First question: what is a smart mark?
Well, a smart mark is a mark for wrestling. But not in the typical sense. He or she tends to be into the machinations of the "sport", the politics, the behind-the-scenes wheelings and dealings, as well as the in-ring athleticism. Smart marks also tend to go for really detailed stories, and are VERY likely to pick out any plot holes that might exist. They are the hardest of the hardcore fans, and generally the hardest to please. That doesn't mean they can't be pleased, though.
One thing that all smart marks do is read the Internet news rags. Now, there's a lot of trash out there. But there's some real gold. There are two news sources that are head-and-shoulders above everyone else. My personal choice is The Pro Wrestling Torch. It's got, in my opinion, the best news on the web, as well as outstanding commentary. More importantly, it nails the breaking news before anyone else. Everyone reads The Torch, and rightfully so. However, they do have competition, primarily coming from 1wrestling.com. The two top wrestling journalists out there are Wade Keller and Dave Meltzer. Wade runs the Torch. Dave runs the Wrestling Observer, but he also writes for 1Wrestling, which is why it's so good. Two negatives, though for 1wrestling which keep it below the Torch: they have REALLY EFFING ANNOYING pop-up ads, and Bob Ryder. Now, Ryder's kind of a whipping boy for those of us who consider ourselves smart marks. He works for WCW (BOO!!!). And he's shameless about it. Smart marks are often WWF or ECW marks, if not marks for puroresu or lucha libre (I'll get to that in a minute) but they tend to avoid WCW, which is seen as "too corporate." However, 1Wrestling can be just as good as The Torch.
Now, we don't just read the Net for news. We get commentary and "recaps" from it too. Who are the top recappers? The Holy Trinity. CRZ (known for his attention to detail), Scott Keith (the smartest of the "smarts"), and Hyatte (the humor) These guys review RAW, Nitro, the Thursday shows, and often the PPVs. They're all different, but all good. I tend to read Keith for straight analysis and Hyatte for humor, but I cut my teeth on CRZ. He tends to be too detail-oriented for me, but if I miss a show, he's the recapper to read. As for commentary, Rantsylvania tends to have really good stuff, as do 1Wrestling and The Torch. Other than that, opinion writers are a dime a dozen. Literally, including me - I've done it before.
Then there's humor and errata. I go to two places for my smart-mark humor. Dusty The Fat Bitter Cat, who I always dig, but his site is WAY TOO BIG, and The Shooters. The kicker about The Shooters is that so much of their humor is hardcore smart humor, a lot of it will go over your head if you don't know a lot already, so save them until you've been indoctrinated. Their news and reports are also outstanding as well, syntheses, but good ones. I'll often turn to them for my first news reports after hitting The Torch. As for "errata," what I mean by that is wrestling that isn't "Big Three." For me, I either read Rantsylvania's puroresu recaps (which are awesome) or I go to the dean of indy wrestling, The Death Valley Driver Video Review. I might add that the DVDVR and The Shooters are probably the "most smart" out of all of this stuff, the least accessible but once you're into it, the most fun, too.
After you get into all this 'Net stuff, what happens? You become a smark. You refuse to cheer for the popular people for the simple reason that everyone else is. Besides, if they're getting pops, they obviously can't work a match. You'll cheer for heels because they're badasses, but you'll also boo them if they have too much backstage stroke (i.e., HHH). Who's the definitive smart wrestler? Chris Benoit. He wrestled in Japan. He's the best wrestler in the world, no question. And he was screwed over by WCW. We love guys like that. Smarks also tend to cheer for Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, TAKA Michinoku (but we do not approve of "Indeed"), Steven Regal, Jushin Lyger, Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Sean O'Haire, Billy Kidman, Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Owen Hart (RIP) and Shawn Michaels. We'll occasionally pop for HHH, as mentioned earlier.
Who do we hate? Simple. Hulk Hogan. Kevin Nash. Scott Hall. X-Pac. HHH (sometimes). Eric Bischoff. Vince Russo. Ed Ferrara. The Rock (sometimes). The Sandman. Mideon. Rikishi. Haku. The Undertaker. Kane (sometimes). Big Boss Man. Diamond Dallas Page. Rick Steiner. Shane Douglas (now; we used to love him). And just about anyone in WCW who doesn't know how to work a match not named Earnest Miller.
Yes, we are hate-filled little people, aren't we?
We go to shows, and we criticize the girls screaming for The Rock. We comment on the fine Stampede workmanship, and how UT can't sell a punch to save his life. We'll sit rather than stand, just because we can.
Sometimes we revert. Like when Jerry Lawler first took on Tazz -- we all marked out because it was so effing "old school." Or when Chris Benoit won the WCW World Title, or when the Radicals showed up in the WWF, or when Ric Flair reunited the Horsemen in Greenville, SC. *sniff* But it's rare to see a smark mark out 'like a little bitch'.
And then, the worst happens.
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