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'''Smark''' is abbreviated [[professional wrestling]] [[professional wrestling slang|slang]]. The term is a [[portmanteau]] of "smart mark," two other terms in their own right. A "[[smart (professional wrestling)|smart]]" is a person who is privy to the behind-the-scenes operations and understands that professional wrestling is choreographed, whereas a "[[mark (professional wrestling)|mark]]" is one who believes that professional wrestling is real. A "smark", therefore, is a combination of the two, a wrestling fan who enjoys following the on-screen product and the off-screen, backstage affairs equally.

Smarks are a subset of the professional wrestling fanbase. They come from many different social backgrounds and are often referred to as "smart" fans. Many smarks are part of the "IWC", or [[Internet wrestling community|Internet Wrestling Community]], a general term for the fans of wrestling who use the [[Internet]] as their means of communication. Smarks also make themselves heard on [[television|TV]] through signs and crowd chants, much to the chagrin of promoters and show producers. Cities such as [[New York City|New York]], [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]] and [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], are notorious for having an audience who are "in the know".

Smarks define themselves by embracing the "[[workrate (professional wrestling)|workrate]]", or talent level, of wrestlers. They have been associated with the practice of criticizing "big men" (in weight and/or muscle), unflatteringly called [[hoss (professional wrestling)|hosses]] by them in favor of smaller, faster wrestlers with a wider variety of moves. Also, being followers of off-screen politics, smart marks typically despise those whom they see as wielding too much power backstage (e.g [[Triple H]] in [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] and [[Jeff Jarrett]] in [[Total Nonstop Action|TNA]]) and support underdogs who they feel have been overlooked by management.

Some smarks have turned to TNA and [[Ring of Honor]] rather than WWE, as their views on workrate over politics and specticality makes these promotions more palatable to them as opposed to  WWE's [[sports entertainment]] orientation. Others also investigate foreign wrestling, particularly [[Professional wrestling in Japan|Puroresu]]. 

==Criticisms of Smarks==
Smarks have been looked down upon by wrestlers and other wrestling fans alike because they are seen as fans who are incapable of [[suspension of disbelief|suspending their disbelief]]. As such, they are very critical of matches and often have negative reviews of wrestling matches, [[angle (professional wrestling)|storylines]], and wrestlers in general.  

Also, smarks are often instinctively critical of wrestlers who are heavily "[[push (professional wrestling)|pushed]]", even if the wrestler in question is greatly [[over (professional wrestling)|over]] with crowds or even if they originally supported them before their push. For instance, [[John Cena]] was once well liked by a section of the smark community as a dedicated and underappreciated young worker with great charisma and significant potential in the ring. Today, he has become one of the industry's biggest stars and is one of the most hated wrestlers among that same section of smarks due to having a now repetitive moveset, dropping the more popular points of his original gimmick (freestyle, having the crowd curse for him, etc.), as well as being more kid friendly as opposed to the original gimmick having a more adult feel. 

Several Smarks have also become less impressed with TNA, accusing it of pushing too many old school performers as main eventers (such as [[Jason Reso|Christian Cageeff Jarrett]] [[Scott Steiner]], and [[Sting (wrestler)|Sting]], former WWE and [[World Championship Wrestling|WCW]] wrestlers), and then neglecting them when they fail to make as much impact as management had thought.

Also, many smarks are seen as hypocrites for decrying the fact that the WWE seems to have a prejudice for big men, while at the same time expressing similar feelings of their own about the smaller, faster wrestlers. These views, however, are broad generalizations and do not apply to all wrestling fans. For example, some smarks recognize talent in big men, such as [[Samoa Joe]], and have expressions of hope for [[Franklin Lashley|Bobby Lashley]] and [[Paul Burchill]].  [[Brock Lesnar]] was also a big man that was liked by smarks at large due to his combination of power, technique, and agility, but fell out of favor with them after a match against [[Bill Goldberg]] at [[Wrestlemania XX]].

Smark fans that attend arena shows also have a tendency to try to promote their knowledge of the business as well as their personal tastes over the action in the ring by initiating (often vulgar) chants.  This is a common occurance in promotions like [[Ring of Honor]], but has been known to permeate the larger promotions at times.

Smarks have been blamed many times by various wrestling promotions (mostly WWE) of killing [[kayfabe]], or the suspension of disbelief within the business even though it was WWE owner [[Vince McMahon]] himself at his highly publicized [[steroid]] trial in the early [[1990s]], saying publicly and under oath that it is all a predetermined spectacle.

==See also==
*[[Dave Meltzer]]
*[[Internet Wrestling Community]]
*[[Wade Keller]]
*[[Scott Keith]]
*[[411mania]]

[[Category:Professional wrestling slang]]