Smark Out Moment

Do you have a question that you want to ask the minds over at Smark Out Moment? Our version of the WWE Inbox is the Smark Out Moment Mailbag. Once a month, we set aside some time to answer any of the questions on your mind, whether they be wrestling related, trivia to try to stump us, or just general questions to get to know Tony Mango and the other members of the team better.

Here are your submissions for this month:


Question: "I read a significant amount of hate online for Stephanie McMahon's influence on WWE (and frankly I've probably written some of it myself). Do you believe her impact on WWE is positive or negative? Personally, I think she's an excellent heel performer, but has been a lead creative in a period where great wrestling is making up for mediocre writing."

Answer: Overall, I think she's a definite positive. Like you said, she's a fantastic character, but she also represents a good PR bonus by being an influential woman in the business world, showing WWE as not being a boys club. It's tough to say how much of a direction for the product is her doing (either bad or good) or what problems she might have with people that gets in the way of a great company, but I don't ever seem to hear as much about her having issues compared to Vince or even Triple H. Everyone seems to love Stephanie except the people that come off as bitter in regards to everyone, like CM Punk, and that's probably his issue more than anybody else's. Triple H is still my go-to guy for the future more than Stephanie or even Shane, but Steph will probably be an incredible asset for the business side of things for decades to come.

Question: "What would you say distinguishes 'good' wrestling fans from 'bad' wrestling fans? I'm asking because you occasionally reference certain people as "the worst kind of smarks"."

Answer: I think there's two schools of thought for both. Good wrestling fans are either the ones that suspend their disbelief and go along with exactly how they're supposed to, as they keep up the illusion and properly get swept up into things, but I think the other good wrestling fans are ones like myself who are critical and sometimes go against the grain, but only when need be. If I hate something, I try to let WWE know. If I love it, I try to do the same. But the line is where fans turn into "the worst kind of smarks" when they go against WWE just for the sake of it. I'll never boo a babyface just to be different and I'll never cheer a heel to seem edgy. I cheer/boo for who I like/dislike and if someone else disagrees, tough shit. The worst fans are the ones that will cheer someone like Ziggler when he isn't being pushed, then as soon as he gets some wins, he becomes "overrated" and "shoved down our throats" like what happened with Roman Reigns to an extent. Also, the fans that think only independent wrestling is good and WWE is "too mainstream" and "watered down" remind me of Goth kids that dress differently just to stand out as weird. A general rule of thumb in any regard of life as far as I'm concerned is if you try to be different because you want people to think you're cool, you're lame as fuck. The only people that are different and awesome at the same time are the ones that are doing it because that's what comes naturally and screw what everybody else thinks.

Question: "Do you think superstars are given more leeway to fail with gimmicks nowadays? It seems people like Titus O'Neil have never really gotten over, and yet are continually pushed into another storyline."

Answer: This is tough, cause a guy like Titus should have been fired very early into his career, but he's stuck around year after year, while other people seem to be cut super quick. I guess they're more patient overall with how many strikes they give them, which is why Darren Young, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel and others are still here despite failing time and time again. Maybe it's easier to keep people in the family as jobbers than to replace them with new people and starting all over again?

Question: "On the full-time WWE roster (i.e. excluding Triple H, Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, etc) what five superstars do you believe are guaranteed Hall of Famers?"

Answer: I think there's a lot more than five, including AJ Styles, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, the three members from The Shield eventually, Goldust, John Cena, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, Randy Orton, R-Truth, Sheamus and The Miz. Paul Heyman as well.

Question: "Finally, a non-wrestling related question - are there certain movies that you make sure to check out or make sure to avoid based on a particular actor that stars in it (male or female)?"

Answer: I typically don't watch a movie for any actors that are in it, but I might stay away from the film if it's built around a star that I don't like and feels like a vehicle for them. I can't watch any Adam Sandler movies anymore after the crap he's put out (which is a shame, cause Billy Madison is so funny) and the same applies to a lot of comedians when they start getting into a rut like that. It happened to Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, even Robin Williams to an extent. One person I avoid right now like the plague is Melissa McCarthy. For the most part, though, I avoid directors more than actors.


Question: "10 years from now, who do you think will have left the biggest impact in WWE: AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins or Shinsuke Nakamura?"

