Remember 205 Live?
The defunct cruiserweight show was a dud in the beginning, but as time went on, 205 Live consistently put out banger after banger that made the brand exciting to watch. 205 Live was never particularly a hit, though that was no fault of the wrestlers or even fans.
It’s well documented that Vince McMahon just wasn’t much of a fan of the cruiserweight division. But the talent that was within the division was truly top tier. In fact, the talent on 205 Live was so strong that Vince McMahon told Cedric Alexander that they couldn’t tear the house down because it was ruining Smackdown reactions (Transcript courtesy of Fightful).
“We all knew we were in a tough position because we were usually filmed after SmackDown. So after they’ve seen A.J. (Styles) and Randy (Orton) and all that kind of stuff, yeah, you’re gonna stick around for these smaller guys. These new guys, come check ‘em out and you’re like… we gotta turn it up to 11.” Cedric said on Busted Open.
Well, funny story, there was maybe a month or so, a few weeks where they filmed 205 before SmackDown. The issue with that though is the crowds were dead by the time SmackDown started. Legit. I think the last time they did it, that was me and Drew Gulak for the Cruiserweight Championship on 205 Live, and we killed it, tore the house down and that was the spot when we did the suplex to the outside and landed on my feet and then suplexed him on the floor.
"It was great, but, I remember at the time, Vince (McMahon) was like, ‘We can’t keep doing that, because by the time SmackDown starts, the crowd’s not reacting how they should for a Randy opening promo’ or whatever the case was so, they X’d that and moved us back to after SmackDown… Me, Buddy (Matthews), (Mustafa) Ali were killing it before SmackDown and they were like, alright, time to cut that out, boys. You’re killing Randy’s promo time.”
Though 205 Live would lose fans after Smackdown was done, the fans who stayed were treated to some of the most thrilling matches they’ve ever seen. Despite 205 LIve being short lived, it helped put over guys like Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali. Plus, it provided a nice alternative to what fans saw on regular WWE programming on a weekly basis.