What Is A Wrestling Fan?

[Philibusta]

What is a wrestling fan?
It’s a difficult question to answer straightaway, because, of course, there are so many different types of people who watch and follow professional wrestling for all different kinds of reasons. But for purposes of this column, I’m going to categorize all of us into one of two basic, very generalized camps, mostly because I see a clear delineation between the two, and it seems to be one that causes a lot of negativity between the two groups.

Group 1: Fans of Sports Entertainment
I know, I can hear the groans already. Regardless of whether or not you like, hate, or just simply don’t care about that particular term, it’s one that has become common, and it looks like it’s going to be around for a long time. Besides, for purposes of this column, it fits.

Fans of Sports Entertainment watch wrestling to be entertained. They know it’s not a legitimate sport, of course. This was not always the case. In bygone eras, huge debates raged inside and outside of the wrestling fan community as to whether professional wrestling was “real” or not. Nowadays, we know it’s not real, at least in the sense of being a legitimate competitive sport. Still, Fans of Sports Entertainment flock to it.

These fans are also referred to as “marks”. This term has become somewhat derogatory within the fan community, but it shouldn’t be. These so-called “marks” tune in each week to see the latest chapters in the storylines. They watch the matches biting their nails when their favorite wrestler is in a tough spot. They are the fans who, while watching a wrestling match, get upset and cry “hey that isn’t fair!” when someone loses a match due to outside interference.

Fans in Group 1 have a tendency to stick to the “major” promotions: WWE, WCW, TNA, etc. I think a big reason for this is that fans in Group 1 are partly attracted by the glamour and the spectacle of professional wrestling. And the cold hard facts are, when an indy promotion can get coverage on TV or even on the internet, their production values are much lower than the major promotions, and this tends to throw off a lot of fans in this group.

Suspension of disbelief: Fans of Sports Entertainment, to get the most entertainment possible, will be able to temporarily suspend their disbelief about the “realities” of wrestling. For that one or two hours while their show is on TV, or a couple more during a pay-per-view, they buy into the stories they are being presented with. It’s really no different than watching a movie and becoming engrossed with the characters and the story to the point where one actually cares, to some small extent, what happens to the characters.

For a couple hours at a time, these fans manage to recapture some of the sense of wonder within themselves that drew us all to professional wrestling in the first place.

Group 2: Fans of the Wrestling Business
This group is made up of fans who like to learn about the business side of the professional wrestling industry. They want to know all the behind-the-scenes stuff that’s going on. Who is in contract negotiations with what promotion, what show had the best buyrate this week, which wrestlers currently have the best workrates.

These are the fans that enjoy the “GM mode” of wrestling video games the most. They can play wrestling-promotion simulation games for endless hours, getting into all the details of booking, acquiring media coverage, signing new talent, and all the other things that actually go into running a wrestling promotion.

People in this group are also called “smart marks” or “smarks”, which has also become a derogatory term somewhat. When someone is referred to as a “smark”, some people get the impression that “this guy thinks he knows everything about wrestling”. And in a few cases, it may be true that the individual in question has a “big head’ about their knowledge. But I believe the great majority of people who fall into this group know at least enough to know that they don’t know everything.

If it sounds like I’m putting this group down, I’m not. They are legitimately just as much of wrestling fans as the first group, just in a different way. They have discovered the aspects of professional wrestling that interest them the most, and have spent (probably) long hours researching it and learning about it. For example, members of this Group seem to follow (and have much more knowledge about) the various independent and foreign promotions than do the people in Group 1.

The only downside to this group would be, I guess, that learning so much about the inner workings of the business has to make one somewhat jaded. It’s like when you were a kid and you saw that first movie that made you go “WOW!” For me it was Star Wars. I know, I’m dating myself, but I needed an example. As a kid I was a huge “mark” for Star Wars. Then, when I saw all the “makings-of” and “behind-the-scenes” stuff, it kind of took away some of that initial sense of wonder. I can’t say for sure, but I’m betting most people who fall into Group 2 know what I’m talking about. Now that you know how it works, watching it work just isn’t as much fun as it used to be.

For most of this column, I’ve tried to avoid any negativity towards either of my two groups. And I think I’ve managed pretty well, for there’s good and bad things about both groups. But this one point I feel has to be made about this second group, although I will attempt to present it in an objective way.

Some members of this second group seem to have a tendency to look down on those in the first group, because they don’t have the same level of “inside” knowledge. These people think that anyone who doesn’t have the kind of inside knowledge they do are just “casual fans”. What the people in Group 2 who do feel this way don’t seem to realize is, the people in Group 1 don’t care to have “inside knowledge” of the business, because the reasons they follow wrestling have nothing to do with business side of it.

