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?


This past week got off to a stunning start with a 72 year old Vince McMahon willingly (it wouldn't have happened otherwise) taking a stone cold stunner for old times sake. How many other octogenarians would have done the same? Maybe Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but not many others.

So, hats off to Mr. McMahon for recreating one of the most memorable moments of the Attitude Era by allowing this to happen. Say what you will of Vince, and many do, but you have to give him credit for this.

What a shame so little thought and effort was given to the rest of the show....



I was very excited for Raw 25, and was so sure that I would have an abundant choice of topics for my Cheap Pop column. Sadly, this is far from what happened, and the episode was little more than an average episode of Raw mixed with some mostly terribly used cameos.

Getting the General Managers and women of yesteryear to assemble on the ramp for all of two minutes was absolutely pointless. Did they really have nothing more for them than this? And what was the point of getting Christian to put on the Peep Show? I was very happy to see him, but what a waste of his time! They barely let the segment start before it was interrupted.

Similarly, I was pleased to see DX, especially as it must mean all is forgiven with Billy Gunn, but they were all barely used too.

The split locations also meant that we only got a limited amount of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler doing commentary as well. A shame, as despite their falling asleep, they would have made the show feel a bit better had they been given some good content to work with.

There were a handful of good moments such as the aforementioned stunner, Chris Jericho's interaction with Elias, and Mark Henry's skit with The Godfather, but most legends felt underused and tacked on. A pale comparison to Raw 1000 where the legends actually felt far more involved in the programming.

Lastly, the timing of the show feels somewhat counterproductive to Sunday's Royal Rumble. How hard will you cheer when the likes of Michelle McCool or Jacqueline crop up in the Women's Royal Rumble? Sure, it would be fun to see them, but the fact that we saw them one week prior does take some of the shine off of it all.

Some of the fun of the Rumble is seeing people that you have not seen for years crop up, but this Raw 25th Anniversary show means that any surprise entrants likely won't be that surprising…

Roll on Raw 2000….


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!