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"Smarks/IWC/Fans ruined wrestling"


God of Lightning

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Fortunately, it's a lazy complaint that most big names seem to have abandoned.

 

It's just a way for promotions to put out garbage and feel confident about it. I'd say that 95% of wrestlers love their fans for better or worse, and the whole "quit being a smark" logic is something that only bitter people seem to cling to. You see it very rarely.

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I'm not even talking about people in the business, though I've seen that too. I meant more the annoying WWE fanboys who have a hate boner for anyone and anything the internet likes and blindly defend whatever WWE does. Hell, some of the stuff they say isn't just stupid, but objectively wrong.

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I'm not even talking about people in the business, though I've seen that too. I meant more the annoying WWE fanboys who have a hate boner for anyone and anything the internet likes and blindly defend whatever WWE does. Hell, some of the stuff they say isn't just stupid, but objectively wrong.

So, Seth a few weeks ago.

Glad he's calmed down a little.

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I have mixed feelings about this - I do feel that 'smart' fans have changed the way that wrestling is perceived.

The 'you deserve it' and 'this is awesome' type chants are directed from an entirely different perspective. To me it's changed the wrestling business from being an emotional, visceral reaction to an educated critic reaction (like someone reviewing a film).

Partly I think the internet and social media has given everyone a platform so that they can play critic, or play writer etc (which is cool, I'm not bashing it) but to me it doesn't lead to me feeling more entertained.

I also feel that this change in the way that wrestling is viewed has lead to different types of matches and styles to the point where it's hard to feel immersed anymore. While The Young Bucks vs The Lucha Brothers was a great ladder match at All Out, I didn't feel immersed and instead felt very aware that I was watching a performance.

The other thing is that they are right - we are a vocal minority. We're the most passionate for sure, but we aren't the most numerous. Most of us don't know what it's like to wrestle and most of us would suck at it. However, that doesn't mean that we don't know what we're talking about - after watching for 20 years you begin to get it.

Also, all of the 'pulling back the curtain' content that WWE has produced has lead to more fans being smart so really they have themselves to blame.

So, I guess I wish the crowd went along with the performance like they are watching a play, rather than ironically cheering to make themselves a part of the show. I liked wrestling better when it felt like an art form, not an amusing spectacle.

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I have mixed feelings about this - I do feel that 'smart' fans have changed the way that wrestling is perceived.

 

The 'you deserve it' and 'this is awesome' type chants are directed from an entirely different perspective. To me it's changed the wrestling business from being an emotional, visceral reaction to an educated critic reaction (like someone reviewing a film).

 

Partly I think the internet and social media has given everyone a platform so that they can play critic, or play writer etc (which is cool, I'm not bashing it) but to me it doesn't lead to me feeling more entertained.

 

I also feel that this change in the way that wrestling is viewed has lead to different types of matches and styles to the point where it's hard to feel immersed anymore. While The Young Bucks vs The Lucha Brothers was a great ladder match at All Out, I didn't feel immersed and instead felt very aware that I was watching a performance.

 

The other thing is that they are right - we are a vocal minority. We're the most passionate for sure, but we aren't the most numerous. Most of us don't know what it's like to wrestle and most of us would suck at it. However, that doesn't mean that we don't know what we're talking about - after watching for 20 years you begin to get it.

 

Also, all of the 'pulling back the curtain' content that WWE has produced has lead to more fans being smart so really they have themselves to blame.

 

So, I guess I wish the crowd went along with the performance like they are watching a play, rather than ironically cheering to make themselves a part of the show. I liked wrestling better when it felt like an art form, not an amusing spectacle.

 

I agree with this. Also personally, I liked wrestling more before I became a "smark." When my favorite wrestler would loose and I would be mad at the wrestler who beat him instead of being mad at the writers who weren't booking him to win.

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I'm with The D. Crowds like ones that gather for the Raw after WrestleMania for example seem to have gone from "passionate gatherings" to, "let's see what crazy antics we can do to beat the last crowd last year." It can go from being awesome one moment, to becoming a parody of itself the next.

 

Someone on Twitter posted an old clip from 2016 where Al Snow addresses toxic fandom which I though was interesting: https://twitter.com/NickPitarra/status/1178003141767438336

 

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