More On 'Talking Smack' Being Dropped On Tuesdays, If Viewership Dropped After "205 Live" Was Added
The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer weighed in on WWE scaling back "Talking Smack" on the WWE Network on Sunday night's episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. During the episode, he addressed reports about Vince McMahon being the reason for the show being dropped on Tuesday nights.
"If [Vince McMahon] was that against [Talking Smack] then why is he continuing the show twice a month instead of five times a month or whatever it was before?" Metlzer asked.
"So I think that he just wants to do the higher rated ones," Meltzer said. "I don't know. Some people say that it lost steam because it was put on after 205 Live, I mean to a small degree you could say that but you know, 90% of the viewing and more than 90% really. Because 90% of viewing on that WWE Network is video on demand. It's not the live feed."
"?The time the [WWE Network] live feed is strong is during the pay-per-views themselves," explained Meltzer. "Most of the viewing of Talking Smack was always VOD so changing the slot an hour later isn't really going to affect it. I mean it affects it slightly, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't affect it that much. And the fact 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."
It was previously reported here at WrestlingINC.com (via Sports Illustrated) that Vince was not pleased with the show and felt it wasn't best for the company's interests.
Host Renee Young stated on Twitter she was "really disappointed" about Talking Smack being scaled back and that, "We tried to make that show great."
WWE issued the following statement to us on the change:
"We continuously review WWE Network's programming line-up based on a variety of factors, including viewership and subscriber research. Talking Smack and Raw Talk will air following pay-per-view events, and Tuesday will continue to feature 205 LIVE."
Talking Smack debuted on the WWE Network on August 2, 2016 and would air immediately following SmackDown at 10pm ET. 205 Live premiered on November 29, 2016 and took the 10pm time slot causing Talking Smack to be moved to 11pm ET.
Source: Wrestling Observer Radio