205 Live has been on fire ever since Triple H took charge of the weekly show, but WWE is having an issue with how they build feuds on the show. Perhaps giving 205 periodic specials on the WWE Network could be a solution to this.
Just as NXT, SmackDown, and Raw trudge onward tirelessly each week, WWE 205 Live airs each week on Tuesday nights after SmackDown Live at 10:00 p.m. ET. It’s become one of the best shows in wrestling in 2018, as Triple H has made 205 about the wrestlers ever since taking charge of the hour-long program in the post “Zo Train” era.
Last night, we saw Cedric Alexander defeat Jack Gallagher in the main event of 205, and he suffered a post-match attack, courtesy of Brian Kendrick and Drew Gulak. Recall that Gulak is Alexander’s opponent for the Cruiserweight Championship at SummerSlam, which will air on the Pay Per View’s kick-off show.
A 205 Live match, including matches involving the Cruiserweight Championship, has never aired on the main card of a WWE Pay Per View since the new era of the “Purple Brand” began this year. Not even the finals of the Cruiserweight Tournament earlier this year, which featured Alexander facing Mustafa Ali, made the main card of WrestleMania 34.
On the one hand, it’s a good thing that 205’s biggest matches remain exclusive to the show, because it gives fans a reason to tune in to the Cruiserweight Division. It makes them feel special, instead of just being another random match on Raw. This was often the case in 2016 and 2017.
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But on the other hand, it restricts their platform. Even though 205 Live features some of the best wrestlers in WWE, such as Alexander and Ali, these top talents aren’t featured prominently on Pay Per Views. The Cruiserweight Championship could be a prestigious title, but how important is it if it can’t even make the show’s main card?
I can understand why WWE isn’t willing to book, say, Alexander vs. Gulak on the SummerSlam main show. Both rosters are just so stacked right now that they already have to leave several top talents off the card entirely, including potentially Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Bobby Lashley at SummerSlam. With Pay Per Views being dual-branded and the roster only expanding due to recent NXT signings, this isn’t going to change.
What WWE could do is have a compromise. They can create special events for the Cruiserweight Division on the WWE Network without clogging up their already-existing Pay Per Views. This keeps 205 Live exclusive to its own brand, though, admittedly, it would be nice to see wrestlers like Buddy Murphy and Hideo Itami fighting main roster stars like Kevin Owens and Randy Orton.
But since WWE doesn’t seem to be interested in going that route, having Network Specials for 205 Live is a happy middle-ground.
It also could solve an important problem in 205’s weekly programming, and that’s the fact that the feuds seem to drag without any appropriate ending. For example, the rivalries between Akira Tozawa and Lio Rush and Noam Dar and TJP have been boiling for weeks.
Since every episode of 205 Live feels the same (in time and length), it’s hard to differentiate grudge matches from regular matches. It’s certainly possible, but you’d have to keep up with every single episode of the show every week. That’s not feasible for most fans, who follow other shows, so it’s often helpful to have periods in the calendar where a show is distinguished as being “special” for these blow-off matches.
WWE already has NXT TakeOver specials five times per year for the “Black and Yellow” brand. These shows are about three hours long, as compared to the weekly one-hour episodes of NXT. 205 Live has a smaller roster with no women’s division and only a weakly-formed tag division, so they would not need three hours.
A two-hour show on certain Saturdays, perhaps on “B” PPVs, could be worth considering. They could even make these shows one hour, pending how many feuds they’ve cycled through during a given period of time. Having two hours of a buffer, though, would be best, to highlight the fact that this is a “Network Special” with more content. Plus, it would allow 205 more room to add feuds to the card and use more of the roster during their weekly shows.
There are several possibilities for 205 Live to create special shows for big matches, including title matches, rather than just sticking them at the end of regular shows, which usually include squash matches or random tag matches. Those types of bouts have a place on weekly television, but putting title matches on the same episode as those matches can wear thin after a while.
205’s talent needs to have more of a showcase, and loyal followers of the brand will appreciate that. Additionally, fans who don’t have the time to tune into 205 each week (beyond a check-in here and there) could earmark a “Network Special” as a time to kick back and watch some unique Cruiserweight action in WWE.