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?



Writing about the reaction Elias and Kevin Owen got from the Seattle crowd on Raw should technically fall under my heat column, but I feel that nuclear heat of this level transcends it from being a bad thing. After all, the death knell of a wrestler is not booing, but getting no reaction at all at all. In this respect, they have more than succeeded in doing their job.

Not since the night after Roman reigns defeated The Undertaker have we heard such a sustained reaction. In fact, so loud and lengthy was the noise, I was convinced that WWE must have been piping them in, but reports from those in attendance has confirmed that it really was as we saw on TV.

What was funny was how the setup was not drastically different to any other insult your local sports team shtick that the majority of heels have done for years, but this really seemed to hit home like no snide remark has ever before. Often people will briefly boo said insulting heel, but then forget it seconds later and go back to cheering.

If Vince McMahon based Roman Reigns' continued pushes on massive reactions, positive or otherwise, this could bode well for this talented pair.



I would like to say that it is good to see the Authors of Pain getting something of a push as of late, but I cannot. Why? Well, simply because that name seems to be entirely redundant now, and they shall forevermore be AOP.

By all means use it as an abbreviation and secondary name, but it simply does not make sense without the former full title being bandied about. What if you had just tuned in for the first time and never knew them as Authors of Pain? The letters are meaningless and give no indication of their characters or style.

Degeneration X has more letters than the Authors of pain, but that name has never been eradicated in favor of DX. So, why do it here?

This one feels a bit different to the loss of Antonio Cesaro, Alexander Rusev, and Adrian Neville. I feel those have all been long forgotten about and the shortened versions work well, but this is one that I simply cannot see the point of.


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!