Canned Heat
"Canned heat" refers to playing a recording of cheering or booing through the arena's sound system or adding it to a taped show. This serves to either amplify a crowd reaction or to mask silence from the crowd. Pre-taped crowd reactions from other events are also spliced in with the programming to make it look like the crowd is more energetic than it actually is, or if promoters want a storyline to go in a particular direction. Some examples include:
- In early 1992, the World Wrestling Federation was attempting to push Sid Justice as a heel. Toward the end of the 1992 Royal Rumble's main event, Justice — who had become popular due to his charisma — was loudly cheered when he eliminated Hulk Hogan; commentators Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "the Brain" Heenan picked up on this as a fair act. However, the reaction was edited in future television replays, with Sid being booed heavily and Monsoon describing him as a jerk.
- WCW was once accused of pumping in crowd chants for Bill Goldberg and incorporating them into his entrance theme. On the February 8, 1999 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, held in Toronto, Bret Hart's derision of Goldberg was cheered overwhelmingly by the audience, and Goldberg was heavily booed when he came to the ring. Still, loud "Goldberg" chants played during his entrance, and ended abruptly when his entrance music stopped. When WWF wrestler Duane Gill was repackaged as Gillberg, who used Goldberg's wrestling moves and mannerisms, his entrance was accompanied by over exaggerated and clearly recorded chants of "Gillberg". The announcers also commented on how none of the fans in the arena were chanting to make it clear to viewers that canned heat was being used.
- WWE SmackDown uses the same pre-recorded cheer to bolster the reaction for babyface performers on a weekly basis, recognizable by a sharp, rising female vocalization at the beginning of it. Known as the "Seagull pop", it has also been used on occasion when an edition of WWE Raw is pre-recorded.
Read more about this topic: Heat (professional Wrestling)
Famous quotes containing the words canned and/or heat:
“The growing of food and the growing of children are both vital to the family’s survival.... Who would dare make the judgment that holding your youngest baby on your lap is less important than weeding a few more yards in the maize field? Yet this is the judgment our society makes constantly. Production of autos, canned soup, advertising copy is important. Housework—cleaning, feeding, and caring—is unimportant.”
—Debbie Taylor (20th century)
“Even if you find yourself in a heated exchange with your toddler, it is better for your child to feel the heat rather than for him to feel you withdraw emotionally.... Active and emotional involvement between parent and child helps the child make the limits a part of himself.”
—Stanley I. Greenspan (20th century)