Answer: Right now, I'm going to have to go with Seth Rollins, but I think Styles and Owens are very good choices to surpass him as well. The biggest thing with Styles is that he helped shatter this image of hiring TNA and indie guys (although the company was already on a bit of a kick with that beforehand with Samoa Joe and whatnot). He's proven himself to be an incredibly valuable asset instead of a flop. Kevin Owens is overall a HUGE benefit to the roster in my opinion and possibly the best well-rounded performer they've had in a long while. He just gets it, and I think he could be a top guy for years. Still, Rollins has reached that top dog status already and doesn't look to be slowing down too much. If he doesn't get injured again, he should be another guy like Randy Orton who is just an unarguable future Hall of Famer.


Question: "With all the stuff going on with Jose Fernandez and the emotions of the first game after his loss, what's the most touching or emotional moment in wrestling history to you?"

Answer: Obviously, the death tribute episodes are brutal, as are the retirement speeches. People went nuts over Miss Elizabeth's reunion with Randy Savage. The 9/11 edition of SmackDown was monumental.

Question: "Top five wrestlers you'd like to see crap their pants?"

Answer: Alberto Del Rio, Bo Dallas, Erick Rowan, Mojo Rawley and maybe Drew Gulak.

Question: "Where does Fuji land on your list of best managers of all time? I saw him managing Yokozuna as a child and hold him as possibly third behind Heyman at 2 and Bearer at 1."

Answer: I would put him on par with Captain Lou Albano and Jimmy Hart, who would be just shy of cracking my top five, which would likely consist of Sunny, Jim Cornette, Paul Heyman, Paul Bearer and Bobby Heenan.

Question: "When talking about Bailey's possible Dusty tribute on her top, her breasts were referred to as "Right" and "Lefty", but those names kinda suck. What are better names for them?"

Answer: I would need to get to know Bayley's boobs more in person before making a judgment call on their nicknames. Let's figure out our schedules to arrange that, Bayley...

Question: "What's the best wrestling double entendre you can think of? I totally expect Tony to be the only one with, like, six of them because he'll see this ahead of time and think about it."

Answer: Naomi's finisher "The Rear View" and Nikki Bella's "Rack Attack" are so good. There are so, so many that I almost don't want to go down this rabbit hole for my own sanity, but off the top of my head, the Anaconda Vise, Yes Lock, the Ram-Paige, Fatal 4-Way, Dirty Deeds, Headlock, Full Nelson....yeah, I have to stop or I'll think about this all night. Oh, yeah, One Night Stand, of course. 


Question: "How is the changes coming for smack talk and the raw post show? Are you doing live ppv post shows anymore? Where's the fantasy league?"

Answer: Most of the changes for Smack Talk are going rather well, but there are some kinks still to be worked out. It's hard to figure out scheduling, which is the biggest problem, and I'm still in the process of adjusting templates and whatnot to achieve the most efficient work process, but I think the graphics upgrade looks nice and there's a lot of potential. / I'm not too sure about the live post-shows, as they tend to take away from the YouTube views and make it a little harder to record, but I'm also looking into how I can do them with YouTube Live in the future. / The Fantasy League hasn't been updated since Money in the Bank, as Paden's has too much on his plate, so it kind of felt pointless to keep doing trades but not knowing the current scores and such.

Question: "Paden/wago have you ever thought of uploading twitch streams to YouTube I see poketubers do it was wondering what you thought. What is the state of the mega powers radio on YouTube?"

Answer: I'll let them answer those questions.

Question: "What drug did drew take to get suspended for so long? Was it adderall? Or is drew still kidnapped from episode 242 history of the brand extension pros and cons of the roster spilt wrestling with the past. The creek door at time stamp 5:13 Paden "it sounds like he just got kidnapped" tony " it sounds like someone just came in his room and took him away. "if this is used as court evidence thank for listening to smack talk" Tony "make sure that stenographer gets that web address Paden "Smarkoutmoment s m a they type fast I'm sure they'll get it. Well while drew while drew ends up fighting for his captures" Tony. I don't think we've heard from drew since then. Don't worry drew help is on the way. Did wago get suspended a second time? How often does smarkoutmoment drug test?"

Answer: If I drug tested, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who would pass lol.

Question: "How does it feel working with drew with that age gap or any of your age gaps but i think Drew is the biggest?"

Answer: The gap between Drew and Calen is the biggest that we've had, I think. Sometimes, it comes up when we make references to shows Drew wasn't alive for or was too young to be into, but for the most part, it's not something I think about all too often, oddly enough.

