WWE Is Now Manipulating Live Crowd Footage

Oh, WWE. Sometimes your shenanigans are just too silly to bear. This time, they’re cutting out fan reactions that aren’t flattering to the story they’re trying to tell.

Eagle-eyed viewers of Raw last week noted that the camera cut to the same face more than once. Not just the same face, but the same face making the same reaction. Yep, WWE has taken the liberty of reusing crowd shots to “enhance” certain moments.

According to today’s Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE can’t get the crowd shots they want so they’ve taken to misappropriating certain reactions as a sort of stock footage.

Fans of SmackDown from before the show went live will remember the days when extra noise was put on the broadcasts to make the cheers and boos a bit louder, and it seems WWE has gotten a bit more brazen in recent months.

Who can forget the time a fan was cheering for Chris Jericho’s recent US title victory, only to be edited into appearing heartbroken at Roman’s loss in the same match?

Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho - United States Title Handicap Match: Raw, Jan. 9, 2017

One one hand, what does it really matter? WWE is trying to produce an entertainment program, and whatever steps they take in production are in service of that goal. But on the other hand, they’ve tried to make the case to fans that their cheers and reactions matter in determining who gets pushed on-screen. Seeing those reactions altered is questionable, at the very least.

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