WWE: The 3 Most Misused & Annoying Wrestling Terms

Here are the three most overused or incorrectly used terms in wrestling lingo in my opinion.

This is meant to be informative if you think I make sense or at the very least entertaining.

If you take it too seriously and get offended, I wonder how many of these infractions I list, you're guilty of. Enjoy!

1. Worked Shoot

It's a term that doesn't make sense. Almost everything that happens in wrestling to further a storyline and character is scripted and is considered a “work.” When someone gives his version of the truth about someone and something related to wrestling without the motive of furthering a storyline in wrestling, this is known as a “shoot.” These are most typically done out of the arena setting and in showcased sit down interviews.

Fans commonly use this term “worked shoot” when a wrestler is talking about more personal content of someone else in the professional wrestling arena while in character. This is just another work. A good one because it gets people talking, it stands out because of the nature of what is being said, but is still part of the show.

Rarely does anything that is said on a major wrestling program not have a pre-determined agenda in the storyline. A wrestler might add something to the script while live but it usually coincides with the creative direction of his program. If something isn't suppose to be said, then the ability to censor is usually there. When CM Punk cut his famous promo in the summer of 2011, if Vince didn't want that all to be said the microphone would have been cut off much earlier in the promo.

Worked shoot would be like saying something is "accurately incorrect." Doesn't make sense.

Take this video from Dustin Runnels in WCW. Vignettes had been airing in order for him to debut a new character called “Seven.” He then broke character and started to talk about how he wasn't going to do it. Many people would call this a worked shoot but he went on to perform during this period of time as himself in WCW. The character was dropped because of Turner who owned WCW not liking what they thought the character stood for. WCW used this last minute change to try and get fans' attention by Dustin Runnels saying things that wouldn't normally be said by a wrestler on live programming. He wasn't shooting, he was just performing the “work.”

2. Bury

It amazes me how often this term gets causally tossed around and incorrectly used. If a mid-card wrestler loses more than one match in a row it is a matter of seconds for fans to start saying “Why are they burying him?” Here is the definition of bury that I have come up with:

When a character gets beat down and diminished with no logical explanation of why he would be beat other than he is incredibly inferior, and in conjunction has no forward progression for there future.

Drew McIntyre was losing matches constantly over the last few months but he wasn't being buried. His losing was part of the forward progression of his storyline with Teddy Long and SmackDown. Kane made his return to RAW after a week off from his loss to John Cena at Elimination Chamber, he came back and knocked out every participant of the three tag-teams who just finished a match. The number of fans talking about how all of those wrestlers just got buried was mind numbing. They all just finished having a hard fought 10-minute match against two other teams. Kane needed to be re-introduced to programming at some point so he came out and basically surprise attacked everyone. That isn't being buried.

When a talent loses continuous matches that aren't leading towards a purpose in a storyline, the loses are not for an opponent who isn't a top contender for a title or a rising star being quickly built—they're being buried. This commonly happens when a punishment is being given or a wrestler is on his way out of the company and the company has no use for building him.

When the famous curtain call incident took place at Madison Square Garden among Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Triple H, someone had to be punished for this unapproved act of breaking kayfabe. Michaels was the world champ and Nash and Hall were gone to WCW, so Triple H got punished. He lost every mach for the next year and was no longer set to win the King of the Ring like originally planned in 1996. Triple H got buried for the next year.

3. Smark

The term “mark” is perhaps the most commonly used term among wrestling fans. To be a wrestling “mark” is to be someone who buys into the emotion and characteristics of the storyline and characters. All wrestling fans are marks, some to different levels of it than others. It isn't a bad thing, you enjoy the entertainment.

The term “smark” is what I don't get. It stands for a smart mark. A term that was created by marks for themselves because they considered themselves to be more intelligent about wrestling than the average person.

Smark might be a cute screen name or podcast title, but it's another term that makes no sense. Wrestling is based so heavily on secrecy and surprising the audience. You can have an interesting opinion about the product, come up with some fun ideas and have a good appreciation for the history of the business. All of those make you a dedicated interested fan of wrestling. You might have seen a lot, but you're not a smark.

The best adjective of mark you could be is a rational mark. The ability to sit back, take in what you saw and use logic on grading its success. Too many people try to evaluate and analyze what is going on but let their level of mark for loving or hating something or someone come in the way of expressing good clear logical analysis.

Everyone is guilty of this from time to time because it is inevitable to allow some personal preference to sway your analysis during your arm chair booking. The trick is to balance it and keep a level of credibility with your opinions. When you speak entertainingly enough, logically enough or even have some experience with the business, those marks stand out and succeed with their blogs and broadcasts.

I used to think I was a smark with a long time love and trivial memory for wrestling. I thought I had an understanding of certain aspects of wrestling greater than most others. The reality was, I was another hardcore fan who had a good memory. It was when I received my first real breaks to be involved in the business in a working capacity that things changed. Once I got to be behind the curtain and had a job to complete, I realized how little I actually knew up until then.

I continue to learn daily in attempt to provide entertaining logical analysis with the credibility from my access and experiences. I will forever be a mark for the professional wrestling but never a smark.

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