Smark Crowds vs. Mark Crowds?

[Sadistic]

Which crowd do you like better when watching wrestling?
Some people prefer a smark crowd because they appreciate good wrestling regardless of gimmicks.
Some people prefer mark crowds because they do what fans are "supposed" to do, i.e. cheer for the faces and boo the heels.

I mainly associate a mark crowd with WWE and a smark crowd with ECW however it seems that TNA has a stong smark crowd these days also.

Which type of crowd do you prefer?

[BigDaddyCool]

I voted for mark crowds, simply because TNA's all smark crowd pisses me off. But it is really a trick question, like Canadian audience are pretty smart and entertaining, and so was the ECW audience. But still, I would preffer a mark crowd that plays long with the whole heel face system, than a crowd the cheers and boos who ever they feel like just because they think it is funny.

[McLegend]

I can't choose because in WWE I like smark crowds, but in TNA I would like to see at least 1 crowd full of marks.

[Vastardikai]

As far as WWE, I think the crowd should cheer who they please, and then book accordingly. Despite the "You Suck" chants in the intro, as many fans cheer Angle as they do boo him, if not moreso.

As far as TNA, I think Tenay and Co. should stress that they encourage the fans cheering whoever they want.

[The Gooch]

I like a blend of both. It is very cool when fans of the faces and heels start cheering for their guy, like during the Jericho vs. Cena matches.

[PYRO-MANIAC]

I voted "Smark Crowds" :naughty:

Why?

Well ive always liked freedom of speech and all that so when im watching wrestling i like to see crowds saying what they want, chanting what they want, and holding up humerous boards. They all add to the atmosphere to me.

I think Smark Crowds also appretiate gimmick matches like TLC, HIAC a lot more than Marks.

Also when WWE or whoever go to places like Madison Square Garden, you can almost guarantee 90% of that crowd are "Smarks", they just add something to the whole experience for me.

Plus "Smarks" think how i think, so i find them funny and witty a lot of the time. :y:

Chants like "Shes A Crack Whore" are the icing on the cake. :lol: :rofl:

Well those are my reasons.. :shifty:

[The Gooch]

I voted "Smark Crowds" :naughty:

Why?

Well ive always liked freedom of speech and all that so when im watching wrestling i like to see crowds saying what they want, chanting what they want, and holding up humerous boards. They all add to the atmosphere to me.

I think Smark Crowds also appretiate gimmick matches like TLC, HIAC a lot more than Marks.

Also when WWE or whoever go to places like Madison Square Garden, you can almost guarantee 90% of that crowd are "Smarks", they just add something to the whole experience for me.

Plus "Smarks" think how i think, so i find them funny and witty a lot of the time. :y:

Chants like "Shes A Crack Whore" are the icing on the cake. :lol: :rofl:

Well those are my reasons.. :shifty:

I somewhat agree with you, but I think a total smark crowd would be annoying. It would be a bunch of geeks bitching about why certain guys aren't pushed. Much like what goes on here to a certain extent. Not that this place isn't great, but at times the bitching can become a bit much.

In a mixed crowd you also get to laugh at the marks. Not in a bad way of course because we were all there at one point in our lives.

[PYRO-MANIAC]

I somewhat agree with you, but I think a total smark crowd would be annoying. It would be a bunch of geeks bitching about why certain guys aren't pushed. Much like what goes on here to a certain extent. Not that this place isn't great, but at times the bitching can become a bit much.

In a mixed crowd you also get to laugh at the marks. Not in a bad way of course because we were all there at one point in our lives.

Agreed, i like the Madison Square crowd for instance.

They aren't too bitchy but they have the balls to say and chant whatever they want to.

The bitching on this board can be a bit much here too i have to agree with you again! :lol:

I probably like a mix, although i prefer Smarks i still like the magic of the Mark crowds sometimes. I suppose it depends what mood im in or who's wrestling really.

Now im making a simple thing complicated! :lol: :-\

[Kane Knight]

Mark crowds, because they tend to have a more organic feel to them. I love to cheer the face and boo the heel, but I love it even more when even the mark crowds will go dead on a lame wrestler or pop for a heel.

But really, I dislike about 95% of smarks anyway (The ones who care more about being a smark then about being entertained), so it's a loaded sitch for me.

[redoneja]

I like a mixed crowd. I went to Summerslam this year and the crowd was 50/50 mark/smark and during the Cena/Jericho match, the place lit up like nothing I have ever heard. The marks were going nuts for Cena and the smarks were going nuts for Jericho. You can see what I am talking about on the DVD but nothing will beat actually being there.

[PYRO-MANIAC]

I like a mixed crowd. I went to Summerslam this year and the crowd was 50/50 mark/smark and during the Cena/Jericho match, the place lit up like nothing I have ever heard. The marks were going nuts for Cena and the smarks were going nuts for Jericho. You can see what I am talking about on the DVD but nothing will beat actually being there.

