From the WWE rumor mill: Backstage reason for why Talking Smack was cancelled
What’s the story?
Wrestling Inc. is reporting on a Sports Illustrated article that reveals the backstage reasoning about the why the WWE canceled the popular WWE Network show Talking Smack. Vince McMahon made the main call to cancel the show himself.
In case you didn’t know...
Talking Smack made its debut on the WWE Network on August 2, 2016. It would follow 205 Live on Tuesday nights, as well as after Smackdown Live branded pay per views where they would talk about what happened on that night and interview WWE Superstars in an unscripted manner.
The heart of the matter...
Vince felt that the unscripted style of the show was not good for the company’s interests going forward. Overall, he wasn’t pleased with how the show played out as a whole.
The main hosts of the show took to Twitter once the news broke. It appears that they were not told ahead of the news breaking. You can see their tweets below:
The WWE also put out a statement shortly after the news broke:
"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."
What’s next?
Talking Smack isn’t completely dead as it will still occur after pay-per-views. The next Smackdown Live pay per view is Battleground on July 23rd headlined by Randy Orton v. Jinder Mahal in a Punjabi Prison match.
Author’s take...
It is not a surprise that Vince felt uneasy about the unscripted manner of Talking Smack since he loves a strict structure for his show’s production.
I’m definitely disappointed that they canceled the show on a weekly basis. It was so enjoyable and fresh because of the unscripted manner, and I looked forward to watching it every week. Hopefully, the WWE will reinstate the show down the road.