Do you miss the times

[Tim]

When you were a mark? I was reading one of Steve Anderson''s features (shock horror) and he was discussing how he wishes he could be a mark. He said he wished he could go back to the times when he didn't know about blading, heels and faces, all the ins and outs of wrestling. When he believed everything, and you would hate the heels, and love the faces. So the question I am asking, would you want to go back to the times when you were a mark, and when you believed the storylines that are in wrestling? And did you enjoy it more back then?

I would like to go back when I loved wrestling, when I believed everything. I didn't analyse anything, I didn't think about it, I just watched the show and enjoyed it. I think that now that I know more abot backstage, and the ins and outs in the business, i've started enjoying wrestling less. Back when I was a mark, I always made sure I watched Raw, SmackDown and ECW every week, making sure i'd tape it if I couldn't watch it. But now, I don't get to watch Raw at all, and I almost never catch some of it on the internet. And if I miss a SmackDown, I could care less. So I think knowing the business more has caused me to become less interested in actually watching wrestling, and I wish I could go back to that time when I enjoyed it more.

 

[Rusty]

Yes, I do miss those times. I miss when I used to go to my friends house on the weekend to see what The Rock and Stone Cold got up to next. I missed when I was so happy that Eddie Guerrero finally won the big one. I missed when I used to always boo the heels, no matter who they were. Since pay per views are shown here in Australia at about 10pm on a Monday Morning, I used to race home to see if Cena retained or to see if Kurt Angle lost. Then in 2006 I started visiting various wrestling news websites. I barely believed anything I heard.

Mainly because I couldn't believe things such as Michelle McCool being a bitch backstage or Angle ripping on the WWE superstars. I thought these people were cool and down to earth human beings. I'm sure many of them are, but when you cheer these people of TV but you hear different things that happen backstage, it could change your opinion on a particular superstar. So anyway I started reading articles and columns and I learnt things such as wrestling companies need to have faces and heels to succeed. Hell, I learnt the definition of a heel and a babyface.

It was interesting at the time, but now that I'm technically a "smark", I have different opinions on basically everything wrestling related. I still love wrestling and watch it every week without fail. It's a habit and an addiction that I love. So yes I do miss those times, but knowing backstage and other things isn't all that horrible either.

 

[The Undercover Man]

I would love to go back to those times when i was young kid and beleived everything, like Stone Cold really hating on The Rock and vica versa. it was so great because when you are younger you beleive everything don't you? I beleived The Undertaker was dead and all the rest of it. Those were great days where you did'nt actually care or no what kind of politics were happening backstage. All that i was intrested in was seeing Stone cold swearing at somebody and kicking their ass.

When i was younger i beleived there was no storylines simply because everything seemed so real like The Rock dissing Kane and taking the piss. Or Stone Cold kicking everyones ass because he hated them. The storylines back when i were a kid were much better, they were beliveable and you did'nt look beyond them, you were allways focused on them and nothing else.

I definently enjoyed wrestling back in the good ol' days of the late 80s and the 90's, nothing seemed scripted it seemed all real. When i was going to school the only thing that was being said was rumors and little kids excited about RAW is WAR. The wrestling was what i enjoyed the most, away from the promos and scripts the wrestling was the best, things happened that we never expected, wrestlers were willing to put their bodies on the line to entertain us and every night we'd go home or switch off the TV pleased if we had seen a match that had weapons or something simply amazing happening in it.

 

[Miko]

Not really! I sometimes watch Heroes unmasked but that doesnt make me enjoy Heroes anyless. I just look at it from the perspective of it just being a TV show, when WWE say that all forms of entertainment are competition they are right, that's all it is, another TV show.

I get into characters, example: I mark out when Sylar from Heroes teases a face turn as it were. Just like I would mark out if Kane went down to the ring and chokeslammed the hell out of some heel and officially turned face again. I dont like it when the bad guys from most other TV shows do something bad to my favourite character, just as I dont like it when it happens in wrestling.