Thats kind of where im coming from.

Gotta love it! :love: :y:

[Jaton]

Usually Kurt Angle doesn't even get much heat. I've noticed that. I've seen him 3 times in the last year. 2 on SD and 1 on Raw. As soon as his music hits, the place pops and then the "you suck" chants start. He won't get booed until he does something to merit it, like attacking a face. Otherwise, the fans pop for him.

[Xero]

In the storylines, Angle has said that he likes the You Suck chants. He thinks of them as a tribute.

Anyway, to answer the question, for the most part, I like a mark crowd. I like the way they'll react to things and the like. For instance. I've noticed that the WWE has been getting a lot more "emotional" fan close ups recently. They did it in the past, but just stopped around the Attitude era.

I do love a Smark crowd, but not for every damn show. I love the New York crowds, because although a good percentage of them are smarks, they act marky.

:rofl: @ the response Lita got a few months ago at MSG before Matt came back. She almost burst out crying.

[Jaton]

In the storylines, Angle has said that he likes the You Suck chants. He thinks of them as a tribute.

Anyway, to answer the question, for the most part, I like a mark crowd. I like the way they'll react to things and the like. For instance. I've noticed that the WWE has been getting a lot more "emotional" fan close ups recently. They did it in the past, but just stopped around the Attitude era.

I do love a Smark crowd, but not for every damn show. I love the New York crowds, because although a good percentage of them are smarks, they act marky.

:rofl: @ the response Lita got a few months ago at MSG before Matt came back. She almost burst out crying.


Yeah, I remember when he was a face, I think at Survivor Series 03, he was chanting along with the crowd.

[Sadistic]

I love a smark crowd. A 100% smark crowd is usually hilarious and I love the way they speak their mind. If you fuck up, then you're going to hear about it from 20,000 shouting it at you. But on the other hand the appreciate good wrestling, regardless of whether you're a heel or face. I love it.

Also what was one of the best, if not the best crowd, this year? ECW One Night Stand. Why? Total smark crowd.

[V]

as with most things, it's a healthy medium

Pure Marks, you may think they enjoy wrestling the most, but can be ignorant to some important things, like the significance behind Matt Hardy showing up on Raw (bad example I know). They also pop and boo for who WWE tells them to instead of who they actually like.

Pure Smarks, I'd say are even worse than pure marks. All they do is bitch about stupid shit over and over no matter what happens. This isn't true for every Smark but I'd say most. I can't think of a good example right now but if X happend instead of Y they'd complain, but they'd also complain if Y happend instead of X.

The healthy medium however, both tries to enjoy the product, and also knows enough of what they should know about backstage stuff. They don't complain unless complaining is neccessary, and they don't cheer or boo people just because they are face/heel, they cheer and boo who they like.

[Destor]

I'd rather have a crowd of retards than a crowd of retards that think they know what there mumbling about.

[dalegendkilla]

Smarks, because they appreciate the heels and all they do for the company, whereas marks don't care what they go through.

Example: HIAC with Undertaker and Mankind.

1. Mankind flies off the cage, he's half dead on the floor, putting his body through hell just to entertain the fans. The fans then chant 'TAKER, TAKER, TAKER!'

2. Mankind flies through the cell, his tooth gone through his nose, he is in extreme pain and a little cheer from the fans would help him.
'FOLEY SUCKS!' 'TAKER!'

Smarks would appreciate Foley.

[Destor]

A heel never wants the fans to cheer him, it's not part of his job discription. In the case of the HiaC, the fans were being a little blood thirsty but how were they supposed to know it wasn't a work. The WWF hadn't broke Kayfabe in years. Plus they were blind marks.

[Innovator]

Smarks, because they appreciate the heels and all they do for the company, whereas marks don't care what they go through.

Example: HIAC with Undertaker and Mankind.

1. Mankind flies off the cage, he's half dead on the floor, putting his body through hell just to entertain the fans. The fans then chant 'TAKER, TAKER, TAKER!'

2. Mankind flies through the cell, his tooth gone through his nose, he is in extreme pain and a little cheer from the fans would help him.
'FOLEY SUCKS!' 'TAKER!'

Smarks would appreciate Foley.The fans chanted 'Foley' when he was walking out after the match, bad example

[dalegendkilla]

Yes, but not during the match.

[V]

why does it matter when, if it's for what he did within a reasonable timeframe...

Dale Gender Killa

[Innovator]

I like mark crowds sometimes, when you're there live it's fun to boo the heel and cheer the face, except for when Angle or Jericho fight Cena

ROH crowds, mainly smark crowds, can be good, especially when both guys are busting their ass and the crowd is really hot and into the match. Then there are times when they are trying to get themselves as a crowd over. Case in point, Homicide gets DQed during a triple threat with Spanky and James Gibson. Homicide is the heel, gets DQed for using a chain, the crowd goes apeshit and shits on the rest of the card. Homicide even got on the mic and said, "I'm a heel, boo me".

