Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of Cheap Pop and Cheap Heat from Smark Out Moment! Each week, we break down the world of professional wrestling and examine two of the polar opposite ends of the spectrum: one thing that was by far the worst thing (Cheap Heat) and the best thing (Cheap Pop) to happen over the past 7 days in sports entertainment. So, what went down this week that we loved and hated about the business?


Okay, it did not feature on Monday Night Raw directly, but The Rock turning up and incorporating the audience as extras on his latest feature was something that I am sure many in the audience will be thrilled to have been part of. Plus, him calling up CM Punk and actually leaving a voicemail is pretty funny. A shame that they did not broadcast it, but entirely understandable why not. Also, CM Punk's response was surprisingly light, stating on Twitter that he was unable to answer due to it being his dog's birthday, and then following it up with a tweet saying "Hi" to all at the arena. This was a far throw from his normal bitter response to all things WWE.

Am I saying to expect to him at WrestleMania? No, and I am sure that he would berate me brutally to even be grasping at such a straw, but it is a baby step, and one that we have not seen anything even close to since his departure.


BONUS POP: Owens Owns The Microphone — The world waited with bated breath to hear Kevin Owens explain his heinous actions against Chris Jericho. His response? Nothing. Nothing at all. He would not even address it. Brilliant. Owens has switched effortlessly from the comical heel back to his bad ass one in just two short weeks


The battle royal on SmackDown was an excellent match, but the ending was controversial, and not for the reasons WWE wants you to think. The world and their blind grandmothers were able to see that Luke Harper hit the ground a good 2-3 seconds after AJ Styles. He is the clear winner, and the fact WWE skipped using any replay or delving into using alternative camera angles just accented this.

To be fair, the execution of such an ending is hard to get right, but on this occasion, it was not even realistically debatable. I know that we are mere fickle fans, WWE, but we are not that silly.


EXTRA HEAT: Tag Teams in Turmoil — Two weeks ago, I wrote of the uninspiring state of the WWE tag team division. Strangely, WWE paid me no attention, and promptly booked their Raw Tag team champions two weeks in a row in handicap matches that just served to make Roman Reigns looks strong. Meanwhile, the only other tag division story is that The New Day are trying to build an ice cream machine. Still more interesting than American Alpha's reign.

So there you have it, my two choices for the week. What do YOU think are the Cheap Pop and Cheap Heat this week in professional wrestling? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!