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: "Back during the Divas Era from 2007-2015, WWE female Superstars would generally have just one short match on either RAW or SmackDown (they would get slightly longer matches on either Superstars or a PPV) while there would be some episodes which will not have a women's match. Most of the female roster at that time were former models with a lack of wrestling experience. But since Triple H took over for John Laurinaitis as WWE's Head of Talent back in 2012, he started to hire more independent wrestlers while gradually phasing out the models as well as match stipulations such as pajama pillow fights and costume battle royals. These days, there are usually two (sometimes even three) women's matches on RAW, SmackDown and the PPVs as well as the matches being longer and aren't just hairpulling or slaps. How did the WWE's change of perception regarding the women's division came about."

Answer: Pressure from changing times and social movements, Triple H achieving more control over the company and WWE feeling as though it was a marketable PR tactic.


Question: "Within the next month to month in a half my first album Dissention into Niceness is coming out. Would you guys be interested in listening to it? PS I'll post in Mega Maniacs when it is available"

Answer: Sure thing.

Question: "With the amount of sleep, you get Tony will you be doing a Pokémon Sleep Let's Play?"

Answer: Game over. Do I get cheat codes?

Question: "Whose multiple death do you enjoy more: Kenny from South Park or Hans Moleman from The Simpsons?"

Answer: Kenny, as I never really thought Hans Moleman was dying.

Question: "Where is the most unique place and way you can see the 24/7 title changing hands? I want somehow for a woman to win it, her husband brings a ref into the bedroom after it appears, they had sex, the man pins the sleeping women literally screwing her out of the title"

Answer: Zero gravity, where the title keeps changing hands because two people are spinning with the one on top of the other and it gets reversed.

Question: "Using the women in WWE make a Women's tag team? I'm going to say Zelina Vega teams with Sarah Stock to reform Mexican America for one off"

Answer: I tried to think of something, but I really wasn't feeling any of the options. Even the ones that make sense to me, like Naomi and Lana, or Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair, just don't strike me as particularly interesting.

Question: "Do you think AEW will do more harm before good? Meaning killing off Impact, ROH and Lucha Underground? Lucha is not dead so I had to add it"

Answer: If they can't survive, they deserve to be killed off.

Question: "There is a saying The Simpsons did it first in TV. Do you in wrestling people say WWE did it first?"

Answer: WWE barely ever did it first, and sometimes, not even better, but it's still the default to me.


Question: "Should WWE do 205 Live at Full Sail University to give it a better and different feel, so that way you can share the roster between the two brands?"

Answer: There are benefits to recording 205 Live in one shot at Full Sail and having a tighter audience that gives it a better feel, but there are also negatives, like having a pre-taped atmosphere making it harder to justify watching when you can find spoilers. I do think that's a possibility, though, to pump out a bunch of content and allow the roster to travel with Raw and SmackDown, so it might be more cost-efficient.

Question: "Thoughts/First Impressions on the Big Brother Cast?"

Answer: I'll break this down on the podcast.

Question: "Do you like when feuds start by someone pinning the champion and then a title match happens on a PPV?"

Answer: Like with pretty much everything, I do, so long as it's in moderation. It can be overdone. But it makes more sense than just having something get announced at random, that's for sure.

Question: "Would you rather be known as saving Raw and SmackDown Live, or rather be known as kicking off AEW to a successful brand"

Answer: Saving Raw and SmackDown, at this point, seems like it's the better option. You'd be the savior, instead of the rebel, and your future would be more secure in the eyes of wrestling history.

Question: "Would you rather die before your wife dies or after your wife dies?"

Answer: She and I have to live forever. No dying for either of us.

Question: "What two colors make the best combinations?"

Answer: Black and white. It works with everything.

Question: "Do you have any quotes that you remember for your life?"

Answer: Oh man, I can go through so many quotes, and I'll do so on the podcast.

Question: "What is your favorite sound in the world?"

Answer: Caroline's laughter.

Question: "Thoughts on people getting frustrated on Shayna Baszler being champion, and wanting new blood? For instance Purrazzo getting involved more, as well as Kacy, Xia Li, Chelsea Green."

