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Smark is abbreviated professional wrestling slang. The term is a portmanteau of "smart mark," two other terms in their own right. A "smart" is a person who is privy to the behind-the-scenes operations and understands that professional wrestling is choreographed, whereas a "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, a general term for the fans of wrestling who use the Internet as their means of communication. Smarks also make themselves heard on TV through signs and crowd chants, much to the chagrin of promoters and show producers. Cities such as New York and Philadelphia, as well as any city in Canada, are notorious for having an audience who are "in the know".
Smarks define themselves by embracing the "workrate", or talent level, of wrestlers. They have been associated with the practice of criticizing "big men" (in weight and/or muscle) 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 and support underdogs who they feel have been overlooked by management.
Some smarks have turned to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor rather than World Wrestling Entertainment, as their views on workrate over politics and specticality makes these promotions more platable to them as opposed to WWE's sports entertainment orientation. Others also investigate foreign wrestling, particularly Japanese.
Criticisms of Smarks
Smarks have been looked down upon by wrestlers and other wrestling fans alike because they are seen as fans who are incapable of suspending their disbelief. As such, they are very critical of matches and often have negative reviews of wrestling matches, storylines, and wrestlers in general.
Also, smarks are often instinctively critical of wrestlers who are heavily "pushed", even if the wrestler in question is greatly over with crowds or even if they originally supported them before their push. For instance, John Cena was once well liked by a section of the smark community as a dedicated and underappreciated young worker with great charisma and significant potential in the ring. Today, he has become one of the industry's biggest stars and is one of the most hated wrestlers among that same section of smarks due to having a now repetitive moveset, dropping the more popular points of his original gimmick (freestyle, having the crowd curse for him, etc.), as well as being more kid friendly as opposed to the original gimmick having a more adult feel. Another example would be a smark may like Edge as opposed to John Cena, and like Melina as opposed to Trish Stratus.
Also, many smarks are seen as hypocrites for decrying the fact that the WWE seems to have a prejudice for big men, while at the same time expressing similar feelings of their own about the smaller, faster wrestlers. These views, however, are broad generalizations and do not apply to all wrestling fans (for example, some smarks recognize talent in big men, such as Samoa Joe, and have expressions of hope for Bobby Lashley).
Smarks have been blamed many times by various wrestling promotions (mostly WWE) of killing kayfabe, or the suspension of disbelief within the business even though it was WWE owner Vince McMahon himself at his highly publicized steroid trial in the early 90s, saying publically and under oath that it is all a predetermined spectacle.
See also
"Smark"