Did you enjoy wrestling more before you became a smark?
 

As per title?

If you enjoy it more afterwards, how do?

A little bit yeah.

Used to be talking theories with friends on how stone cold is going to get the title back from The Rock.

Now its. Brock only has limited dates left on his contract and will most likely drop the belt to XYZ.

Still enjoy my favorites but the Meta story lines and backstage knowledge does stop me from being fully engaged.

Just differently. Not more or less.

More in the sense that I didn't have to overanalyze and nitpick everything I watched because I didn't know what was going on behind the curtain.

Feel like if you grow up as a wrestling fan you're only ever going to become a smark. At some point, you're going to want to peek behind the curtain because of the air of mystery. Even when you're 5 you know it's not real. So, it's only natural to become curious about it.

I remember when I was 10 I went crazy because I found a page with all of the wrestlers' real names. It blew my mind. Becoming more informed was a natural progression. I wanted to know more about these strange men in tights.

I do find that I appreciate it more from an artistic and creative standpoint now that I know what the business is about.

But I kinda miss being able to joyfully watch 2000 WCW and not once did I think "this sucks!" because I was too young to care about viewing the product with a critical eye.

Yeah, I do wonder if there are certain things I like just because Dave Meltzer told me to. But, it's the same with movies or any other art form. Outside factors will always alter your viewpoint whether we want to admit it or not.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed it more. Some things probably got more of a pass with me (I used to be a fan of Billy Gunn and Test, for crying out loud), but I'm not sure if it's because I became a smark or my tastes just matured and I got more involved.

Becoming a smark has helped me appreciate a lot more from wrestling history. A lot of wrestling from back in the day felt "slow" and irrelevant before I really appreciated more of the workings of the business and could accept them as complete works a bit more.

i'm not a smark.

Seeing as how my smarkiness came from watching wrestling itself; not really. I was pretty much smartened up by a random episode of Superstars and/or All-American Wrestling after watching a house show a couple of days sooner locally... pretty much saw the same show I watched live, except from separate tapings from random cities. I figured they took the "best" instance and aired it... and since there were no cameras anywhere at the Beeghly Center, they had to be doing the same thing repeatedly. Watched wrestling more analyitcally after that, but didn't care. It was still fun.

Shitty wrestling, however, is making me enjoy wrestling less.

Things are either being overbooked or underexplained. A story that used to take 12 weeks to run its course has to be hotshotted inside of a single RAW with two backstage segments and a match. Talent is being overexposed or underutilized. Too much Baron Corbin, who actually sucks, and not enough Bobby Roode, who is being booked to suck (seriously, he was handled better in TNA for heaven's sake!).

No such thing as a smark.

I'd say yes.

It still had some of that special mystic surrounding it which helped make it more enjoyable.

At least with WWF/WWE, I didn't really start to see it in a more critical light or follow behind-the-scenes stuff until after the Attitude Era ended and when the decline in quality started to become more noticeable. With WCW, didn't need to be a smark to no longer enjoy watching it in its final years.

Explain

That's the difference-maker right there.

I've been watching wrestling for 30 years. I've had the internet for 22 years. The 8 years without internet watching wrestling were shitty. So yes

Paradox/oxymoron perhaps?

Do you mean no?

I enjoy it more now than then just because quality has been better from 1997-now than 1989-1997

God damnit

maybe I enjoyed shitty wrestling

Oh my God. That would explain so much.

Joe Flacco.

Mind blown. I finally “get” Droford.

See this is why I'll never accept life saving heart surgery. The after effects are evidently too great.

I posted that a year and a half ago. THEORY CHECKS OUT.