Answer: The more new talent who get brought into the mix, the better, but I think Baszler is fine as champion so long as they stop having her do the same exact thing for every feud.

Question: "If you knew the world was ending what would you do?"

Answer: Desperately try to tell everybody important in my life how I feel about them so they know, and panic and cry until I'm dead.

Question: "If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?"

Answer: I'm way too invested in Anthony/Tony to imagine myself as any other name.

Question: "This is probably only for Tony, but since WWE has been slacking, are you more tempted to watch other promotions like NJPW or whatever?"

Answer: I'm more tempted, but I'm still not finding myself overwhelmingly impressed. I feel like NXT is the only show that I can watch and feel satisfied with, at this point.

Question: "How pumped are you for Stranger Things Season 3? Have you seen the final trailer? What do you want to see happen, do you think this is the last season? Can you do a episode rundown for fanboys or a podcast reviewing the season"

Answer: I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing with Stranger Things and Fanboys Anonymous, as I might just enjoy watching it and not make a review out of it, but I'm definitely pumped. The first two seasons were great and I'm super excited to see what they bring to the table for season 3.

Question: "Would you be cool with Drake Maverick as champion for 205 Live?"

Answer: I haven't really seen him work yet, so I'm not sure, but in theory, I'm cool with it.


Question: "It just dawned on me the other day that I have been listening to you guys for over 5 years now. I remembered this because on a Dean Ambrose top I have it has the date the Shield broke up, 06/02/14, and that was one night after Payback 2014, when The Shield beat Evolution in the 6-Man Elimination Tag Match. Pulling this all together, being from the UK and being 13 at the time, I couldn't watch the PPV live but saw the results the next morning. No word of a lie, when I was leaving school I thought to myself "The Shield got a clean sweep, I wonder what Tony, Wago, Paden and Drew think about that". So finally getting to the question, do you have any wrestling merchandise that brings back any specific memories?"

Answer: Glad to have kept you listening for this long! I actually don't have much in the way of merchandise these days, but if I look at my Hulkamania shirt, I think of wearing that and going to the 2015 Royal Rumble. That's definitely one.

Question: "My second question is, if there was an NXT Hall of Fame, who do you think, based on their accolades in NXT, would be first ballot HOF picks, second ballot HOF picks, who just makes the cut in your opinion, and who just misses out?"

Answer: Johnny Gargano, Asuka, Bayley, Adam Cole, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Charlotte Flair, and some others would be guarantees. Far, far too many people would be cut. A lot of people have done more in their grand total career than just in NXT.

Question: "Last one, not wrestling related, but anything from E3 that got you excited?"

Answer: Quite the opposite, actually. No Superman or Arkham game, the Avengers game looked weak...meh.


Question: "What wrestling move in your mind doesn't match its name?"

Answer: I hate that I don't have an answer to this and my brain is too fried to think of one, because I love this question. Maybe I'll think of one on the spot during the podcast.

Question: "Thoughts on having Roman come out with german shepherds or pit bulls? Michael cole saying "Here comes the big dog with his big dogs" is only a positive."

Answer: Only if his theme is from Snoop Dogg and he changes his finisher to a bulldog.

Question: "Segments or lines where you hypothetically spitted your drink? Mine is the shane celebration episode, drew said shane mcmahon is the best in the world"

Answer: "Roman Reigns is beloved by the sports entertainment community." from Jonathan Coachman


Question: "Would you ever want to do other tournaments in the future like Sexiest Belts (aesthetically speaking lol) or Best Entrance Music?"

Answer: Smark Madness is where that comes into play, although Sexiest Belts would be a funny way to word it haha.

Question: "Let's pretend (and hope) that in the near future they end the brand split and merge the tag titles and main titles (WWE with Universal and Raw Women's with Smackdown Women's). Would you like to see a midcard title for the Women's division?"

Answer: I actually had a whole article plotted out about this when Becky Lynch won both titles, but I scrapped it. Eventually, they definitely should have one main title, one midcard title and one tag team title.

Question: "Have any of y'all had the new S'mores flavored Oreos?"

Answer: Yup. I still prefer the regular ones.