SMACKDOWN LIVE GM Daniel Bryan Gives His Take On Why Audiences Haven't Connected With 205 LIVE
Even though the Cruiserweight Classic tournament went down very well, WWE's 205 Live division has not enjoyed nearly the same level of success. In a new interview, Daniel Bryan explains why he feels that is...
The Cruiserweight Classic spotlighted some of the greatest high-flyers and all-round wrestlers from all over the world, and left audiences thirsty for more. Unfortunately, what they got was a damp squib.
205 Live simply hasn't connected with audiences in the same way, and there are many theories as to why that might be. Recently, Smackdown Live GM Daniel Bryan appeared on the Edge and Christian podcast and offered a very plausible explanation that we hadn't heard before.
“I think one of the things that they have a hard time with with 205 Live and the cruiserweights, is they do some incredible stuff, but do you know who else is doing incredible stuff? AJ Styles doing springboard 450 splashes, right? So to somebody who really knows, okay, the degree of difficulty, they may see Mustafa Ali do this incredible, I don’t even know what you call it, an inverted 450 splash or something, I don’t know, [but] it’s incredible. But to the casual fan, is that any more impressive than AJ Styles doing a springboard 450 splash? And he’s a main event guy who gets promo time and all this kind of stuff.”
Makes sense - but might it also be that the matches are generally lacklustre and they've landed a bunch of talented guys with dull gimmicks that wouldn't get them over in a fit?
Whatever the reason, WWE better come up with something to get people turning in. Maybe Enzo Amore will help?