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?


There were some decent Pop topics I could have chosen to talk about this week such as the contract signing between Seth Rollins, John Cena, and Brock Lesnar; or maybe the announcement that The Macho Man will be inducted into the Hall of Fame—Oooh yeaah!

But I am going to go out on a limb here and say it is Sin Cara, who has impressed me the most this week.

On (the last) Friday Night SmackDown, the NXT Tag Team champion managed to secure a pinfall over the newly crowned Intercontinental champion, Bad News Barrett.

Now, as a general rule, if you want the champion to look strong, you do not tend to make them lose the first match after they win the title.

In doing so, WWE has shown they must have some degree of faith in Sin Cara, and I certainly would not object to more lucha libre wrestling on the main card.

The fight between Sin Cara and Wade Barrett was an intriguing one. Despite their opposing ring styles, they meshed well and it made for entertaining viewing.

Cara is, unfortunately, a name slightly tainted by his original portrayer, Luis Urive. While he is known as a legend in Mexico, in WWE he became known for being a botcher, having a bad attitude, failing drug tests, and a refusal to learn English.

Jorge Arias, however, is a far more fluid performer and going on his interviews, his language skills and overall attitude are also superior.

With Rey Mysterio desperate to leave WWE, perhaps they are angling to have Sin Cara be the new Mexican face of the company— albeit masked.

Me parcece bien. (Sounds good to me)



A lot of people were excited about WWE calling up The Ascension to the main roster. But, now they are here, I do not think they are getting the impact they deserve. As wrestlers, they are good, but the booking of them? Not so much.

This past week saw the wastelanders mow down another two sets of "local athletes" (aka nameless jobbers).

At first, it seemed novel. These days, it is rare having unknown wrestlers on TV in squash matches; so I thought it was a nice throwback to the '80s; perhaps even a nod to an era of tag teams The Ascension claims to be better than.

Sadly, here is where the positives end.

WWE is trying to get them some heel heat by having them consider themselves superior to classic tag teams,  but while the deluded gimmick worked wonders with the likes of Bo Dallas, here it feels a little wishy-washy. They are too serious for it. You cannot claim to be better than The Road Warriors, but then only go around beating teams who don't even warrant a name.

Sure, the squash matches make them look strong, but wouldn't a few good fights with established stars make them look that much stronger in the long run?


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!