My Open Letter To The WWE, Triple H And His Friend ‘Mark’

Last Monday’s WWE Raw kicked off with a promo from storyline WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H, where he passively aggressively took the Internet Wrestling Community to task for complaining about WWE Battleground on Twitter.

If you haven’t seen it, take a look for yourself:

The important part starts at the 2:30…um…mark.

Of note is Triple H’s use of the name “Mark” for his friend. Many people mistakenly define this term as a synonym for fans. The true meaning goes far deeper than that. The applicable definition of the term “mark” is one of the last definitions listed: a target, a person who is easily deceived or taken advantage of.

Back in wrestling’s carnival days, the “marks” were the target of the scam. The big bully (the heel) would challenge members of the audience to defeat him, either making a bet with the opponent or taking bets on the outcome. He, of course, won. At the end, a “plant,” or a fake contender who was in on the scam, would step up—with his own “money,”—and eventually defeat the bully. The crowd went home happy thinking a local hero won, but really the marks’ money was taken and the face and heel spent the night drinking away (and likely stealing a few girlfriends).

Too many wrestling fans today try to make “Mark” be a good thing. It’s not. I get the use of “Marking Out” to mean getting so deeply into the product that you feel like a kid again. You don’t care if it’s real or fake, you love it and react to it. That’s not being a “mark,” that’s being a fan. The “mark” is the paying customer, the one who is fooled or made to be foolish.

Triple H definitely took a shot at the IWC when he referenced “my friend Mark.”

Now I could write a letter to the WWE, but it would fall on deaf ears. The fact is, if I write this on your behalf, you should be the ones to see it.

So here it is.

Note: I don’t use real names in wrestling, so I will not address this to “Paul Levesque.” Nothing bothers me more. (Guy who keeps calling “CM Punk” Phil Brooks, I’m looking at you!)

Sunday, July 27, 2014
WWE Corporate Headquarters

Attn: Triple H, WWE Chief Operating Officer

Dear Mr. H,

This “open letter” is in reference to your comments during Monday’s Raw. Not the comments where you named Brock Lesnar the #1 Contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and John Cena’s opponent at SummerSlam, but the comments about members of the Internet Wrestling Community taking to Twitter to complain about the results of WWE Battleground.

For the record, Mr. H, I enjoyed Battleground. The opening tag team match was one of the best tag team matches you’ve broadcast in quite some time. The Battle Royal is vastly underrated, and the main event is not getting the praise it deserves.

Fact is, you’ve done a lot of good. You capped off an 8-month long storyline at WrestleMania, putting the fans’ hero Daniel Bryan over all three members of Evolution—including yourself. You’ve given the Divas Division an actual feud to care about with AJ Lee and Paige. And under your watch we’ve seen the rise of new stars like Cesaro, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt and the likely future face of the company Roman Reigns.

Furthermore, I don’t even blame you for the WWE’s loss of CM Punk. I don’t blame anyone within the WWE—that one lies squarely on the shoulders of CM Punk himself.

But your comments during Monday’s Raw did bother me. They bothered me quite a bit, actually.

The Unprecedented Champion of Social Media

The WWE’s commitment to social media is equally impressive as it is obvious. In your company’s own words, “WWE is the most influential sports brand in social media, as ranked by Klout. We are one of only 14 brands/celebrities with a perfect 99 Klout rating.” [LINK]

In fact, here’s the video you created for the 2013 SXSW Conference where you named yourself the “Unprecedented Champion of Social Media.”

You see in 2014, social media is the fastest and easiest way to communicate with the world. It connects old high school friends who likely would never have spoken to each other after graduation, and links fans of the same sports or entertainment field from around the world. Nowhere is this stronger than the world of wrestling.

For any company hoping to make money, social media also the easiest way to survey its customers. And your customers were telling you what they thought on Sunday & Monday.

But it doesn’t stop there, Mr. H. During each live action broadcast produced by your company, you encourage fans to speak their voice on social media, and you usually provide a special hashtag for each segment.

Including the one where you (and your friend “Mark”) insulted at least 25% of your fan base.

The Internet is a powerful tool, Mr. H, one that your company has essentially bet it’s future on with the launch of the WWE Network. Remember that day when your supervisor (and the father of your wife) lost $350,000,000? (It looks worse with all those zeroes, doesn’t it?) That’s because you haven’t been listening. And I say that as a WWE Network subscriber. Hell, I even bought a 6-month subscription for my best friend. You’re welcome.

There’s another point you’re missing, Mr. H. You asked us to tweet. More accurately, you begged us! Maybe not you, but your company. And we did it. Like the sheep Eric Bischoff has called us before, we’ve tweeted until our thumbs were sore and made you the social media giant you are. Now you turn against our tweeting? If that isn’t biting the hand that feeds you, I don’t know what is!

The Customer Is Always Right

According to a recent article in the Huffington Post [LINK], the phrase “The Customer is Always Right” was first used by London department store founder Harry Gordon Selfridge. In customer service, this phrase isn’t always true. But in entertainment, it most certainly is.

Triple H, we’re entitled to our opinion, and you’re entitled to your opinion of our opinion. But why insult us for having one? I don’t know if The Wresting Observer’s report of your hatred for fans who react via social media is true [LINK], but your response during Raw’s opening segment supports it.

I will agree that we often don’t use our voice in the most powerful way possible—our spending habits—but everyone has a breaking point. And how long before “The Customer Is Always Right” becomes “Let The Buyer Beware?” I’m not saying you have to push Dolph Ziggler to the moon—he’s proven to be injury prone and does a great job in a midcard role.

In fact I am not here to tell you what to creatively do on television—I’m here with a simple word of advice.

Don’t insult 25% of your fan base. We have a voice, one you have Michael Cole encouraging us to use 12-15 times during Raw—at least once during every single segment of the three hour show. That voice is part of our entertainment value. Let us use it. You don’t need to like it, you don’t really even need to listen to it.

But if you do, you might learn something about us. You might even be able to leverage it like you did with WrestleMania XXX.

Doesn’t that sound better than losing $350,000,000 in one day?

Sincerely,

Greg DeMarco
Card Carrying Member of The Internet Wrestling Community

Greg DeMarco is a graduate of Virginia Tech and Arizona State, and is currently working in higher education. Greg started in improv comedy in 2001, making his stand-up debut in 2004. Greg first appeared as a ring announcer for Rising Phoenix Wrestling in Phoenix Arizona in 2006 and served many promotions in both on-stage and back-stage roles for over six years, most notably Ring of Honor in 2010. He began writing for 411Mania in October 2010 and has been pissing readers off ever since!

Follow Greg DeMarco on Twitter: @gregdemarcoshow

As always…