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Renee Young and Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack.
Tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live will not be followed by a broadcast of Talking Smack as it usually is, although 205 Live will still air as normal. So why isn’t Talking Smack on tonight? Where is the post-show?
Last week, Talking Smack was canceled, at least as a weekly show. This was something that was originally reported by PWInsider and subsequently confirmed by the WWE. In a statement, the company said that it frequently changes up its programming due to a number of factors, including “viewership and subscriber research.”
However, Talking Smack is going to continuing airing after WWE pay-per-views, so there will be an episode after Battleground on Sunday. Unfortunately, Daniel Bryan will not be on it; instead, that episode will be hosted by Renee Young and Jerry Lawler.
After the cancelation of Talking Smack, a number of wrestling journalists including Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer pointed out that the show simply wasn’t being viewed by enough people. While specific viewership numbers aren’t available, Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that last week’s episode of Talking Smack was only the 18th most viewed piece of content on the WWE Network that week. The shows after pay-per-views do well, though; the Raw Talk after Great Balls of Fire, for example, was ranked second of the week on the WWE Network.
However, Sports Illustrated reported on July 16th that Talking Smack‘s cancelation actually had nothing to do with viewership. Instead, Vince McMahon reportedly personally decided the show should be canceled because he didn’t think it was good for the WWE.
“Sources close to the situation reported that McMahon was unhappy with the show and strongly believed it did not serve the company’s best interests,” Sports Illustrated reported.
The cancelation of Talking Smack was a decision that upset a lot of WWE fans, who felt that the show became a great place for WWE talent to grow. Particularly disappointed was the show’s host, Renee Young, who says she found out about the cancelation through Twitter.
Really disappointed about #TalkingSmack. We tried to make that show great. Guess I’ll go back to welcoming my guest at this time.
— Renee Young (@ReneeYoungWWE) July 14, 2017
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