Recap
Like I said earlier, these two groups were very generalized, simply for the purposes of this column. Most wrestling fans have traits, to different extents, of both groups, and each of my groups could be broken down into smaller and smaller groups. And neither group is better, or worse, than the other. Why does a “smark” have to think that a “mark” is any less of a wrestling fan because he doesn’t know (and couldn’t care less) what a workrate is? And why does a “mark” have to think that a “smark” is “boring” because he does talk about workrates? Obviously it’s not boring to him.

I grew up around people in the wrestling business. I went partway through wrestling training myself before an injury caused by my own stupidity put me out. Because of these things, I guess I have acquired a little (a very little) “inside” knowledge, and interest in that area. But I still identify far more with the fans in Group 1. When I sit down to watch, I just want to see great matches. And that’s what we all want, I think, in the end.

[OldSkoolWarrior]

In the past, I've tried to ask myself this same question... more importantly, I've directed the question to myself, What makes me a wrestling fan? Why do I love wrestling so much?

Reading this post, and basing my fandom on your two groups, I partially fall into both! I've worked on production crews for three local promotions filming, photographing, reporting on, and making graphics for these promotions. I talk to people in the know. I get to watch people learn how to do what they do in the ring. I've been one of the few "outsiders" to see the locker room and I am in no way, shape or form, one of the boys in the back! I'm definitely one that likes to soak up the wrestling news and want to know who's getting hired or fired, who's pissed off at who backstage, etc.

On the other hand, I've been a wrestling fan since I was like 3-4 years old! I grew up watching Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels... HELL, when I was a kid, I had nightmares thinking the Undertaker was going to KILL ME! Yes, there was a time when I finally realized that it wasn't ALL real, but that didn't stop me from believing in wrestling and being entertained. Even now, there are some moments where my jaw hits the floor, and just for a few moments, I'm lost in the action!

I can't help but want to compare it to the "Spirit of Christmas"... I know that sounds so cheezy, but hear me out. When you were a kid you didn't know what went on, but as you grew older, you started to become hip to the fact of things... and you went with it for awhile b/c it still benefited you. Well, now, as an adult, with the newer generation of kids, the cycle comes full circle and you see how much they believe! Maybe I'm different than others, but going to shows and seeing so many kids in the crowd, jawing at the heels, and cheering for the baby faces makes me proud to be a wrestling fan again!

Maybe this is a sign... that in order to really appreciate pro wrestling that we have to watch it almost through naive eyes... Yes, I have been jaded in the past, but in all honesty, this business, this form of entertainment is something that I am passionate about... personally, I just like to call it PRO WRESTLING, and I think that over the years people have tried to put too many adjectives to it, that people have forgotten what it really was!

[CT Baker]

A wrestling fan is somebody who watches wrestling and enjoys it on some level. That's it. End of conversation.

A few years ago being a 'real' wrestling fan was all the rage on the internet. Everytime I read that term, I wanted to throw something. This was among the most annoying of internet wrestling fads. From what I gathered, being a 'real' wrestling fan meant you watched non-WWE wrestling. In reality it was nothing more than snobby wrestling fans with too much time on their hands trying to be elitists.

As far as I'm concerned, 'real' pro wrestling (whatever that means) and sports entertainment aren't much different. Some promotions just emphasize one over the other, but old school NWA, Memphis, ROH, etc. had sports entertainment, just as the dreaded WWE has 'real' pro wrestling from time to time. Outside of maybe All Japan in the 90s and shoot style pro wrestling (ie. regular pro wrestling that tries REALLY hard to pretend it's real) every promotion I can think of has done sports entertainment.

As far as I'm concerned, I am a fan of both 'real' pro wrestling and sports entertainment.

Just to use some examples; I'll never understand how some wrestling fans don't like watching Bret Hart or Chris Benoit matches AND enjoy the antics of Santino Marella and King Booker

I have managed to offend fanatics on both side of the fence before. I've been called a snobby elitist. I have also been called a sports entertainment loving WWE lemming. That just means I'm doing something right.

[OldSkoolWarrior]

Originally Posted by CT Baker

Just to use some examples; I'll never understand how some wrestling fans don't like watching Bret Hart or Chris Benoit matches AND enjoy the antics of Santino Marella and King Booker

Santino has his moments where he's funny, but King Booker pissed me the hell off! Entertainment is good from time to time, like stuff with The Hurricane or guys like Kai En Tai (LOL), but when it comes down to it, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Mr. Perfect, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho... essentially the guys who were the most technically sound and athletic in the ring were what got me to really LOVE pro wrestling! And now seeing the next generation of wrestlers in WWE, TNA and ROH, I'm excited b/c a lot of them are phenomenal technical wrestlers with a good mix of exciting athletic talent, guys like Austin Aries, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, John Morrison, Nigel McGuinness (Desmond Wolfe), AJ Styles, Daniels, etc...

