I've been meaning to bring this up for some time but as a man of few words, writing out the long-assed posts required for creating a thread doesn't come easy to me. I will try and stretch this out though.
There seems to be an eternal struggle for the soul of wrestling on this forum. It's between the hardcore smarks who are critical of the product (whether WWE, TNA or other) and the other hardcore group who try to suspend disbelief and just go along with show. There is a 3rd group, kids, innocents, casuals but they by their definition are not here on this forum so I'll disregard them for the purposes of this post.
I myself probably fall into the first catergory of the fan who "knows" too much about the business and it's a regrettable situation because I can imagine it's certainly easier to enjoy the magic trick if you don't know how it works. What I want to address though is this eternal struggle between the fans.
Routinely on this forum (and others) I see tremendous criticism of the "Smarks" for being contrary. Whether it's the PG argument, the Heel Cena argument or for loving the heels, the smarks get it in the neck for seemingly always taking the other side and are criticised for being rebellious for the sake of it. But is that really the truth?
The Death of Kayfabe and The Rise of The Legitimate Talent
The age of the internet was a knife to the heart of kayfabe. The much heralded Attitude era did massive damage as it tore down the curtain but it was the internet that pulled the final blow and so, a decade on, there are no more secrets. Punk isn't necessarily a bad guy, Cena isn't necessarily a good guy, these are just performers, men playing a role. So knowing this, why cheer or boo either?
Legitimate talent
CM Punk is (on here at least) probably the most popular/respected person in the WWE right now. The fact that he's a heel is almost a total irrelevance, he get's cheered because of his talent. In contrast, John Cena get's booed because of the perception that he can't wrestle. Whose is the failure here?
Why can't Cena or anyone become the universally loved face?
When your top heel is more respected than your top face, is this not a problem?
Have the WWE failed to adapt to the age of enlightment?
Are the smarks contrary or are they actually the genuine evolved fans that are being ignored?
Is this purely a problem for the "10%" (a number I feel is misleading btw)
There seems to be an eternal struggle for the soul of wrestling on this forum. It's between the hardcore smarks who are critical of the product (whether WWE, TNA or other) and the other hardcore group who try to suspend disbelief and just go along with show. There is a 3rd group, kids, innocents, casuals but they by their definition are not here on this forum so I'll disregard them for the purposes of this post.
I myself probably fall into the first catergory of the fan who "knows" too much about the business and it's a regrettable situation because I can imagine it's certainly easier to enjoy the magic trick if you don't know how it works. What I want to address though is this eternal struggle between the fans.
Routinely on this forum (and others) I see tremendous criticism of the "Smarks" for being contrary. Whether it's the PG argument, the Heel Cena argument or for loving the heels, the smarks get it in the neck for seemingly always taking the other side and are criticised for being rebellious for the sake of it. But is that really the truth?
The Death of Kayfabe and The Rise of The Legitimate Talent
The age of the internet was a knife to the heart of kayfabe. The much heralded Attitude era did massive damage as it tore down the curtain but it was the internet that pulled the final blow and so, a decade on, there are no more secrets. Punk isn't necessarily a bad guy, Cena isn't necessarily a good guy, these are just performers, men playing a role. So knowing this, why cheer or boo either?
Legitimate talent
CM Punk is (on here at least) probably the most popular/respected person in the WWE right now. The fact that he's a heel is almost a total irrelevance, he get's cheered because of his talent. In contrast, John Cena get's booed because of the perception that he can't wrestle. Whose is the failure here?
Why can't Cena or anyone become the universally loved face?
When your top heel is more respected than your top face, is this not a problem?
Have the WWE failed to adapt to the age of enlightment?
Are the smarks contrary or are they actually the genuine evolved fans that are being ignored?
Is this purely a problem for the "10%" (a number I feel is misleading btw)