Best crowds, WWE crowds at the Garden. Mainly smark fans, but still boo heels and cheer faces. If you suck, they'll let you know it, I still love the WM XX match with Lesnar and Goldberg, with the crowd chanting for Austin.

[Boondock Saint]

Mark crowds, because they tend to have a more organic feel to them. I love to cheer the face and boo the heel, but I love it even more when even the mark crowds will go dead on a lame wrestler or pop for a heel.

But really, I dislike about 95% of smarks anyway (The ones who care more about being a smark then about being entertained), so it's a loaded sitch for me.

:y:

[Stickman]

I don't think it really matters. With smark crowds they're still going to cheer differently from each other. For instance, some marks love Matt Hardy or Kane and think they're god so they'll cheer for them. I, on the other hand would boo both of those guys.

[Nervous Ferret]

*marks out for Dale Gender Killer*

[Batsu]

Smark crowds in WWE (Canada, NYC, other notorious markets)...

but mark crowds everywhere else.

Because face it, without those smark crowds, we'd have no Rock, Stone Cold, or ECW One Night Stand.

[Aussie Skier]

i voted mark...altho its really hard to say.

personally, I love a massive pop when someone comes out, and i tink that marks provide a better pop.

However, its a good point, that marks don't appreciate fine wrestling like smarks do...so, i dunno, its hard to say

[John la Rock]

Smark fans because they cheer who they want not who the WWE tells us too

For example, In Toronto we cheered Hulk Hogan at WM X8 because of his contributions to the business and because he's a fucking Legend

also we cheer guys like Kurt Angle because he's such an awesome performer. We cheer some heels because there just so damn entertaining

[Kane Knight]

Cheering a heel to show your appreciation seems fucking stupid to me. Let's cheer Darth Vader! He's misunderstood!

[Destor]

Cheering a heel to show your appreciation seems fucking stupid to me. Let's cheer Darth Vader! He's misunderstood!
Someone actually gets it. Heels don't want to be cheered. You want you're favorite heel to get a title shot? Boo the shit out of him 'cause thats what he is looking for. He doesn't want you're praise he wants the exact opposite. People wander why Christian got depushed, the fans killed his heat.

[Kane Knight]

Someone actually gets it. Heels don't want to be cheered. You want you're favorite heel to get a title shot? Boo the shit out of him 'cause thats what he is looking for. He doesn't want you're praise he wants the exact opposite. People wander why Christian got depushed, the fans killed his heat.

With Christian, I'd say it's a different story. HE's clearly getting over with the casual fans, and they continue to make him a heel and everyone's bitch. That's bad booking.

However, when people say things like "Smark fans don't cheer for who the WWE tells them to," I immediately think things like "Dee dee dee!"

If someone's as over as Christian, you can't blame the Smarks for being retarded. Unless smarks are half the arena, that's a sign of mismanagement. When a match fails to get attention, or gets an overwhelmingly wrong kind of attention, the WWE needs to take heed. When smarks shit in their mess kit, it's a different story.

[Loose Cannon]

Mark crowds, because they tend to have a more organic feel to them. I love to cheer the face and boo the heel, but I love it even more when even the mark crowds will go dead on a lame wrestler or pop for a heel.

But really, I dislike about 95% of smarks anyway (The ones who care more about being a smark then about being entertained), so it's a loaded sitch for me.

That's basically how I feel. It's great when the marks start cheering the heels cause it's something special. With smarks, they try to get themselevs over with thier little chants and I hate that. It just takes away from the wrestling atmosphere.

[Loose Cannon]

Smarks, because they appreciate the heels and all they do for the company, whereas marks don't care what they go through.

Example: HIAC with Undertaker and Mankind.

1. Mankind flies off the cage, he's half dead on the floor, putting his body through hell just to entertain the fans. The fans then chant 'TAKER, TAKER, TAKER!'

2. Mankind flies through the cell, his tooth gone through his nose, he is in extreme pain and a little cheer from the fans would help him.
'FOLEY SUCKS!' 'TAKER!'

Smarks would appreciate Foley.

It's called Kayfabe. Mankind was a sadistic person, who tortuted Taker for a while. Just think of it as a book, or a movie, or a play. Why would this guy get cheered? People want to see him get hurt and see Taker get his revenge. It's pretty simple.

[Kane Knight]

If Foley was playing in a movie, and Mankind got cheered in the theaters and praised as a tragic hero in the press, he would be unable to find work.

[Batsu]

Well, it's not so much the factor of simply cheering a heel just to be an ass. I limited the smark crowd thing to WWE, only because that's one fed that's always needed to be called out on its BS...(and strangely enough, when the fans -do- do that, they tend to edit it out whenever possible)