Rhodes. Dickie was beating the crap out Dusty near the ropes and this little 90 pound old lady with Horned Rimmed Glasses jumped up in the ring and was laying into Dickie with her Pocketbook. Dickie and Dusty were ducking and both blew right out of the ring. Id pay just to see that one match. It was too funny.

[@mox19380]

"if the only thing you serve at your restaurant are shit sandwiches the only customers you're going to get are those with a taste for shit" the perfect analogy for modern wrestling.

[@marshallkrich]

I'll tell you the last time I experienced a real, real, crowd reaction like they're talking about and that was Hogan vs Rock at mania 18. I remember how we all went crazy when Hulkcame out, just those two looking at each other before they even touched, there's nothing like that feeling.

[@kevinpayton2664]

The crowd was unlike any that I've ever seen.

[@stoneroses1989]

I was there as well in the 37th row, loudest crowd I've ever been apart of.

[@marshallkrich]

When he hulked up, I still get goose bumps, the building because unglued!

[@postersandstuff]

@@marshallkrich i thought Taker vs Shawn , T vs S II , Taker vs HHH , T vs HHH II had nice atmosphere from being there

[@wolfiethedog76]

Too many distractions and options for people for them to care the way they did. Technology has stolen the soul out of everything.

[@IanSane]

In 1999 I went to the only WWF house show I ever attended. I would have been 17 at the time. The reaction to the babyfaces tended to escalate as the night went on. I remember X-Pac of all people got a really big reaction, far more so than everyone else had at that point. But then in the main event the glass broke and Austin's music hit. Holy shit, that is the loudest cheering I have ever heard. The match was Austin and the Big Show against The Rock and the Bossman. All I really remember was Austin winning with the stunner and the audience going crazy as he and Show celebrated with beers. Everyone was jacked to see Stone Cold because he was the hero on their favourite TV show. Doesn't have to be more than that. We wanted to see him win because he was our guy. The match itself just had to be competent enough that we didn't get bored and lose interest. I think of other moments as a fan that really stuck with me. Goldberg winning the WCW title from Hollywood Hogan was a big one. That wasn't a classic match but I was jazzed to see it and wanted to see that nWo piece of shit finally get what's coming to him, and I wanted to see the guy who had been building this undefeated streak be the one to do it. And I got that and I was thrilled. I hated the heel, I liked the babyface, I was invested in the storyline. I don't think this is a genie that can't go back in the bottle. The WWE is just really incompetent at creating babyfaces that the audience can get behind. They intentionally don't want to create stars or let anyone's natural charisma shine though. That isn't a change in wrestling tastes, that's intentional sabotage. Meanwhile the indies focus on offering great matches and less focus on characters and storylines because that's what their audience wants. But they're targeting a niche hardcore audience. I don't really have a problem with that. The problem is the absence of a promotion that is storyline and character focused that wants to attract a mainstream wrestling audience and is competent at doing so. That should be the WWE's role.

[@jackwei22]

When Sting arrived to beat up the NWO at uncensored in 97 crazy crowd reaction.

[@DunesBGaming]

I'm a lifer wrestling fan(not now).. I can remember as a kid watching Super Star Billy Graham promos. The man was the greatest heat catcher of all times. To this day I can not remember any heel getting the heat he had. Not even the Russians during the so called cold War. Billy Graham clearly taught other wrestlers how to do promos. Dusty Rhodes took his style

[@markjones4358]

Back then when a ticket was 25 bucks for general admission you could have that mentality. Now when the food costs more than that....you'd better have mega spots to justify the price. That's the nature of the beast now. Evolve and adapt is the new law of the land now

[@scorpioknightreads5031]

I remember seeing JYD in a high school gym in the mid 90s boy the crowd was nuts maybe only a couple hundred their but it was in a small town in Arkansas that only had a thousand in the whole town

[@batonrougetombo]

Very good point too many chants of holy this and that and this is awesome it has become a bit watered down I don’t think anyone’s really to blame for it though it’s just something that’s organically happened unfortunately and who knows what the resolution is. I guess it’ll have to be the next groundbreaking moment.

[@martinrioux3930]

i still remember when i was a kid going to see WWF at the old montreal Forum and when Hulk Hogan would come out the place would explode and you couldn't hear the ring announcer because the reaction was so loud. And the crowd was really into everything that happened during the match to the point that when Hogan finally hulked up, fans would again go nuts for the finish because they really believe in Hogan. Today, you don't have that anymore. The closest i got to this was during a WWE live event with roman reigns were all the kids in the arena would go nuts for him and believe in him as a character which was still pretty loud but not as much as it was during Hogan's era.

[@tommy2chips]

Wow!!! Jim Cornette makes perfect sense. I agree that the wrestlers and people in the higher up position told the public too much. But there is hope. I think that it can go back to how it was. But it will take a lot of commitment .

