Will We See Talking Smack Return?
So Talking Smack is cancelled and for a good two days it was trending big on Twitter. Now however, interest begins to fade. Will we ever see it return to its previous weekly time slot? Well, yes and no.
Talking Smack has had a rough time in the ratings for quite a while, particularly since the Superstar Shake Up. A big name draw such on Smackdown such as John Cena has been shown to be nothing compared to the draw that someone like The Miz or Alexa Bliss was in the closeted confines of Talking Smack. More than anything the loss of Daniel Bryan for the length of time that it has been proved a major problem.
If you believe Meltzer, and I have no reason not to, Talking Smack was ranked 18th in the network ratings for the week of its cancellation. For a show that was once considered must see that is a mighty fall. With that in mind, is it the right plan to cancel it? Yes, definitely. Will it be coming back? There’s nothing definite about that.
WWE threw a lot of things at the wall on Talking Smack in the attempt to get people watching. We saw The New Day return on Talking Smack a week ahead of their scheduled return to Smackdown. We saw Shinsuke Nakamura on Talking Smack when he’d barely said a sentence on live TV. We saw Maria and Mike get a proper introduction, Lana right after her debut and plenty of time with current WWE champion Jinder Mahal — already proven to be a huge draw in the lucrative Indian market. The company can not be accused of not trying.
However, it’s probably most telling that Renee Young, the host of the show, was seemingly unaware of the cancellation. The day of the announcement, shortly afterwards, Young tweeted: “Really disappointed about #TalkingSmack. We tried to make that show great. Guess I’ll go back to welcoming my guest at this time.”
That’s not how a company does business, and actually says a lot about their intentions going forward. With an increase in interest, generated through platforms like Twitter, WWE have been known to act before. Most recently, the Smackdown women’s match at Wrestlemania being moved from the pre-show to the main stage.
Will a big push on Twitter help herald the return of Talking Smack? Yes. Will watching the show as much as possible on the network help even more? Yes. It’s not just about telling someone what you want, it’s about showing how much you want to keep it once you have it.
Let us only wait and see what happens from here.
-Tom Colohue
