'Mechta' said on page two:
"...I take it the new hook is optimized for trapping the wire rather than minimising damage to the pendant. From what I have read, a flat bottom gives a good trap, but the sharp edge is prone to cutting the wire (or pendant), so a rounded lower edge was normal on most recent carrier aircraft to reduce the likelihood of the hook wearing to a sharp cutting edge."
That would be the situation with the new F-35C hook design. What that translates to during carrier ops is being quantified now. To my eye the new F-35C hook mouth looks like an A-4 hook design. Which was sharpened by the deck and had to be unsharpened at regular intervals with a BIG FILE - by one account - to stop it from unnecessarily damaging the wires/pendants.
There is a classic VF-805 line book photo/page entry about one chap taking no.5 wire which had been or was damaged and hanging by a thread.
We lost one A4G from a wire break (under the deck from faulty maintenance). Thankfully the USN exchange pilot ejected in time safely without injury. Gotta like zero/zero rocket seats.