[@HippieBuddah]

The difference between todays fan reaction compared to other ages of the sport is palpable. Mostly in the wrestlers entrance to the ring, the difference in the level of cheers and noise is extremely evident. Even with a surprise appearance by a WWE legend, the reactions isn't anything close to an every night appearance of say a Ric Flair or Road Warriors back in the day. I miss that, actually.

[@tylerflemming7059]

Im waiting for cornette to say "It exposed the Business"

[@chrisendsley5724]

you can feel the electricity of those crowds. I've been and felt it. Its the same as a great rock concert crowd.

[@andrewsnell9120]

Southern wrestling is just different. It was and could still be a legitimate attraction if the talents were willing to get that heat and cause damn near riots like even WWE guys have done in the 2000s and 2010s. Guys like JBL/Chris Jericho/CM Punk have done it but you have to have the nuts.

[@artmeddaugh6669]

When I would go see shows in Detroit and Grand Rapids in the 70's and 80's I went to go watch the heels kick the shit out of the babyfaces, and didn't care if they won or not. I just always loved the bad guys because of what I saw on TV in their matches and the promos they cut. Yellin, Hollerin, cheatin, dirty tactics, foreign objects was all good!

[@DaleGribble0111]

This dude is brutally honest and hilarious, all the time. 👍WWF is the truth! WWE 👎😝😄

[@stephenrogers4537]

Back in the day when I started watching wrestling eventually got into it I realized it what you have to do is go out there and make it real even if it hurts oh that's how you get over legit🤔 thanks BH

[@matthillegas3099]

My uncle told me a story from the 80s about wrestlers. We're from NY, but he had to go to Louisiana for business. He saw Hercules Hernandez knock the shit out of some dude who tested him. I didn't hear this story until years after, but, still.

[@robins1016]

Exactly what I've been saying for the longest time. If you weren't around to experience the wrestling shows first hand in the 70's and 80's especially then you can't possibly know how to compare wrestling today with back then....period.

[@jpjpjp453]

With the volume up on the TV, hearing the crowd when the Rock and Roll Express came to the ring was like hearing a Beatles concert. And Ole Anderson's turn on Dusty Rhodes in a cage in 1980 was pure insanity. Ron Wright likely had the most intense heat ever, all things considered.

[@Thecallmemisterajp]

My favorite match growing up was HBK vs. Jeff Jarrett from IYH 2. And it's recently gotten more love online as a near 5-star match, but I loved it because Shawn was my favorite wrestler and I just expected him to waltz over Double J, but I freaked when Jarrett actually put up a good fight and almost beat him at times. And I never believed wrestling was real, and 95 WWF and WCW were certainly good at doing stuff to remind you it's fake (both companies accidentally leaked results to PPV matches prior to them happening within months of each other, for instance). But it was definitely a lot easier to buy into before WWE and other promotions started telling you that it was their job to entertain you, and matches like HBK and Jarrett should be the expectation. It really just trains you to think of things differently when that becomes the focus, and by contrast, I can remember going to a 2012 ROH show that blew away anything I ever saw growing up from a workrate standpoint, but I just didn't really enjoy myself because I wasn't invested in any of the wrestlers. It was like "yeah, I respect you guys, but I don't feel what you're doing." And I think that's the difference.

[@bradgaines]

Mid to late 80's Rock n Roll Express pop is biggest i've ever seen.

[@dreadpirate.roberts]

A lot of what replaced the mania at these old south shows is college football. College football crowds in the south just hit different than other sports.

[@richardsmith9615]

I'd love if Jim could make a list of Wrestlers who are legitimately over (as faces or heels) in Wrestling today.

[@billybadass3056]

which is a goddamn shame, JYD was never WC or even IC.... Big time jobber and never got wat was due to him in terms of title runs just really used, like Coco Beware, to put 'Other Talent' over...... So many ppl loved him including me back in the day and the FACT that he's not in the hof or even vg's is understandable by me BUT a GREAT Tragedy....... He should have had a World Tiltle or longer run as IC BUT those are the breaks for *Some People* ...... Yeah, all we got was Booker T........ f*ckin BS

[@AlextheKaijuFan]

I'm pretty early to the Experience. I just happened to log on at the right time.

[@DoomKitteh]

@KaneMagus about you, yes. No one cares about you

[@TheSaveme1]

The last time there was a real really big Crowd Reaction I can recall was all the way back when Hogan and Rock had that face-off on Raw.

[@HypervoxelRBX]

Um edges return of this year

[@BusinessOfFear]

@@HypervoxelRBX He probably doesn't watch the current bullshit

[@meekcheeks]

Undertaker's first appearance as the American Badass was probably my favourite crowd reaction. It gives me goosebumps everytime i watch it