Wrestling Rumblings #19
June 12, 2009
By: Jose Marrero of WrestleView.com
It would seem as of late that many of you have been big fans of my rants on certain aspects of the business whether it is thoughts on the state of independent wrestling, racism in wrestling or even the effectiveness of the WWE wellness program. There are so many things about the business that drive me crazy sometimes but I think nothing drives me more insane than the fact that there is some terminology out there that is misused not just by fans but even by wrestlers. Let’s explore some of them together shall we?
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Since I don?t want those in the business to get insulted when I include them on this let me explain. Most of the younger wrestlers today became fans after kayfabe was fractured in the mid 80’s and exploded to smithereens in the 90’s basically when many of these terms that I am about to discuss became open knowledge. Because they didn?t really in my opinion understand those terms they continued to misuse them or even exaggerate upon them once they got initiated into the business later and well it’s a vicious cycle where the terminology has lost its meaning.
Mark- I have to admit even I from time to time misuse this word. The origins of this word like many that we will get into in this piece go back to the carny days of wrestling. A mark was the word used by the wrestlers back in those days to identify their target which of course would translate in today’s lingo into the fans ex. ?X marks the spot?. It would later be used derogatorily towards anyone that perceived the business to be anything other than a work but that’s incorrect in actuality a mark is really anyone that is not associated with the wrestling business. So I am a mark and yes anyone reading this is a mark because we are all fans of the wrestling business. Everyone is a mark for something whether it is wrestling, baseball, TV shows, etc. because at the end of the day we are all fans of something.
Smark- This is actually not a wrestling term but something that was coined during the 90’s by the internet fans who derided the derogatory nature of the word mark because of the way it was being thrown around incorrectly. This word shouldn?t exist because one I don?t care who you are if you are not in the business you are not smart to it. You may be knowledgeable but you are not smart to it. Fans may know where an angle is going to go but we don?t know the ins and outs of it even though we think we do. We armchair quarterback it much in the same way we do when we watch legit sports. How many fans think they know more than their favorite team’s manager? Truth is most of us don?t or we woul d be out there managing. It is the same exact things with wrestling fans. While the business has been exposed to us in a way like never before we don?t know everything and we never will so we will never truly be smart to the business. As I said before when I analyzed the word mark everyone is a mark so to come up with a level of mark is asinine because well a mark is a mark.
Rest Spot- I have said this before in the past and I will say it again there is no such thing as a rest spot or a rest hold. The terminology is incorrect. I say this because when you think of proper match psychology you are always trying to win the match. Back 20 years ago believe it or not you could work a headlock throughout a entire match, go back even further and you would see pinfalls and submissions occur as a result of them being applied. While I don?t believe there is a proper way to describe what people would call rest spots I prefer to look at it as bringing the audience down. After all a wrestling match cannot be high spot, high spot, high spot because if that was in fact the case than those spots are no longer ?high spots? they are just spots. The holds that are referred20to incorrectly as rest spots are just ways of bringing the audience down so that high spots can occur.
Put Over- I put this word here because I think most fans have only the partial meaning of the word. To put someone over is not just to have them win on TV over you or to say good things about them. To put someone over in my opinion is to literally acknowledge them. Wrestling is about publicity, each wrestler is trying to get themselves over I don?t care if it is HHH or if it is the enhancement guys who lose to Vladmir Koslov every week on ECW. Whenever you are on TV you are trying to get whatever you are doing as well as yourself over. Believe it or not Batista coming on TV and saying he is going to kick Randy Orton’s ass is putting Randy Orton over because he is publicizing the fact that he wants to kick Randy’s ass and he is trying to get you to watch it. Even when we see a shoot sometimes guys can get over as a result of it. Case in point the situation between Edge, Lita and Matt Hardy a few years ago. While Matt Hardy felt he was burying Edge during this time he was in fact getting Edge over which is one of the key reasons why Edge would later go on to main event. It is the same thing with the Montreal Screwjob all the negative talking about Vince McMahon by Bret Hart just helped get the evil Vince McMahon character over. So whether Bret or Matt realized it they helped put over someone they at the time couldn?t stand. I also want to stress how you can?t put someone over unless you are over yourself. The best example I can give you is with a job recommendation. You can?t recommend a job for someone unless the person you are talking to feels you have enough credibility to recommend someone. Get it, got it, good now let’s move on.
Burial- I talked about putting over you know I had to talk about burial/squashes. I put this word here because I feel fans don?t understand what it truly is to bury someone. How many fans argue that MVP was being buried when he was on his losing streak awhile back? In actuality the losing streak may have started as a burial but once it was mentioned on TV and he was used every week it became an angle and in some ways even became a push and helped get him over. Now take someone like Shelton Benjamin who is losing every week and it hasn?t been acknowledged and for the most part he has n?t been in any angles he is in fact being buried because he is not being put in the best position to get himself over (you are always in a position to get over when you are being used remember that just some positions are better than others). To the fans who I know will email me about the MVP thing I bring up Santino Marrella when Santino was a heel at times it felt like all he did was lose and well he was not being buried but he was being utilized and pushed. However you take a wrestler like Paul Birchill who is not involved in an angle gets a mention and loses every week and you can say he is getting buried. See the difference?
Pop- This is another word that gets misused and drives me nuts. Apparently today’s wrestling fan feels every time they cheer that’s a pop when they don?t understand that every match has one pop. I don?t want to regurgitate what others have said because I have heard so many in the business both in shoot interviews and to myself personally compare a pop to a orgasm and that is what a pop is the climax of a match. You will even have some old timers tell you that the card has only one pop and that’s the main event and the undercard is building for that pop. So everytime you see a incredible thing and chant ?this is awesome? you didn?t pop because well if you did then the match should just go home right there.
That’s it for this week I know I am going to get a ton of arguments on this and that’s quite all right feel free to disagree but at the same time take into consideration what I am saying before you try to make the argument that your right because as you can see I pretty much laid everything out when explaining myself here on these terms and while I am not ‘smart? to the business I do feel I?m close enough to it and knowledgeable enough to understand the correct use of these terms. Hopefully you will as well. So if you want to chew me out, compliment me, take me out to dinner (just kidding on that last part?unless well you really want to take me out to dinner) hit me up at wrestlingrumblings@hotmail.com and well that’s it for this week next week I will try to do better and until then I am out.