In this day and age of WWE, I find it amazing how people take wrestling very seriously and think of it as “real”. What those kind of fans are called is they are “marks”. Look up the wrestling term glossary’s. A “mark” is a fan who believes everything is real. They are type of fans of who will cheer the “babyfaces” (good guys) and hate the “heels” (badguys).
You see, I like to look at myself as a “smart/smark”. They both mean the same thing. What a “smart” or a “smark” fan which ever one you wanna call it is someone who doesn’t take wrestling seriously. A “smart” fan is somebody who knows it’s just a scripted show. This fan also knows a LOT about the wrestling business. This fan knows all the behind the scenes stuff about it and what goes on in the locker room/backstage. The secrets behind the wrestling business. The smart fans would also enjoy the “heel” wrestlers more.
As a wrestling fan myself, I look at myself as a “smart” or a “smark”. I know a lot about wrestling. After years after watching ever since I was a kid and doing lots of research and reading about the business, I would consider myself a “smart” fan.
When I talk about wrestling to other “marks”, it’s interesting how they react to me, though. A lot of them don’t really seem to understand that it’s just a scripted show. When ever I point out that I like some of the heel wrestlers like say Brock Lesnar, I usually get no responses to those posts. No thumbs up or anything. I reveal that I like badguy wrestlers like Batista or the Wyatt family… fans would question me about my support for them.
I have noticed that “marks” have taking over the world of wrestling. The “smart/smark” fanbase is diminishing while “marks” is getting bigger. I think that’s what the WWE wants. They want to attract more marks. Get people to believing that wrestling is real. WWE never called this wrestling anymore to begin with. They call it strictly, “Entertainment” as a sneaky way to attract more, “marks”.
I like to join wrestling forums in facebook and other places where there are other “smart” fans ’cause discussing wrestling with them is easier than discussing wrestling with “marks”. “Marks” can be a real piece of work. Don’t get me wrong, though, I started off as a mark when I was a kid but as I got older… I started to learn that WWE is just a show and I never take it seriously anymore.
I am pretty confident into enjoying badguy wrestlers ’cause I find them more entertaining. The badguy wrestlers have better mic skills.
WWE is pretty mainstream and huge now obviously. If you wanna watch a wrestling show where it’s aimed at “smart” fans, watch TNA Impact. They’re better than WWE, in my opinion and now that Hogan is no longer with TNA, I might start watching them again.
I don’t like the way WWE is going these days but I thought they did an excellent job with WM-30 despite the fans not liking the Undertaker losing his streak or Triple H losing to Daniel Bryan.
I’m not afraid to voice my opinions even if other fans don’t like it. I remember that I want to a live RAW show at the Times Union Center and I’ll never forget that when I bought the Nexus t-shirt, everybody gave me nasty looks when I was walking around. The Nexus used to be a wrestling group that were considered badguys. LOL!
WWE definitely did attract a lot of new and younger fans who basically know nothing about wrestling or it’s history. It’s interesting to say the least.
Wrestling is no longer the same anymore. It’s such a damn shame. I miss the old days. The old days during the TV-14 era were amazing. I miss the hardcore wrestling. That’s what I missed most but WWE banned hardcore wrestling due to them going PG. Sucks but it is what it is.
Kev
K'Brocking 
You must be logged in to post a comment.