Difference between revisions 81094015 and 81547230 on enwiki

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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]], [[Montreal]], [[Toronto]] 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[[Total Nonstop Action Wrestling]] 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]].