Being a mark
should not be a negativate term as it often is. The only reason the term mark
is looked at as a negativate term are: wrestling newsletters and Dave Meltzer
and the like. Now before I go any
futher I need to explain my prospective I never judge a match as an athletic
contest or a sport because it is not. The basic formula of the business were
two colorful personalities: who had a personal conflict who were great talkers
and who the fans paid to see because they captured the fans immagination in
some way or form. Here is a recent example: The Lucha Bros Pentagon JR. and
Fenix from Impact Wrestling and MLW. If fans want to judge a match by how many
dives take place to the outside that is fine just because I do not get or
understand it I am not trying to take that away from someone else. A smart mark is a fan who assumes because they have access to
imformation on a business that they are not a part now think that they have
just about the same amount of knowledge as the talent who perform it or
more. So now the talent go out and perform and try
to please those smart marks who judge professional wrestling as an alethic
contest instead of trying to please a general audience who enjoy wrestling but
they do not watch it every week or go on the internet they just flip through
the channels and see something that they like.
Which audience would most people try to candor? The general audience because if the smart marks
are judging the matches as alethic contests and not a personal conflict the
product is just cantering to those minority of fans that is extremely
dumb. A hot spot in the case of
wrestling newsletters is just doing moves to empress the audience which is
usually something dangerous that does not add anything to match. It would the same as a movie just doing a
speical effect just to empress the audience.
That does not make any sense what so ever. Dave Meltzer has argued in the past that the
business has changed maybe so but the human body has not. A hot spot in professional wrestling is when
the emotion goes higher in the direction you want it to go. A look a near fail a step in the wrong
direction those are all high spots. The basic philosophy of the business is based
on genuine real emotion from the audience.
Heat that was high fans could feel every emotion. The term pop in professional wrestling is
short for pop their nut. That is
emotion that the talent is trying to get the fans to do that they have that
strong of an emotional reaction. The King Jerry Lawler in Memphis was a
master of body language and firing up on a comeback. That is the art of professional wrestling
right there. There is an old term where
fans would be holding their babies up in the air and the pop would be so strong
that the fans would literally throw their babies up in the air. Hopefully they
caught them. But that is the kind of emotion and heat the business was
predicated. Without heat there can be
no conflict and without heat there is no chance to draw money. I would never use a pilldriver as a high
spot because it is not it was banned in places such as: Memphis and Mexico
because it meant something it was not something people kicked out of like it is
today. For Example: Sami Callihan of
OVE from Impact Wrestling and MLW uses The Cactus Speical which is a verision
of a pilldriver has a finish. In other
words use moves where they should be not to just get a reaction from the
crowd. There are both postive reactions
in professional wrestling and negative reactions for the right or wrong
reason. For example: Something might
work in New York City but it may not work in Harlan Kentucky. So it has to do with listening and knowing
who the audience is. When a talent asks
the question what would my character do in this situation? That is a mistake because the talents who drew the most money
and had the most longevity were performers who were themselves all they did was
turn their volume all the way up.
Examples: The American Dream Dusty Rhodes The Nature Boy Ric Flair and
The King Jerry Lawler. Meaning it was
a light that went on and when the light went off so did the persona. The talent were chracters without being
given a character or told what their character would in a certain
situation. The main reason talents are
not over with the fans the talents are not being their genuine selves. They are just being a character and playing
a part and being given a piece of paper then actually knowing who they
are. If the talent does not know who
they are they cannot connect with the fans.
The fans have to believe in who the talents are and why they are doing
what they are doing. Example: The Von Eriches in Texas. The fans believed in The Von Eriches has
human beings in their program with The Fabulous Freebirds in WCCW. Once the fans lost their faith in The Von
Eriches has indviuals they were not going to come back. The promoters or agents need to work with
the talent and see who they are as people and get them comfortable in front of
the camera so they can create a genuine emotional bound with the audience. A worker in professional wrestling will
always make money because they are able to work audience. There is nothing like genuine real raw
emotion from the fans. I think the
smart marks have lost that and are missing out on the fun. I cannot aruge with MR. Meltzer’s success
but I just think there is way too much emphases on how many starts matches get
and judging the performances as alethic contests then the product being based
on genuine emotion. The talent should
be doing a good enough job during a promo or a match where the fans do not have
to do that. This is all is an attempt
by me to get the talent to have has much longevity with their personas or
gimmicks as possible. The main way to
accomplish this goal is to let the talent be themselves in order to do that a
booker or writer must find out who talents really are. Professional wrestlers are jigsaw pices in a
puzzle for a promoter to or a writer if you will to create a certain picture
during a finite period of time.
Professional wrestlers need to look like something speical I am not
referring to steroid use or going on the gas.
But I what mean by that: Jimmy Hart was asked what the greatest advice he was ever given? His responds was if you are going to look like the marks
you might as well go sit with them.
Jimmy Hart never had a great body but he looked like someone he wore
expensive suits he did everything he could to not look like the fans. The American Dream Dusty Rhodes was someone
the fans could relate when he talked about the factory workers losing their
jobs and a boss would give their employee a watch and kick them in the butt and
say a computer took your job that is hard times. The fans could feel like Dusty was right
there with them when in his “Hard Times promo during his program with Nature
Boy Ric Flair I want you to reach out and know my hand is touching your
hand. There is nothing like that
genuine emotion from the fans. Abdulla the
Butcher was someone who carried a folk around with him and would stab his
opponents with the folk anywhere he could.
Do something to separate yourself from the other talent. Wheather that is a through a gimmick or a
promo or just wearing something different.
An example: Konan one of the things that got him over in Mexico were his
costumes There are a lot of talents who did not perform
well in the ring but they always drew money because they had a gimmick or
something intangible that the fans connected.
Remember professional wrestling is not body building and there is more
to professional wrestling then the in ring product and stealing the show which
is an expression I wish could be expunged from the industry where talents can have the most longevity and
not distorting their bodies in the
process.
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