I get that these companies can't please everyone, but you would hope that they wouldn't alienate their core fans that have been with them for years by drastically changing their product. If they keep a good mix of pro wrestling and entertainment value, they'll be okay.

[Toron]

Good coloumn. And yes, the 2 groups as you described them are very, very generalized reflections of what you could classify a fan of professional wrestling under. But what I find, any fan of the game who would classify himself as being in group 2 originally came from group 1 to begin with.

When you start to watch and become a fan of professional wrestling, whether your a young kid or an older adult (usually, when you first come to enjoy wrestling, your a kid), it is because you allow yourself to be swept up in the storylines and passion of the game before anything else. When you first start to watch wrestling, questions such as "I wonder why this wrestler is getting a push?" and "is this wrestler actually a good technical wrestler?" do not come up because you are not knowledgable enough in the process of wrestling to understand what is really going on. When you first start to watch a wrestling program, it is because you are enjoying the on-screen antics and wonder that the show provides.

And then, after multiple years (usually), if this same fan has continued to stick with the sport, will casually trasition over into group 2 as he gets older. And the only reason he does this is because people like to learn as much as they can about the things they like. If this fan continued to watch pro wrestling for years then he must have taken a liking to the sport and then, like anything else the kid takes a liking to, he is going to want to learn as much about this something as he can. It's a natural instinct.

Professional wrestling, however, is a very tough and unusual sport to take a liking to. It is unlike anything else in the world. And to learn about and understand its behind-the-scenes workings involves more then just a trip to wikipedia to fully understand. Many younger fans took a great liking to the "kayfabe" side of the sport but as they get older, wanting to learn more about the sport then just what is presented to them on-screen, try thier best to look up information and understand the inner workings of the wrestling world. And if they continue to like what they find, they will continue to indulge themselves more and more into any information they can find to help them better understand this world. And this is where your true devotation will show.

If you are truly a "huge" fan of something, you will want to learn as much about this something as you can. And as you are doing so, if you continue to like what you are finding out, no, if you continue to find yourself becoming more and more intrigued by this something, then you can easily say to someone, yes, I am a true fan of this thing. But, as you continue to learn more and more about this something that you enjoy, if you find yourself not becoming more and more intrigued in this something as you go along, then you will eventually stop trying to learn as much about this thing as you can, and will just stay at the level of knowledge you are at and continue to enjoy your thing at face value. If you are here, you can go up to somebody and say, yes, I am a fan of this thing, but not a 'huge' fan.

In professional wrestling, many younger kids who enjoy watching professional wrestling as they grow up, group 1, will eventually get bored of pro wrestling and stop watching once they get older. Either that or they will continue to follow the storylines and character on TV but will never move forward in their once-desired knowledge for the business. They will never move out of group 1. But fans who end up looking into the inner workings of the professional wrestling world and find themselves enjoying it, and wanting more, will eventually move into group 2, because group 2 involves wanting to know as much about the world of professional wrestling as one can. These are the extreme fans who, when found themselves as young kids, in group 1, enjoying wrestling for its face value, continued to love the business after they started researching more about it and instead of getting bored of it, like others have, continued to stick with it.

When you think about it. Any business in the world has very generalized groups such as these associated with their world as well. I love movies. I love allowing myself to get wrapped up in thier storylines and characters. I love suspending my disbelief and getting wrapped up in its magic. But do I love movies enough to move into group 2 and start wanting to learn how they make the movies, or start learning about the history of film-making, or start caring whether or not Tom Cruise is gay or not. No, because I am not that passionate about movies, where as, some other people, possibly those trying to make it in the movie business, are. Another example from my childhood. I used to and still do love magicians. I love watching a magician perform a magic show and wondering to myself how he does this and that trick. As a kid, because I enjoyed the world of magic so much, I indulged myself in trying to learn as much about becoming a magician as I could. I bought tapes explaining to me how to perform certain tricks. I bought special magic novelty items. I got pretty deep into it, I like to think. But eventually I reached a point where as much as I love magic, I truly just wasn't passionate enough about it to really continue my knowledge in the magic world. Now, I still love to watch magicians perform, group 1, but I just have no care anymore for the business side of magic.

So as you can see, almost any business has its 'general' fans and its 'die-hard' fans. It is up to you to find out what you are truly passionate in, not only to want to learn as much as you can about this something, but to want to learn as much as you can about this something.

