Opinion: WWE needs to cancel 205 Live
The 2016 WWE Cruiserweight Classic was one of the true highlights of the year for WWE. It featured 32 independent competitors, which included some top talent in the entire wrestling world like Kota Ibushi, Zach Sabre Jr., current WWE stars Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, former WWE stars Tajiri and Brian Kenderick and a mix of independent talent from all over the world.
The show was directed and produced by Triple H, Michael Cole and the rest of the NXT crew. So, when WWE revealed they would be adopting a new Cruiserweight style spin off show, many fans were excited at the thought of seeing Cruiserweight Classic style matches every week on the WWE Network.
Unfortunately, that is not exactly what we got. WWE were unable to secure contracts with Kota Ibushi and Zach Sabre Jr., which certainly did affect the outcome, but the real big issue was behind the scenes. WWE 205 Live was announced to debut in November 2016 and would air every week after WWE Talking Smack. After Talking Smack was cancelled, it was set to air after SmackDown Live every night. Although Triple H would work the show a little, it would be mostly controlled by the regular main roster crew, with Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunne leading the way. These two are probably the worst two persons to be in control of this kind of show, as they were never previously fans of Cruiserweights or any small stature superstars.
This has led the 205 Live superstars to be forced to use less of the same style moves they performed on the CWC. The show also features a lot more pointless segments such as talk shows, duels and main roster superstars like Alicia Fox who were previously not doing much of note on RAW. It also didn't help that top 205 Live star Neville walked out of the company, the second best top tier star Austin Aries was released, former Champion Rich Swann is in a controversial standing with the company and the now former Cruieserweight Champion Enzo Amore got the boot as well.
So, what changes should be made to 205 Live to salvage it? It's simple really, WWE should cancel it altogether. They need to remove cruiserweight division matches from RAW entirely, because really how often can we watch the same 6-man tag match or 3 minute one-on-one match every week.
What WWE can do is develop an entirely new show to be filmed in Florida every week, and to have Triple H and the NXT crew direct and produce it. If this is done, the matches can go back to being somewhat similar to the CWC matches. The best thing would be to have it as a joint show with the WWE UK division, as it seems like they are on the 'go slow', as far as getting their own WWE Network show is concerned.