Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Mark (professional wrestling)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. Consensus is to delete this article. But due to the volume of incoming links, I will redirect to List of professional wrestling slang where this term can be covered with improved referencing. If the referencing issues are addressed, this article could be recreated. W.marsh 18:44, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mark (professional wrestling)

Mark (professional wrestling) (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) – (View log)

As this article lacks third-party sources for some time now, we have to assume that this is either unverifiable or original research or both. See also the AfD on its counterpart, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Smark. Sandstein 06:34, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

• Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sports-related deletions. -- SkierRMH 06:42, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
• Comment Note to closing admin - please see ([1]) and do not close until the creator has had some time to respond. This is a pretty informative article and if it's not a hoax, it would be a shame for it to be deleted. --Dweller 12:55, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
• Keep this is the meaning that I understand, it is not a hoax and is a well-known phrase in professional wrestling. If it's in need of cleanup then it should be cleaned. MLA 16:41, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

I wonder whether a merge to Mark (victim) might be appropriate as it has the same etymology. MLA 16:46, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Can you provide any reliable sources for this meaning of the word in wrestling? Also see WP:WINAD. Sandstein 17:55, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

• Delete unless references provided I can personally verify that I've heard the term "mark" used in professional wrestling circles in pretty much the way described. Unfortunately, though, I'm not a source you can reference. The article will have to be deleted unless published references can be provided to verify information in the article. My suggestion would be for an interested editor to copy-and-paste the article to their user space as a draft article, then recreate the article once good references are found. That way you keep the information around in user space as an unverified draft, and can easily recreate the thing once the reference problem is addressed. Dugwiki 21:03, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

P.S. In reply to MLA above, I wouldn't be surprised if this is indeed related in origin to the use of the word Mark (victim) in a con game. In essence, a mark in professional wrestling would be a fan who "buys into the way the promoter wants them to feel". A mark for John Cena, for example, would be someone who genuinely cheers for John in the ring and genuinely boos and dislikes his "heel" opponents. I would bet that the word dates back to the days when many people didn't understand that professional wrestling matches are "fixed", and thus were in a way marks of an elaborate act.

I've also heard the term used as a verb meaning "to buy into the act", as in "My friend was totally marking out when he watched the return of Bob Backlund on the TNA pay-per-view last week." Dugwiki 21:11, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

• Comment Well, I added a reference, but it's debatable as to what is considered "authoritative" in pro wrestling. Anyway, this exists in wiktionary, which is where it probably belongs, as well as in List of professional wrestling slang. My leaning is that we can probable Delete this, and all the other terms, the list article should be enough. Citicat 03:36, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
• Delete. As noted above, List of professional wrestling slang explains it, if a little more succinctly. Suggest said article is expanded very slightly to explain in a little more detail. References do exist (e.g. Scott Keith's books). --Dave. 14:50, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
• Delete. More wrestling content on Wikipedia that needs to go away. Manager Of Champions 22:44, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
• Comment. "More wrestling content on Wikipedia that needs to go away." Go away why? Because YOU aren't interested in the subject matter?
• Delete per Dave. - RJASE1 17:17, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.