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?



While there are not any end credits on Monday Night Raw, we did not need them to know that Paul Heyman has started work in his new role. Sure, there were still hangovers from bad decisions made over the previous weeks, but the show felt largely different, and had some very fun and wild inclusions that could only have come from the mad scientist of wrestling.

Starting off with a match that led to more pyro than we have seen in a year really caught the crowd's attention, and props to Corey Graves sweary commentary for helping make this feel like an unscripted moment. This was mad, different, fun…and all within the first fifteen minutes.

However, ironically, this may not have been the angle that caught the most fire, because the inclusion of a mystery pregnancy story with Maria Kanellis was the major talking point. Firstly, having the husband and wife couple feature, let alone main-event, was very different, but coupling their appearance with a trashy soap opera antic story? I am all for it. I do not care how ropey it might be, it is so nice to have a story that is not just about one man wanting to best another in the ring, or whose friends with who. Again, different, mad, and fun! That is my takeaway for Heyman's approach, and I am very excited to see where this goes next.



Nobody begrudges WWE for having adverts, as that is how commercial television works, but there is increasing unrest over how the company have been planning stories and matches to fit around the advertising time slots, and not the other way around. For reasons nobody can quite fathom, the decision was made that no wrestling can now take place during any commercial breaks. In theory, that is good for the viewers, but the reality is very different.

Super quick matches, restarted fights, and 2-out of 3 falls are now the order of the day, and it is becoming increasingly transparent. How long can they keep coming up with ways to do this before it gets old? I would argue that it already has, and it has barely been a month in. Again, to our knowledge, this is entirely self-imposed. It does not have to happen.

Maybe something that can go away along the wild card when Heyman and Bischoff era really takes up?


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!