As noted, WWE issued a statement last week on the future of Talking Smack, noting the show will no longer as a weekly series, however WWE 205 Live will continue to air on WWE Network at 10pm EST on Tuesday nights. We later reported that the reason why the show was canceled was because Vince McMahon himself was not a fan of the unscripted nature of the show, and felt the show continuing to air on a weekly basis was not in the company’s best interests.
We noted earlier today that up against WWE 205 Live, WWE Talking Smack typically was the more watched show, with Talking Smack coming it last week at #18 on WWE Network and 205 Live not making the top 20.
On the most recent edition of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that although WWE Talking Smack appeared to be a fan favorite as far as Network shows go, and fans enjoyed the unscripted style nature of the promos on the show, it was not a strong performer overall on the WWE Network. Meltzer had the following to say on the show’s overall viewership, and speculation that the show moving from the 10pm time slot to the 11pm time slot might have hurt viewership:
“The [idea] that [WWE Talking Smack] lost steam because it was put after 205 Live, to a small degree you could say that, but you know 90% of the viewing [on WWE Network], and more than 90% really…is video OnDemand. It’s not the live feed. The only time the live feed is strong is when it’s, to a degree for the live show, like 205 Live, just to a degree, most of the time the only time the live feed is strong is during the PPV’s themselves….changing the slot an hour later isn’t really going to affect it.
And the fact is is before there was 205 Live, Talking Smack still did not do big numbers on the Network most weeks. It was still not among the higher rated stuff, so whatever hit it took was small, but it’s not like it was knocking them dead then [WWE] changed the time slot and it died.”
In related news, today’s edition of WZ Daily is asking fans what their favorite part of Talking Smack was, and you can vote in the poll below!
AUDIO: 7/17 #WZDaily w/ @WZRebel @RossWBermanIV & @EJ_Cam19 https://t.co/7ONnwsOgHL Who Was Your Favorite Part Of #TalkingSmack?
— WrestleZone.com (@WRESTLEZONEcom) July 17, 2017
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
