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?



I really enjoyed seeing the Lucha House party appear on Monday Night Raw. Their tag match, while a little short, was still a lot of fun and a great showcase for 205 and the guys who are part of it.

Of course, this is assuming that they have not changed divisions, but it did still prove that certain cruiserweight wrestlers can very seamlessly hang with their heavier counterparts.

It is no good WWE bemoaning 205 falling short in network ratings if they continue to keep the guys involved squirreled away from newcomers to the product.

Thankfully, they do seem to be cottoning onto this a little by including the likes of Lio Rush and Drake Maverick as managers.

While I am not advocating a return of the tacked on watered down purple roped matches, but more like what we saw here.

Occasional interactions between the divisions offers a chance for matches that you would never get to see otherwise, and will certainly keep things fresh and fun.



My editor asked me to hold off publishing this week's column until the weekend on the account that I might get some good material from Crown Jewel.

Well, he was not wrong there. (Mango Note: Damn right I wasn't hahaha)

It is hard to know which to highlight as the major fly in the ointment here, but I am going to have to go with hating on Shane McMahon winning the World Cup Tournament.

WWE promoted this as being important, and even though it had no title shot up for grabs, I guess that it would be a nice career note for whomever won it. So, we chose to invest a little in it. Not too much, as we know what WWE are like, but enough to care that we could at least hazard at guess who would win.

We did not even get that privilege. No, instead we get Shane O'Mac aimlessly winning and riling up fans left, right, and center. Shane O' Mac is, by technical definition, the best wrestler in the world.

It is like Nicholas Cone winning the tag title, but in no way cute or funny.

All the storytelling before was meaningless. The injuries, the beat downs, the promos...none of it mattered!

Also, why was Shane his own first choice? There was really no other SmackDown wrestler that could have taken the spot? Andrade "Cien" Almas, perhaps? Fans would be more than fine with that.

I guess Shane's win makes it memorable, and likely will set up Survivor Series, but I rather got the impression that WWE did not want anyone to remember this show ever happened in the first place.


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!