When did you...

[Guest Your Olympic Hero]

When did you first start watching wrestling? And when did you first become a smart mark (reading 'insider' reports, complaining about people not getting pushed, etc.)??

[Youth N Asia 0]

I started watching around 86...I was 5. I was a hella Hulkamaniac. I guess I became a smark in 99 when I got online. Although I could figure out who's not getting pushed and whatnot and why by 98 or so.

[Guest Real F'n Show]

i started watching in November 95. The first show I ever saw was Survivor Series 95 with Bret vs. Diesel. I became a smark in 2000 when we got the internet

[Lil' Bitch 0]

When did you first start watching wrestling?

 

1987. Wrestlemania III. I was about 4 or 5 years old at the time. Seeing Hogan bodyslamming Andre was just awe inspiring and I was a fan ever since.

 

And when did you first become a smart mark (reading 'insider' reports, complaining about people not getting pushed, etc.)??

 

When I got Internet last year, one visit to Prowrestling.com changed my wrestling life forever.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I started consistently watching in January 1989 with an episode of SuperStars where Honky nailed Bret Hart with his guitar.

 

I read spoilers in 1998 but was still quite the mark. I guess I became a 'smart' mark sometime in 1999.

[Papacita 0]

I first started watching regularly in March 91 (that Michaels/Perfect match floating around on Kazaa was my first match). As for when I became a smark...officially, I'd say 99 when I started checking out Wrestleline, but I've had a little smark in me since at least 95.

[DrainYou42 0]

I started watching in 1994

 

Became a "Smark" 3 or 4 years ago

[Steviekick 0]

As a kid, I always new a little about wrestling (Hulk Hogan and the WWF cartoon show), but didn't actively start watching wrestling till after Wrestlemania XIV, and started watching WCW in late 1990.

 

I became a smark the first time I ever went on the Internet at the library back in late 96. I looked up the one thing I could never find information about...pro wrestling and have been smarkified since.

[CanadianChick 0]

Started watching when I was about 5 (so, 92-ish), became a 'smark' probably, officially, 2-3 years ago.

[CanadianChris 0]

I started watching when I was 11, in 1986, a couple of months before WrestleMania 2.

 

I became a smark in 1994 (I predate the web!), when I discovered rec.sport.pro-wrestling.

[Guest drdrainoscott]

I became a smark in 1994 (I predate the web!), when I discovered rec.sport.pro-wrestling.

That's how I became a smark too. I'm surprised at all the young smarks on the board. Anyway, I always consider the first match I saw to be a LOD vs. Nastys match on Superstars or Challenge back in 1991. I think the first PPV I was aware of was Summerslam 91 and it was so cool that my friend had it on tape and I got to watch it. I've been hooked since.

[razazteca 0]

1st watched wrestling something in the early 80's when Hogan was champ and Hulkamania was running wild, not good with dates but I'll guess 86-87. Got bored with Hogan and discovered WTBS and the Real World Champion WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Flair a year later.

 

Started complaining about how Hogan sucks on the net around in 97-98. When I discovered 1wrestling.com.

[eiker_ir 0]

i started watching around 1991-1992 i'd say, i remember watching Superstars all the time

 

even as little i knew everything was fake and i knew that Hogan sucked and that Bret was the best even when i was 6 years old, but i becamea "smark" around......hmmm....1997, when i first read about the screw job.

 

ahhh good times

[Guest bort]

I started watching wrestling when i was 3, I was a big Hulkamanic and went to WM6 when I was 4.

 

I became a smartmark about 3 ago after hearing a Live Audio Wrestling, got the net 2 years ago and got into Puro/Indys though downloadin and such

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I think I started watching WWF in 1989, but I do remember watching NWA/WCW definitely in 1990.

 

 

I didn't become a "smark" until Fall 2000, when I finally got the Internet.

[JHawk 0]

I basically started watching before I could remember because my dad and brother watched any wrestling show the rabbit ears could pick up.

 

Became a full-fledged smark around 1998 even though I got the net in 1996.

[Cuban Linx 0]

I started watching wrestling (the WWF to be exact) sometime in the late 80's/early 90's, and wasn't smarkified until around 1999.

[Matt Young 0]

I believe I first started watching sometime in 1991. I do know that the first PPV I ever recall seeing was SummerSlam 1991, and I watched the TV shows before that. I had just turned 7 right before SS '91, if it matters.

 

As far as when I became a smark, my cousin would tell me rumors and spoilers (such as Mankind winning the WWF Title) at times from 1998 on, but I didn't become fully smarkified until I got the internet in mid-2000 and became part of Vampiro's official website.

[Guest Peter_Griffin]

I started watching when The Rockers were fueding with the Orient Express, I REALLY remember that for some reason. Also, I really remember the Jake Roberts v Randy Savage fued and being TOTALLY disgusted by Roberts.

 

This place turned me into a smark this year.

[haVoc 0]

I started watching right before WM2. I was 10 and I can't really remember the exact thing that got me watching. I think it was a mix of my uncle, the cartoon and other kids in school having the Hogan shirts and the toys.

 

My uncle got the tape of WM2 and I didn't really know anyone on it besides a few. I just remember Hogan/Bundy in the big blue cage. After that I was hooked. The first TV match on Saturday morning that still sticks in my head is when Savage beat Tito for the IC title.

 

I guess I became a "smart mark" in late 1999 when I finally got the net. But, for years I always liked the smaller guys. Bret was my favorite. I loved Savage, Mr. Perfect, Flair, Pillman and I really liked Benoit. But, I was still a mark and thought "He's awesome but too small."

