The "Mark" experiment with CM Punk's angle.

[Styles]

So Ive been watching this site for about 7 or 8 weeks or so, and Ive seen some good topics. Before I joined I decided to run an experiment so I’d have something to open up with.
I stopped looking at wrestling on the internet and I watched it purely on TV. Maybe things would come as a shock this way?
I watched the CM Punk storyline unfold purely on TV and as a mark or 10 year old kid. It worked.

When CM Punk sat cross legged on that stage, poured his heart out and attacked the likes of the McMahons, HHH, Johnny Ace. He attacked the fact Cabana was fired. Ultimately in one 5 minute segment, he drew more attention on himself than in the last 4 years. I marked out.
"This is a work? Surely?” That was my thoughts, but I questioned it, as it turns out.....it was.

Over the next few weeks CM Punk became a modern Austin. Bucking the trends, screw the rules and going face to face with McMahon.
Did anybody expect Punk to win at MITB? 50/50… but that Chicago crowd was the most pumped crowd for a WWE event I’ve seen in years and sitting at home through the TV box I felt the energy build slowly over the 2 hours and 20 minutes that preceeded the Punk/Cena matchup. It was electric.

What followed has been just as spectacular, tying in the Triple H takeover alongside this angle, as well as the “Undisputed Champion” fight that is now going on. Who can argue this for angle of the year? It’s been a while, but welcome back to unmissable TV WWE.

Experiment Findings:

Whether or not I’d have tuned in to the internet or just stuck to my TV, this storyline was captivating & surprising. No-one from the E gave away anything, internet rumours where just that, rumour. Nothing could be believed as nobody could figure where the Punk storyline was going.
I picked the wrong time to attempt being a temporary “mark” because WWE blurred the line, you couldn’t tell for certain what was real & where it was going. Mark OR Smark.

It was edgier TV without being too non-PG.
It broke the fourth wall.
Punk was allowed to mention things outside of the coveted “WWE Universe”, things 10 year olds may not know, which would lead fans to google searching and finding companies like ROH.

All in all, WWE have done two things….. They’ve sky-rocketed one CM Punk… and they’ve made important and unmissable TV.
If this is WWE’s new general direction, thank God for whoever came up with it.
Mark or Smark, this was and always will be a storyline to remember.

Thank you WWE.

I will perhaps go down the route of being a "mark" for TNA. It might make it watchable.
If I do, I'll report back with my findings.

[ECWFlairfan]

true...

[kiel297]

Ah, I can tell we're gonna get along

[Big Red Machine]

I picked the wrong time to attempt being a temporary “mark” because WWE blurred the line, you couldn’t tell for certain what was real & where it was going. Mark OR Smark.

GREAT article, but I have to disagree with this one point. You didn't pick the worst time to do it. You picked the absolute best time to do it!

Wrestling is at its best when you know as little as possible about what is going to happen. Unfortunately, once you get a sense for booking, you can usually figure out who is going to win most matches, and in the case of some multi-man matches, who is going to take the pin (or at least who definitely isn't).

But then there are some those sweet, sweet moments where you just don't know. You have no idea one way or the other. MITB was one of those. Every nearfall seemed like it could be the finish, but they just kept going. It was like watching Tyler vs. Davey again.

[Styles]

I agree, wrestling is at its best when you don't know whats going to happen. Its exciting. I hope that sooner or later, the dirt sheets die off. Then wrestling would seem better than ever as nobody would have a clue about whats going on.

dirt sheets will never die off, too much popularity
thats like saying celebrity magazines will die off
if people want to read about the latest exploits of something, someone will be there writing them

[Styles]

easy to plant, not easy to make people believe becuz people (well, normal people) will check elsewhere to verify the statement, if its horseshit noone will pay attention and stop reading their stuff. if they have some subtance, people take note, and on many occasions they have substance, sometimes its horseshit tho.

"Randy Orton takes a shit in hornswoggles mouth and chases him around with a loaded watergun" - noone would believe this shit

"Melina sleeps with another wrestler in front of John Morrison, and the wrestler is revealed to be santino marella" - being the slag Melina is & the pushover Morrison is... this would make you look twice and read more into it (if u care about that situation). (dont look twice, i just made that up)

you catch my drift.

[Styles]

I picked the wrong time to attempt being a temporary “mark” because WWE blurred the line, you couldn’t tell for certain what was real & where it was going. Mark OR Smark.

GREAT article, but I have to disagree with this one point. You didn't pick the worst time to do it. You picked the absolute best time to do it!

Wrestling is at its best when you know as little as possible about what is going to happen. Unfortunately, once you get a sense for booking, you can usually figure out who is going to win most matches, and in the case of some multi-man matches, who is going to take the pin (or at least who definitely isn't).

But then there are some those sweet, sweet moments where you just don't know. You have no idea one way or the other. MITB was one of those. Every nearfall seemed like it could be the finish, but they just kept going. It was like watching Tyler vs. Davey again.

i can see ur point of view. and possibly i may have called it wrong.
my point was that i wanted to expose the gap between being surprised when watching wrestling with no clue. and watching wrestling with a clue. surprise show ups i wouldn't know.
it was just a bad time for this particular experiment (exposing the gap) but a great time to be a wrestling fan!

[kirbs2002]

And thats the problem. Like most news stories, its horseshit. All rumors. Where are these coming from?

"A WWE insider has informed us that..."

The writer him/herself. They throw that anonymous source in to cover their rear.

[Styles]

wwwe insiders will only throw out fake stories on command
other times its reporters looking for something to write

[Styles]

therell always be someone to read them, horseshit or no horseshit. people will read.

[cero2k]

therell always be someone to read them, horseshit or no horseshit. people will read.

people will always read them, but eventually they start to question such stories. Lords of Pain used to have a decent reputation back in the day, now look at it, you just take what you can. Same with Superluchas.

[Styles]

thats true. but journalism is more dirty now than even just a few years ago. anything for a story, everyone thinks their a major journalist, and when they got nothing, they cling to the smallest thing
but just like with shitty newspapers, celebrity rumour magazines and that sort of thing, theres always a reader because people want to hear stuff that relates to something they love, if only to pik up on it and discuss it
people post the good and bad here, and even if we know its crap we still debate on it and there will always be a market for that