Credit: WWE.com
On Monday wrestler Frankie Kazarian tweeted that he liked when people were fans and suggested that "along the way we've forgotten how to be fans". Spend enough time online as a wrestling fan and you'll find it's a common sentiment, from insiders and fans alike. It's often raised in reference to fans thinking they're smart to the business - knowing who is the booker/creative team is, suggesting how matches/segments could've been better or snidely making references to a wrestler's real name or personal life. Plenty of clashes between insiders and fans regarding booking decisions occur on social media leading to righteous indignation of insiders that fans believe they know the business better than them. The divide is a long running one that would give Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels, The Rock-Triple H or Brock Lesnar-Roman Reigns a run for their money.
While the battle of the layman vs. expert isn't unique to pro wrestling, the nature of the business makes it a different animal. It depends on fans believing in the magic and how can you do that when you know the tricks? Or rather think you do? To complicate matters further, fans have a bevy of podcasts by insiders explaining how the show is put together at their listening disposal and wrestlers interact with each other. Not to mention the business has been exposed, at times before "dirt sheets" and the "IWC" were a thing (see promoter Jack Pfefer in 1933). One common piece of advice bandied about is that fans just enjoy the show and not criticize everything. Seems like wise advice, right?
If you get down to the meat and potatoes of fans complaints, it's about wanting to suspend disbelief. Fans attempt to understand what's presented to them within context of storylines. Why did Wrestler A beat Wrestler B? Why did Wrestler C align or turn on Wrestler D? It HAS to make sense for the fan to get invested. Hence, it's very easy to trip over that thin line between armchair booking and thinking how a scenario would've been better received. Even if one might argue that fans cheer/boo certain wrestlers to fit in, it's clear when fans aren't buying what the promoter is selling.
In a day of terms like "burial" being misused and overused, a quote by Pro Wrestling Torch contributor Cameron Hawkins on his podcast East Coast Cast seems apropos: "As much as fans are smart, we keep having the same conversations". Perhaps fans could stand to be "smarter" and learn from their fave wrestling insider. Despite being smartened up to the business, their love of wrestling hasn't dissipated. Understanding the intricacies gives them a finer appreciation of the art of pro wrestling. After all, they once were "just fans" too.