So even at 20 years old I am still to some degree a mark, dont get me wrong just as any other TV show there are still some good guys I am not keen on (Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio) and some bad guys who I kinda like (Edge, Chris Jericho) but at the end of the day I still want to see the heels lose and the faces win. What more could you want from wrestling?

 

[klunderbunker]

Yes and no. To begin with, despite being smarks, we all still have some mark left in us. Parts of that for us will never die. I guarantee you that if any of the older generation went to a live show and heard Hogan's music play and he walked through the curtain, we would go insane, and the same would be true for today's generation for Austin or Rock. That's the fun part of wrestling: no matter what your level of knowledge is, you escape reality in it. Would I like to be a mark again? Kind of, sure, but at the same time I like knowing what's going on. Even though we have an idea of what goes on behind the camera, it's still fun to know more than the average fan at times. I'd say that maybe yes and maybe no. Too many perks about both.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Just because I am smart to the business a little bit does not make me any less of a mark. I still flip out every time my favorite wrestler comes out. Or when a title changes hands. Or when a superstar makes his return. So what if I know what might happen. I still go crazy when it does. I'm still a mark. I will die a mark as well. Just because I klnow some of whats going to happen does not make the show any less enjoyable to me.

 

[Father:_Polley]

I kind of miss the naiveity i had before I came on to these sites to read spoilers because I wasn't getting the chance to see Smackdown due to having to work Saturday mornings and being out in the evening. That being said, I have no regrets because I still enjoy watching wrestling despite knowing the backstage crap that goes on. I can live without knowing that injuries are works, because I still would have chosen who I cheered for anyway. I enjoy wrestlers because I like how they work. That's all that matters to me. It's fun!

 

[Mighty NorCal]

No I dont miss the times, becuase I still live in them. I forget all this shit when I watch the programming. I totally suspend myself, same way as when i go to the movies. Thats why its so easy for Triple H to be my favorite wrestler. he is my favorite character on a television program, and nothing more. All the other shit people talk about concerning him has nothing to do with what goes on out there. None whatsoever. I think if more people quit being so worried about trying to be smart, or trying to prove how smart they are, they would enjoy the show a ton more. Of course outside of the programming, I appreciate all the aspects of things, but during the shows, I am in total mark mode. I only use the news site to check on injuries, suspensions, and things of that nature. I never check spoilers, or who is coming to which place when, or anything like that. I dont see why people want to do things like that so badly. if you undo all the mystery, if you watch and judge things on factors OTHER than the preformances and characters, then seriously dudes, what the FUCK is even the point of being a fan??

 

[MrScott]

23 and i still mark my ass off for my favorite wrestlers, most hard core one as of late was when jericho won the title back off of Batista in the steel cage, i pretty much jumped out of my seat. hell when i got back from basic and saw that he was champion, i gave out a nice little fuck yeah.

what sites like this give you are another view into the world of wrestling out side of the tv show. what you see when you watch it on tv, or live or how ever else you see it is all up to you. you want to look at it and be all "oh this is fake" or know whats going to happen at every second because you decided to read a few spoilers, or change who you like because you happen to think there a dick in real life. thats all up to you. I on the other hand will keep enjoying my chance to keep marking out when ever i get the chance to catch wrestling on tv, and i can tell you for damn sure i always will =)

 

[Dragonslayer]

I agree with NorCal on this to a certain extent... basically the only way to watch wrestling without feeling intellectually insulted just IS the fact that it is absolutely MANDATORY to suspend your disbelief. If you can't do that, you're in the wrong place. Especially in today's situation, when wrestling is not as secretive anymore as it used to be in the days when there was no internet, and "insider" information was scarce, it is all the more important to just not care about the "reality" of it.

