Mark Jindrak doesn’t think the WrestleMania weekend fan chaos was as big of a problem as some WWE talent made it out to be.
While speaking on his YouTube channel, Jindrak addressed the recent complaints from wrestlers about fans crossing boundaries at hotels, airports, and other shared spaces during WrestleMania weekend. While several WWE names were frustrated by the lack of security, Jindrak said he does not see the situation as a major issue.
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s a big deal. I don’t think it’s a big deal at all. I know a lot of wrestlers are mad about it and they’ve been complaining a lot about it, but I just don’t see it being a huge deal. I think it’s a good sign if the fans are crazy.”
Jindrak argued that fan excitement, even when it gets intense, can be a sign that a wrestler is connecting with the audience. He said that before social media became such a big part of wrestling, those reactions were one way performers could tell whether they were getting over.
“If the fans are all over you, if they’re dying to get a photo, if they’re breaking the rules to try and get a photo, sometimes it’s not such a bad thing. Before the days of social media and telephones and everything, that kind of was your way of determining, ‘Hey, am I hitting with the fans? Am I getting over with the fans? Are the fans relating to me?’”
Jindrak said wrestlers should take some pride in creating that kind of emotion outside the ring, even if the attention becomes overwhelming.
“If they’re acting crazy and out of character to try and get a photo or even get a word or two in with you, it’s something you should be proud of. It should be something that you should hang your head on and say, ‘Hey, I’m doing my job in the ring because I’m creating emotion outside of the ring.’”
He also weighed in on CM Punk knocking a fan’s phone away after the person got too close to Bayley and AJ Lee. Jindrak said Punk may have been trying to protect them, but he questioned whether that reaction was truly necessary.
“CM Punk. The fact that he’s got his whole fan base back, I don’t know, I feel like he should have just a little bit more patience now. That’s his wife as well, and Bayley is obviously a girl as well, so he was probably showing a little chivalry, but I don’t know. I just don’t know if it was needed.”
Jindrak also brought up Randy Orton, saying he laughed off that situation because he knows Orton is not someone who would be bullied by fans.
“The whole Orton incident, man, I was hanging out with him in ’03, ’04, ’05. It’s the same thing. If one person’s not going to be bullied by fans, that’s Randy Orton, so I kind of laughed that one off.”
Jindrak then made his broader point, saying many wrestlers would love to have the kind of attention that top stars complain about. In his view, fan intensity can cross the line sometimes, but performers should still be able to handle it.
“For every wrestler that complains, like a superstar that complains about all the emotion that they’re causing these fans to have, I feel like there’s 25 to 30 superstars that wish they had a reason to slap a phone away. I don’t think the fans are too aggressive. Yeah, they cross the line sometimes, but I think we’re big professionals. We should be able to handle it.”
The former WWE Superstar stated that professional wrestlers who receive that kind of reaction should be grateful because many others wish they had the same level of attention.
“If you’re receiving that kind of emotion from the fans, be happy, be glad, because there’s 35 to 40 wrestlers that wish they had that.”
Jindrak’s comments come after AJ Styles gave a very different account of WrestleMania weekend. Styles said fans swarmed him at a hotel after he declined photos, and he warned that he would go into protect mode if anyone frightened his daughter. CM Punk, Damian Priest, Randy Orton, and Booker T were also connected to incidents from the same weekend, with the larger discussion now centered on how WWE and TKO handle security at major events.
Jindrak clearly sees the issue differently. While Styles and others focused on boundaries and safety, Jindrak believes that kind of fan reaction is still a sign of star power, even if it gets messy.
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