WWE.com 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 continue airing after WWE pay-per-views, so there will be an episode after the Battleground pay-per-view on Sunday. Unfortunately, Daniel Bryan will not be on it; instead, that episode will be hosted by Renee Young and Jerry Lawler. On Twitter recently, Daniel Bryan joked that he and Renee Young would be hosting their own version of Talking Smack going forward.
Don’t worry folks, next week after #SmackdownLive, @ReneeYoungWWE and I will host a pirate version of #TalkingSmack on TOUT #fakenews
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 the most recent 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. This explains the decision to axe Talking Smack as a weekly show but keep it around after pay-per-views.
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.
Still, McMahon can’t hate Talking Smack that much, as he’s still keeping it around in some form.
“If he hated the show, they wouldn’t do it after the pay-per-views, either,” Dave Meltzer recently reported on Wrestling Observer Radio. “So that doesn’t make sense that that’s the only reason.”
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.
Talking Smack ended up being home to a lot of the most memorable promos of 2016, including The Miz’s famous rant against Daniel Bryan from August 2016 which seemed to be largely improvised and which really blurred the line between fiction and reality. The YouTube clip of this segment alone racked up 2.1 million views. Kevin Owens, too, performed particularly well on Talking Smack, constantly insulting the show’s host Renee Young. Owens reacted to the cancelation of Talking Smack as a weekly show in character this week, saying that it was great news. Renee Young, too, kept up their kayfabe hatred for one another on social media.
https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/887016703485513729
@FightOwensFight @WWE @WWEDanielBryan Wow. I’m so glad @AJStylesOrg beat you for the US title. Burn. On. You.
The cancelation of Talking Smack also means that Renee Young will have less screen time on WWE programming, although she continues to serve as a backstage interviewer on SmackDown Live and as a commentator during the kickoff show for pay-per-views.