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?



Crowds are back! Well, sort of. They are not paying fans, but NXT talent sprinkled around the seats. WWE might have stolen the idea from AEW, but does it really matter?

Would you rather that they did not just to save face? The empty echo arena era could only reasonably go on for so long, and a change in atmosphere was desperately needed. In addition, the protective screens actually make it look pretty cool. It almost reminds me of an ancient gladiator arena now, which, is actually pretty fitting. For, assuming that there is no massive surge in the virus, we can now consider the no-fan wrestling era well, and truly, history.



Rob Gronkowski's promo on Raw started well enough, but wow did it go bad fast. Firstly, it was cheesy as hell, which is hardly anything new in WWE, but sometimes you have to wonder if the writers read these things back.

They were obviously going for tough and cool, but ended up with a parody of what someone would do if they were spoofing being tough and cool. Though, maybe it would have been more effective if he kept his shades on throughout. For, the second that he took them off, it could not have been more obvious that he was reading from a teleprompter all of three inches from his face.

Honestly, it would have been less suspect had he been reading it off a sheet of paper. 

Weirdly, I do not remember him being this bad as the WrestleMania host, and neither did I ever think about whether he was using a teleprompter either. Is this another case of someone being much better when allowed off the leash to be themselves?

It would hardly be the first time...


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!