Question: "How do you think the new nxt superstars are doing on the main roster? Has something ever been so hyped that it can't live up to expectations? That's how I'm feeling about American alpha did they do better in nxt? I haven't lost hope I just don't feel they have shown us what they got on the main roster yet"

Answer: I think it's too early to tell for most of them, but the majority are doing rather well. Alexa Bliss is slowly making her impression on the women's division of SmackDown with the title match at No Mercy, American Alpha are being set up for a huge title win, Carmella has her feud with Nikki, and Nia Jax is killing people left and right, etc. Finn Balor didn't work out well, but that's just a fluke. Mojo Rawley...well....

Question: "Everybody said Zack Ryder (except me and Dace) wasn't winning the intercontinental title at mania and said Neville was. Do you still think Zack wasn't supposed to win if Neville wasn't injured?"

Answer: Definitely. I like Zack Ryder and I was into him having a title reign, but they were setting Neville up much more than Ryder. I can't help but feel Neville was originally supposed to have that spot and when he went down with the injury, they decided to change the plan up rather shortly in advance (a week or so) to just go with a different surprise.

Question: "Do you think the hype bros are the modern day ultimate warrior (mojo entrance) and macho man randy savage (Ryder finisher)"

Answer: Not in the slightest bit haha.

Question: "Since miz actually gets booed and is never injured do you think he is one of the better heels in the last couple of years? Will he break jbl's longest reigning champion in smackdown history and the honkey tonk mans longest reign as intercontinental champion? I got a gut feeling on him breaking them as long as maryse is around on July 3 rd longest champion "

Answer: Definitely. The Miz doesn't get as much credit as he deserves. This guy went from being a total joke to being a top guy on ECW, then eventually rose even higher to become the WWE champion heading into WrestleMania against John Cena. That's huge. I'd love to see him break The Honky Tonk Man's record, but I don't think it's going to happen. He needs basically a year on top of what he's already gotten.

Question: "Do you think bona fined g 7 foot tall thing for Enzo and cass has run its course? Enzo is great otherwise on the mic I feel that's so forced sometimes "

Answer: Eventually, if they don't add something new to it, people will grow tired of it. Enzo and Cass are better at what happens after that section, so maybe everyone will just put up with it to get to what follows.

Question: "Do you think the royal rumble will get an nxt show the night before? Do you think royal rumble and survivor series will end up being 4 hours long?"

Answer: It all depends on whether or not they do a December NXT show. If they do, I hope they don't have another NXT event before the Royal Rumble. They certainly don't need it just because it's one of the big events. As far as the 4-hour question, I'd bank on that happening for sure. In fact, I'd love to see the Royal Rumble become a 60-man match, if just for one year.

Question: "Can I ask the fans a question if you do go to wrestling event why don't you bring smarkoutmoment signs? I feel there are 13 sign me ups and I'm half of them. They provide great entertainment it's the least we could do. Same question to host"

Answer: Yeah, why is that, everybody else? Start bringing your signs lol.

Question: "Wago wasn't on the post backlash smack talk what are you thinking about cm punks ufc fight and aj styles winning the wwe championship?"

Answer: Hopefully, Wago will be on this mailbag to be able to answer this.

Question: "Now that aj styles is champion who is someone who never won a wwe world title that'd you'd like to see win the big one? Surprise not picking Ryder picking bray Wyatt "

Answer: Outside of the people who are retired or deceased (Mr. Perfect, Roddy Piper, etc) I can't really think of many people still wrestling on the main roster who never won it but I'd like to see get the belt sometime soon. Bobby Roode should eventually, maybe Samoa Joe, too. Austin Aries needs to win the Intercontinental Championship down the line, as does Sami Zayn.

Question: "Do you think wwe will let bryan in the survivors tag against miz or do you think the story is leading to maryse vs Brie Bella?"

Answer: I don't think Bryan's ever going to wrestle again, unfortunately, but so long as he doesn't hurt himself, I'd be up for him returning in any capacity. It wouldn't be anything but a positive to have him back in the ring as far as WWE star power goes. I don't think Brie's getting back in the ring any time soon, either.

Question: "I listened to a podcast Luke Harper said wwe of the hottest free agents and cryme tyme ranked above Luke. Answer Luke's question in what world is cryme tyme a hotter free agent than Luke Harper?"

Answer: A wrong one, that's for sure. Luke Harper is a much more valuable asset than Cryme Tyme at this point. He can be repackaged as a babyface and be an awesome midcarder, or even just continue where he left off. At best, Cryme Time just goes back to being a jobber tag team. I'm up for them returning, but they're definitely not a bigger priority than Luke Harper.