"No, there wasn't an incident" - Renee Paquette reveals why Vince McMahon canceled Talking Smack (Exclusive)
Renee Paquette confirmed that there wasn't any specific incident that led to WWE nixing the original Talking Smack series.
The former WWE presenter opened up about the popular show on a special Sportskeeda Wrestling Awards episode, where she also revealed her picks in multiple categories.
The previous iteration of Talking Smack had Renee Young and Daniel Bryan as hosts, and it allowed guest stars to push the boundaries of how promos were delivered within WWE.
"No, there wasn't an incident. I think it was; yeah, it definitely wasn't an incident. It wasn't like at this moment, 'Oh my god, something happened, it wasn't that. You can just kind of feel the show starting to change," recalled Renee Paquette. [04:43 - 4:57]
Renee Paquette said that the first version of Talking Smack didn't match Vince McMahon's expectations, and it didn't take long until WWE pulled the plug on the show for a brief period.
Talking Smack was revived in 2020 and has since been presented differently on the network. The former WWE announcer noted the differences between the past and present renditions of Talking Smack and naturally favored the one she was a part of in 2016.
"It wasn't one specific moment. I don't think the show wasn't quite what Vince wanted it to be, but you know, I love that they brought it back, and they wanted to try again. And I think what they are doing now with it being more of a studio show, magazine-style. We had that gritty, gorilla-style version of Talking Smack. But I think that's what people love; they are so used to everything being so polished and produced." stated Renee Paquette. [6:14 - 6:53]
Renee Paquette explains what made Talking Smack special
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A unique aspect of Talking Smack is that talents can share their uninhibited opinions without getting bogged down by a script.
The former host said that stars from RAW and SmackDown had more fun with their gimmicks on Talking Smack. The shoot-style interviews also helped wrestlers showcase a different side of themselves to the fans.
"It was really cool to sort of let go of those reins with Talking Smack," Renee Paquette continued, "just letting the characters be who they were and kind of figure that out. You can have a bit more fun with your character and what you want to do. I guess, maybe we were seeing too much of people or maybe not the right sides of them they wanted showcased. I mean, I think even maybe some of our language, you know, we were always talking about James Ellsworth and calling him the hog. So, that might have been problematic. (laughs)." [5:34 - 6:12]
The Miz's famous promo on Daniel Bryan gave Talking Smack a reputation for being a show that offered some realism in the kayfabe world. What are your favorite Talking Smack moments? Share them with us in the comments section below.
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