The thing is, this whole "suspension of disbelief" (in German we call it "Täuschungsvertrag") also applies to any kind of entertainment that goes along the lines of theatre or cinema. Whenver you go to the movies, and watch, say, "Die Hard 4" or whatever - you just don't go like: "Yeah it looks nice but it's not real, they just act as if Bruce Willis just tore down that Harrier Jet". You just don't do that. If you did, it would ruin your entire experience and pervert the purpose of movies as such. And what people (especially people who don't like wrestling and claim it is "fake" and what not) fail to realize is that you have to do the very same with wrestling. Agreed, back in the day, when wrestling was supposed to be "real", the business itself was blurring the line between fiction and reality (but this in turn was also part of the enticement of the product in the first place), but meanwhile, the business has evolved into what has been called "just another TV show". And while we all know - and agree - that actors in TV shows or movies just "act as if" and readily accept that in turn for the promise of being entertained by the stories presented, I just do not see why so many people can't accept the fact that wrestling fans, in a very like manner, just accept that the wrestlers "act as if", and still are entertained by the storylines played out, and by the matches created. That is the very essence of this "contract of deception" (as the German "Täuschungsvertrag" translates to litterally), of this suspension of disbelief. You suspend your disbelief, you accept that what you see is "real" to the extent you accept the story of a movie or TV show to be "real", and in turn, you receive entertainment.

Now as for me - I personally do indeed miss a bit those days when I really didn't know anything about the backstage happenings... but mostly because surprises back then really DID come as surprises, and you didn't know weeks in advance who was going to turn face or heel, or who was going to win the title at what PPV. Nowadays, with that suspension of disbelief, I still can enjoy those moments - but in the end, nothing will get back that "magic" of the moment when I thought that everything was really "real" lol. But as said - if you can accept pro wrestling as what it is - a form of entertainment similar to TV formats, movies or theatre - then you can be entertained just as well as in a theatre. If you go to a play, in many cases you will know what is going to happen. You know that in "Hamlet", everyone dies in the end. But you still go to the theatre, and still watch it, and still (possibly) enjoy it. The same holds true for wrestling, if the analogy is a bit distant: Even though you know Wrestler X is going to win the title at the end of the next PPV, you can still enjoy the way that leads up to that event if it is acted out well and scripted well.

So I say, being a mark of course helps a lot in terms of entertainment value. But we can't stay 10 years old forever; eventually, we have to grow up. But even in doing that, we can still preserve some of that spirit of that 10-year-old-kid that jumps up and down because his or her favorite wrestler just got cheated, and carry it over to our adult days. You just need to suspend your disbelief, and it's 1988 all over again

 

[RVDgurl]

I read the spoilers and the gossip, but I'm still a mark. I just watched Hogan's CCW this weekend and acted like a lovestruck teenage girl when RVD came on. I couldn't stop smiling and I was glued to the tv. I still yell and cheer at shows. I get mad when my favs lose and happy when they win. It still takes my breath away when the fist notes of "The Final Countdown" hit and Bryan Danielson makes his way to the ring. Is is goofy- hell yes. But wrestling is my way of letting loose of being a kid again for those couple of hours. No matter how informed I become of the business, it will never take away my enjoyment. I will always be a mark.

 

[Dead Kennedy]

Yes and no. If the match is good enough, I'll mark out anyway and sit up in my chair at every twist and turn in the match and lose my breath whenever I'm really into it. Take Jeff Hardy vs. Triple H at No Mercy for instance. I was IN that damn match.

Of course, being privy to the workings of the business has its drawbacks. I never realized so much politicking went on and was shocked to find out in 2002 about hazing of talent, backstage politics and whatnot, not to mention Hardcore Holly's reputation. But me knowing it or not doesn't change the fact that it happens, bit sad. I mean, it completely shattered my previous heroic image of Triple H forever, no matter if it is even true or not.

If the product is truly good enough, it won't really matter. I'll mark out and become one of those guys with temporary and complete suspension of disbelief until it ends.