 

Plus, I always remembered Monsoon calling Bret Hart a "mat technician." So, I knew that meant he was better then most. So when he also said that about the Flair's, Hennig's and even IRS I knew something was good about them.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

I started watching the WWF in about 85-86. I didn't start watching WCW/NWA until about 88 or so. My Smarkdom didn't occur until about 3-4 years ago.

[The Mandarin 0]

I started watching in '97, I hold the same attitude towards wrestling now as I did then. I was always a mark, just more educated aboute the business than others.

 

I do read more dirtsheets now than I did in '97, though.

[humanoid92 0]

The first show I remember watching was when I was 9 years old in early 1993. It was an episode of Superstars that ended with evil Doink the Clown squirting Big Boss Man in the eye with a green liquid. Boss Man and the announcers sold it as a terrible injury, and sure enough I think that was the end of Boss Man's original WWF stint. (Does anyone remember this?? No one else does whenever I bring it up.)

 

So this got me hooked for whatever reason, and I was sucked in to the hype of Wrestlemania IX. We didn't have cable so I couldn't order the show but I remember hearing all the results at school the next day.

 

Throughout the rest of 1993, I rented a crapload of old WWF PPV's and other tapes to catch myself up and learn about the past. My friend had been watching since the late 80's so he caught me up on some things too and we watched a lot of old tapes together. He also had old magazines, old figures, etc. So though I'd been watching for less than a year, I was already something of an expert on the "modern era WWF".

 

The first live PPV I watched was Survivor Series 1993, at this same friend's house. The first feud that I loved and remains my favorite to this day was the Bret and Owen Hart storyline that started in late '93.

 

I was always something of a smark in that I was never drawn to the big guys, but rather the guys that had the best matches. I enjoyed workrate even if I didn't know such a word existed. That first year, my favorite guys to watch were Bret, Perfect, Michaels, Jannetty, etc. On the old tapes, I was always drawn to guys like Savage, The Harts, Rockers, DiBiase, Steamboat, etc. far more than I was to the likes of Hogan, Sid, Duggan, etc.

 

My friend was one of the first in our town to have the internet, and at some point (late 94?) we discovered something about wrestling... not sure what it was exactly, but they'd have recaps of TV shows and then there was something called the "Ring Report". This was pretty intriguing stuff because it listed real names and talked about which wrestlers would be changing promotions and stuff. So that combined with the occasional "insider magazine" I'd see at Barnes and Noble as well as the fact that the WWF would sometimes reference "dirt sheets" made me aware that such an underground community existed. Even back before each PPV when my friends and I talked about the potential outcomes of the matches, I would never argue for one wrestler being victorious "because he was better", but rather "because it seems like they'll have him win". I can even remember discussing the Undertaker/Undertaker match before Summerslam 1994 and saying "I wonder what they have up their sleeves." "They", meaning the bookers, even if I didn't know there was a term for such a thing. I don't know how I knew this. My dad did kind of hint to me that it was "fake" on Day 1 (when I was concerned about the Boss Man's eyes... I'm really squeemish when it comes to eye injuries), but somehow I was always just as fascinated with the scripting aspect of it as I was with the matches themselves.

 

So in that regard, I guess I've been a smark since '94, but if you're going by when I got the internet and started checking news and rumor sites daily, then that date would change to late '98.

[OldSchoolWrestling 0]

I started watching wrestling in the late 70's early 80's when I would flip through cable and catch NWA shows on TBS. I'd watch a few matches and promos then on commercial change it. The Rock n Wrestling Connection on MTV with Cyndi Lauper, Wendi Richter, Lou Albano, Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper got me hooked for good on WWF and the Four Horsemen breaking Dusty's leg in the cage got me hooked on WWF. I watched WM2 and 3 on closed circuit tv at the Oakland Coliseum and have seen every WM since live on ppv, except for 6, which I saw live.

 

I started reading Pro Wrestling Illustrated around 86 and started getting more behind the scenes stuff when they came out with Pro Wrestling Illustrated Weekly. Jumped on the net smark scene with Wrestline back when that was big.

[El Gigante 0]

I started watching in 1993 on the faithful day that Lex Luger bodyslammed Yokozuna.

 

I became a smark in probably early 1999 when I first started to read stuff on the web.

[DokDoyle 0]

The Lead up to Wrestlemania 3, watching Superstars when Andre turned on Hulk

 

I went online with it when I went to college in Sept 1997

[ArkhamGlobe 0]

I started watching back in 1993.

 

About when I first became a smark, that's probably around the same time, since the swedish announcers never bothered with kayfabe and just trashed the crappy wrestlers (regardless of whether they were a face or a heel) and continually brought up backstage stuff.

[Guest JacK]

I started watching during Invasion, the show where Kurt defected to the Alliance. I was like: 'This is stupid' and I never watched it again . . . no, wait a minute.

 

About smark, I dunno, I became a net-smark around half way through last year, when WWE started cutting off Australia from Smackdown, essentially converting me to smark by default. But I was always sorta like that, I mean straight off the bat my favourites were Jericho and Kurt, and I hated Triple H the moment he came back. I just always cheered for whoever entertained me.

[DMann2003 0]

I started watching in Feb. of 1989- when the MegaPowers broke up and I was immediately transfixed by the awesomeness of Randy Savage.

 

My earliest flirtation with "smark" writing was a column by Alex Marvez that was printed in my newspaper in 96, later that year I started discovering websites like 1wrestling, Scoops, Wrestlemaniacs, John Petrie, CRZ and Keith.

[DMann2003 0]

My favorites in 89 were Savage, Roberts, Perfect, Rude, Beefcake, The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The Rockers, and Warrior.

 

I never was big on Hogan.