The WWE made a move this week that is very disappointing to many fans. The company has canceled their popular show “Talking Smack,” which took place following SmackDown Live every week on the Wwe Network. The show was hosted by Renee Young and had rotating co-hosts, with Daniel Bryan there most of the time and people like Shane McMahon there at other times. The WWE released a statement that blamed ratings on canceling the series.
Why ‘Talking Smack’ will be missed
The “Talking Smack” show will be missed for a number of reasons but the number one reason is that it helped elevate a lot of superstars from the lower mid-card to the main event scene.
The Miz was languishing in his role with the WWE for years before he had his infamous confrontation with Daniel Bryan on “Talking Smack.” That was the controversial segment where The Miz mocked Daniel Bryan for not being able to wrestle anymore and going on a tirade about how he works harder and cares more about wrestling than Bryan did.
It made The Miz a huge star again and he was quickly one of the top must-see wrestlers on SmackDown Live even though the WWE failed to really capitalize on the rise in popularity when it comes to Bryan and The Miz on the regular TV show. Another example is The Usos, who had really started to lose their traction in the WWE until they were able to show their real personalities on “Talking Smack.” Fandango, Tyler Breeze, and Baron Corbin were also helped a lot thanks to the extra time that “Talking Smack” gave them.
The reason the WWE canceled it
First of all, the WWE gave their own reasons for canceling “Talking Smack.” According to the WWE, they review the lineup of WWE Network shows and use a variety of factors when deciding to cancel or continue airing a show. The WWE made it sound like they are canceling “Talking Smack” due to low ratings on the WWE Network, where they mentioned viewership numbers and “subscriber research.” The WWE did saw that “Talking Smack” will continue to air after pay-per-view events.
Second, there was a break of one hour between the end of SmackDown Live and “Talking Smack” ever since 205 Live started airing immediately following SmackDown Live. Because the WWE wanted 205 Live to be a live show, they moved “Talking Smack” to after it. As a result, anyone who watched SmackDown Live and wanted to see the talk show while it was fresh on their minds either had to watch 205 Live or wait an hour.
That likely affected its numbers.
One last thing to take into account is the open nature of “Talking Smack.” As a live talk show with WWE superstars, it presented an interesting problem. Wrestlers would often go off script and there was talk about other wrestling companies and things that the WWE normally avoids on television. There was also the Daniel Bryan factor, where the former world champion often said anything he wanted – even if it was at the expense of the WWE. That is what will be missed the most.
