Why Did WWE Cancel Talking Smack?

WWE recently made a big change to their programming schedule on the WWE Network. Fans are used to watching Talking Smack every Tuesday night following 205 Live, but that won’t be an option anymore because the show has been cancelled as a weekly series.

On Friday, WWE issued the following statement to multiple news sites explaining the change.

“We continuously review WWE Network’s programming line-up based on a variety of factors, including viewership and subscriber research. Talking Smack and Raw Talk will air following pay-per-view events, and Tuesday will continue to feature 205 Live.”

Talking Smack seems to be one of the most popular shows on the WWE Network, so the decision has left fans scratching their heads in regards to why the company would cancel the weekly talk show.

According to a report by Sports Illustrated on Saturday, the show wasn’t cancelled due to lack of viewers, it was cancelled by Vince McMahon himself.

The unscripted style of the show played a part as McMahon was not pleased with the show and felt it wasn’t best for the company’s interests.

While still very connected to what happens at WWE’s televised events, Vince has been not been present at shows as of late. He was present last week at last week’s show and made the decision to cut the weekly format, and, per McMahon, eventually end it altogether.

It is worth noting that Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is disputing the SI story.

If that was the case, he'd have canceled it completely instead of kept it but only after PPV shows. https://t.co/UZwJenLOD4

— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) July 16, 2017

Shortly after reports surfaced of the show’s cancellation, Meltzer said on Twitter that it was canceled because not enough people watch it.

Not enough people watched it https://t.co/hb39lYlQxw

— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) July 14, 2017