12 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2003
1. The Fake Crowd Noise Is So Offputting
WWE has a long history of sweetening reactions in post-production. For a classic example, they edited out cheering when Hulk Hogan was eliminated by Sid Justice during the 1992 Royal Rumble for the VHS release. In post, the promotion replaced those giddy cheers with boos. However, that was nothing compared to the hollow sounding pops they added to pre-taped SmackDowns during this era.
Those didn’t even sound convincing.
How to put this? OK, instead of a cheering “boom” sound, the pop went…up the way? Almost like a group of people saying, “Aaaaaaaaaaaa-uuuuuuuuuuuuuuun”, but pitch corrected to he higher than usual. It didn't sound realistic or like an organic audience, put it that way, and the fake crowd noise generator genuinely spoiled a lot of moments when binging.
Did WWE think this sounded good? It was on a delay too, for crying out loud! At best, such sweetening only bolstered actual crowd noise, but at worst it was way more noticeable than the company apparently thought and exposed how quiet fans were for some acts. A few of the forced pops during segments between Vince and Stephanie McMahon were downright painful to revisit. How did anyone think this sounded real?!
Fans around ringside could be seen sitting on their hands with glum faces as some invisible crowd higher up in the bleachers off camera went positively bananas for what they're seeing. It just didn't work. Lord only knows why WWE agreed to keep this fake noise machine around for as long as they did. The least they could've done was make it sound somewhat convincing.
What else did you learn from watching every episode of WWE SmackDown from 2003? For more wrestling, check out 10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2002 and WWE Survivor Series WarGames 2025: 8 Nightmares That Could Come True!