English: D’Angelo Dinero Smirk
中文：德安杰洛 德内罗表情
Piyin: Dé ān jié luò dé nèi luó biǎoqíng
The grinning face of American wrestler and color commentator D’Angelo Dinero has been made into numerous pictures and gifs that people use in online communication. It is a legacy meme and one of the most used expression packages in Chinese internet discourse.
Original Video
Background
Dinero, American WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler and color commentator on Impact Wrestling, also known as Elijah Burke, with the nickname “The Pope,” became one of Chinese sticker users’ favorites, all because of a frown/smirk expression he made after defeating a rival in one of his matches.
Spread
One moment he was breathing heavily, looking furious and serious, and then he broke out into a grin, all proud and confident. The “look” has been made into small pictures and gifs that are circulating Chinese social media. Sometimes the pictures and gifs are pieced together with drawings, cartoon characters or short statements, mostly to express one’s confidence.
It is no coincidence that the specific look appealed to many people and became viral, as Dinero recalled the moment. “I finished my match, looked directly into the camera while being upset and then relaxed, and knowing that I had just demolished my opponent, my frown slowly changed into a grin and the rest is history.”
Dinero said that in real life he often receives compliments about his smile for being confident, attractive and sometimes “lethal.”Dinero told the Global Times that it felt great to be a meme face. “I had no idea about just how massively popular The Pope’s face and smile had become in China until about a year or so ago when someone from China tweeted a sticker with my face on the body of Godzilla,” he said. “It was at that time I realized just how big of a deal it was.”
Examples
Although the original video is from 2007, the Dinero’s expression did not begin to circulate around Chinese internet circles until as early as 2017.
Reference
- https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1056486.shtml
- https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%BE%B7%E5%AE%89%E6%9D%B0%E6%B4%9B%C2%B7%E5%BE%B7%E5%86%85%E7%BD%97/17973638
Further reading
