There seems to be a certain tendency among a lot of writers on this site, and on wrestling websites in general, to separate oneself from the pack in terms of wrestling fandom. The way this is done, is by the use-and subsequent overuse-of a certain word. That word is mark, a term originating from the world of con-men, where the "mark" was the target, the person to be conned. Originally the word seemed to only be used to describe people who believed that pro wrestling was a legitimate sport. However, the word seems to have changed its meaning over the years, since the birth of the so-called IWC: Internet Wrestling Community.

To paraphrase, the thought process goes something like this: "I'm not like all those other wrestling fans. They're marks. But I know what I'm talking about, I know how the wrestling business really works." I have a message for all those people: no you don't. Unless you're a wrestler or a wrestling promoter, you are a mark. You can read the Daily Variety all you want, and show up to take pictures of people on the red carpet, but it doesn't make you any closer to being a "Hollywood Insider." If your involvement in the wrestling business doesn't go any farther than being a fan who posts his own opinions all over the net, perhaps fancying yourself the Harry Knowles of wrestling, you are still a mark. You are a mark, and I am a mark. The people who think Hulk Hogan actually becomes impervious to pain when he "Hulks Up" near the end of a match are marks, and the people who say they know someone whose brother's local butcher's nephew's landlord was backstage at a house show and saw Rob Van Dam hit Carlito in the face with a pie backstage, thus proving that he will never be given the World Title, are also marks. So I say it's time to let the phrase go, and just enjoy ourselves.

At some point in history, calling someone a mark during a wrestling argument became the quick and easy way of undermining that person's opinion. "Well, so-and-so is just a mark, they don't know what's really happening." Or, "the marks all think this, but really I know it's that." It's used to substantiate your own opinion as the "real" or "correct" opinion; many times to show that someone's favorite wrestler is a poor choice. "All those marks love Hulk Hogan and John Cena, but I'm a real fan because I know that Psicosis and Paul London are the best ever." The funny thing is, there's no difference in what any of us are doing--we're all just paying our hard-earned money to see our favorite wrestlers, whoever they may be.

At some other point in the history of wrestling fandom, "getting excited about a match" was replaced by "marking out." It's as if the people who use the phrase "marking out" want to make sure everybody knows that they don't think everything they see is real, so they pull out an expression like that so as not to reveal the excited kid in them that's loving every second of the action that pro wrestling brings us. It's like they're trying to downplay their own excitement in an attempt to sound like a mature, knowledgeable adult--a "smark," or "smart mark," if you will. It's like when adults go see a movie like Star Wars or Indiana Jones and love it as much as any kid loves it, but have to preface their opinion by calling the film "escapist," just so you know that they're a "serious film viewer" who appreciates "serious, real films." I say nuts to that. All movies are escapist when you really think about it, and all wrestling fans are marks when you really think about it.

Of course, I'm not insinuating that we all go back to believing that pro wrestling isn't staged. And I'm not suggesting that your opinions of various wrestlers and wrestling matches shouldn't change or evolve as you grow older and/or learn more about pro wrestling in general. It's just that if Ric Flair can come out on RAW and say that he's a mark for Kurt Angle, or speak at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony and say that he's a mark for "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, then who the hell are any of us to claim that we're not marks" So what I am saying is that perhaps it's time we really examine and perhaps re-define what we mean by the word mark, or even-gasp-admit that we are all marks and abandon it forever as a superfluous word, synonymous with "wrestling fan." The audience for pro wrestling is just like the audience for any sport, or entertainment medium-there are those who know more about it than others, but in the end, we all sit together on equal ground, in the same category: we are fans.

This article was written with Randy Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior from Wrestlemania VII playing in the background. That match sure makes me mark out.

by Dave Hanson ..