I just so happen to find my true and deepest passion lies in professional wrestling, as I'm sure others on this site feel as well. And I do agree it's not quite the same anymore, because the magic and wonder that I experienced for professional wrestling while in group 1, as a young kid, that attracted me to the sport to begin with, is no loger there. But, because I am such a fan of professional wrestling, there are new aspects of the game that entice and intrigue me now. Sometimes I miss just being able to sit down and watch a wrestling show, but then again, if I knew then what I know now, I'm sure I'd miss criticising certain wrestlers for thier lack of wrestling ability in my mind just as much. There are pros and cons associated with both groups, associated with any business. But because professional wrestling is such a bizarre world, so much more discussion can be put into the game by its fans. Which is why I find wrestling fans like to classify themselves into groups, such as these.

Truly passionate fans of movies that end up getting into or at least wanting to get into the movie game don't classifiy other movie fans that don't as a different level of fan then themselves. But wrestling fans do. And possibly this is because of its appeal as both a sport and an enterainment based product. There is just so much more that one can learn about the professional wrestling world than any other, so much more that goes into this sport, that when fans truly do get to a knowledgable enough level about the game, they like to reward themselves a little by bragging thier supposed "knowledge". But maybe not. But their are so many fans of professional wrestling around the world, and so much one can learn about the sport, that wrestling fans take pride in what they do and do not know about this game. Plus, unlike in "real" legitimate sports, professional wrestling relies completely on creativity and imagination. That is what possibly attracts us so much when we are only children. And with such a wide array of possibilites and inventiveness, fans of this sport, more so than anything else, feel when they get to a certain degree of expertise in the game, they can run the professional wrestling world better then what is currently being done. Perhaps it is with this knowledge of freedom and superiority that is somewhat being suggested that intrigues wrestling fans to get more involved.

I guess I should try and wrap this up since I ended up writing so much more then I originally intended to. But as usual, as I begin to write something, more and more things come to mind and I just have to get them down out of my mind before I forget them. Any business I believe has very generalized fans that you can classify as group 1 or group 2 fans. Group 1 is when fans of something get initially hooked on this something, enjoying the product for its face value. But it is those group 2 fans, who enjoy this something of thiers so much that they continue on from group 1 into group 2 by trying to learn as much about their something as they can, that are the 'true' fans. And as it relates to any business in the world, including professional wrestling, if nothing else, it is these group 2 fans that will probably become the people of the future, getting into and controlling their particular beloved industries.

However, group 1 fans usually far outweigh the number of group 2 fans which is why they are often catered to more.(Ex.- Professional wrestling )

[ScrapMetal55]

This is a good column. I like how you broke the details down into categories.

I think in my case, I'm a bit of a mixture. I'm group 3. Not that I'm making another group, I'm just adding 1 and 2.

As a child, I was indeed swept up by the storylines like Macho getting bit by Damien, and Million Dollar Man buying Sweet Sapphire from Dusty Rhodes, and of course, Andre turning heel against Hogan. It was like a comic book type world, with good guys and bad guys. Skeletor vs He-Man, Thundercats vs Mothra, or....dare I say it....Autobots vs Decepticons.

It wasn't until my teens that I realized what kind of work goes into putting on a wrestling show. I had new questions, like "Why is Hulk Hogan getting booed?" or "Why did Sting lose? Wasn't he the good guy?" Questions like this caused my lifelong research, which I continue to do to this day.

As the people who fall under the category of Group 1, I enjoy the kayfabe aspect, and I even let myself believe in it to a degree. Sometimes, even to the point where it insults my intelligence, but I forgive that, because it's what I expect from wrestling. I like to watch a good rivalry culmination, and a promo about the steel cage match happening later in the evening, and I like to boo when the bad guy wins the strap....

On the other hand, I like to dissect matches, and look at them from an athletic point of view. As if to say "that was good timing for a head-scissors takeover", etc. I enjoy the art of wrestling in many forms. I'm a fan of fast paced matches filled with high flying moves, and powerhouse matches that are slowing, but the moves have more impact. I like technical bouts, and submission battles as well as hardcore or extreme wrestling incorporating weapons, and carrying on into the locker rooms or out in the parking lot.

Many things that impress me about wrestling is the athletes' ability to keep going, and their dedication to say "Hit me with a chair....again...". "I'm gonna jump off this ladder, and you move out of the way, so I land face first". These things are NEVER incorporated into real competitive sports, but in my eyes, it takes much talent and determination to pull off such a show.

With all this information about myself, it's hard to put me into one specific group, as I enjoy the entertainment aspect as well as the art of wrestling itself. I guess I'm just an all-around fan.