Al Snow's rant on 'Smart Marks'

Al Snow recently spoke about several topics on Arda Ocal's Right After Wrestling Radio. Check out the highlights:

On wrestlers using Twitter: "It shouldn't be a venue to air gripes or complaints, by no means. The wrestling business was a closed business for a very long time. It's kinda like remember when you were a kid, and you were at home and something would happen within your family and it was never spoken outside of the house because it was your family. It was nobody else's business because nobody else could appreciate or understand the situation, and therefore, would pass judgment on something they really didn't have a part in. Because at the end of the day, the only people who are gonna have to go to bed with it and wake up with it are you and your family – and that's kinda like the wrestling business."

On TNA talent using Twitter to talk about the competition: "We're the ones who rely on and depend on the wrestling business for our livelihood and how we're gonna feed our families. So why throw dirt on each other and throw muck around, or air out our grievances or talk about the competition in a public forum. It's okay to do all of those things amongst ourselves, but once it goes outside those doors, and goes into an area where people don't have a real stake in what happens or what it being said then it's like your cousin Jim who went to jail – you don't want to share that with anybody because he's your cousin – he's your family.

On smart fans: "The most oxymoronic term out there is a 'smart-mark'. Just doesn't exist. Because how can you be smart at something – knowing somebody is lying to you, while actually believing the lie. It's a term created by fans who believe they're on the inside of something that they're not really on the inside of. They're not a part of the business because they don't have a real stake in it…A great example is if you ask what was the best match of WrestleMania 3. Most people would say Savage/Steamboat. But it was Hogan/Andre because 93,000 people paid to see Hogan/Andre. The best match isn't about 'working' or 'taking the best bumps', it's the match that draws the most people and makes the most money. That's the best match.

On his job as a producer for TNA: "A communicator who conveys message from an agents' meeting to determine what type of business we want to accomplish from a particular match – pushing a storyline, getting a babyface over, make a character, put heat on a heel, or start teaching the audience (6-montsh out) that a certain guy could be a champion so that 6-months later he becomes a viable threat/contender to the title (in the eyes of the audience)."


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Sorry Al, but I don't think of myself as a smart mark, mark, whatever, I'm an adult that grew up with wrestling, realise it's not real yet still enjoy it for the skill, storylines (at times) and promos. Wrestlemania 25 had Orton v HHH as the headliner, was that the best match? No by any stretch of the imagination, it was Taker v HBK.

Just to add to the discussion, here's an Al Snow shoot interview where this kind of thing is brought up again.. enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpMZx_euDFY

The best match isn't about 'working' or 'taking the best bumps', it's the match that draws the most people and makes the most money. That's the best match.

It's the biggest draw it ain't necessarily the best match. In essence I agree with what he's saying. Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Ultimate Warrior these guys are better wrestlers than a Lance Storm, Ricky Steamboat or even a Kurt Angle because they made the most money, are they superior technically in the art of mat wrestling absolutely not but that's not how in my opinion I judge the 'best' Money is the only quantifiable element in pro wrestling it's not an athletic competition because its preditermined.Therefore the guys that make the most money must be perceived as the best..but again this goes down to your own personal interpretation of what 'best match' or 'best wrestler' is... I'm not saying mine is right but it's what I believe

What I don't like is the arrogance of guys like Snow who i feel have a very prehistoric view on the inner workings of pro wrestling. Snow & his like feel unless you've been on the inside you know nothing. This is a dated view & especially since wrestling broke kayfabe & the rise of the Internet completely untrue

Hero, Al Snow is talking about the biggest drawing match, not the main event.

Surely more people bought WM for HBK v Taker than HHH v Orton?

But surely WWE would have regarded Orton v HHH as the biggest draw at 25 as they put it as the main event rather than HBK v Taker.
You don't finish your show on a support act.

I believe they only put Orton HHH out last to try to preserve integrity in the WWE title rather than because they believed it was the reason people paid to see the event. hey must have known Taker HBK was the reason people bought Mania 25.

I don’t know, they put a huge amount of time into building Orton v HHH, the whole demolition of the McMahons, HHH finally revealing properly he was part of the McMahon family in real life,
That was THE feud WWE were pushing as the big one, far more than Taker v HBK.

good point Hero, especially with all the McMahons being punted in the head beforehand. I just find it hard to believe that the WWE would think more fans would prefer to see that than the spectacle of Taker vs HBK. The length of the Orton HHH match may reflect that, form memory it barely lasted over ten minutes

Hero wrote:But surely WWE would have regarded Orton v HHH as the biggest draw at 25 as they put it as the main event rather than HBK v Taker.
You don't finish your show on a support act.

That's how they finished Wrestlemania 18 though.

And who was involved in the title match that night? Oh yeah........

Whereas last year there was no word about 'preserving the integrity of the championship' was there?

And who WASN'T involved in the title match that night? Oh yeah........

Are you implying that a certain star who mainevented WM 18 and 25 would think himself a bigger draw than Rock v Hogan or HBK v Taker?

I scoff at that notion, he seems a most humble man!

The same man who returned 2 weeks..............wait a minute!! :doh1:

It must just be a coinkydink :laugh1:

Surely?