WWE: 205 Live deserves much more attention than it gets

So, I have a confession. Well, to be perfectly honest, it’s more of an open secret (especially if you follow me on Twitter). I absolutely adore 205 Live; it’s my favorite brand in all of wrestling. Yes, ALL of it.  If this piece comes off as a bit personal, that’s because it is.

The words “underappreciated” and “underrated” are often thrown around in the realm of wrestling, usually to describe a singular wrestler or group thereof. My use of these terms to describe the purple brand, while seemingly biased, is to bring to light just how slept on 205 Live is.  Ever since its inception on the 29th of November 2016, 205 Live has been WWE’s most underrated roster. Not only is it home to WWE’s most underappreciated superstars, it’s also treated as the company’s purple-headed step-child, both by the WWE and by the fans.

Despite its consistency as a product, WWE and many fans treat 205 Live like an afterthought. That needs to start changing.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that many fans operate under the impression of “WWE doesn’t care about 205, so why should I?”, a sentiment I strongly disagree with. Despite getting little to no promotion from WWE, 205 Live continuously delivers the company’s best matches on a weekly basis.  Take a look at this:

And this:

When people are asked to describe cruiserweight wrestling and, subsequently, 205 Live, the first explanation that jumps to mind is “they do a lot of flips and kicks”. Therein lies the root of why some choose not to partake in the product. But allow me to ask this: What exactly is wrong with performers that base their style of wrestling on incredible feats of athleticism?

This presumption also neglects the fact that 205 Live has a unique mix of styles on its roster. For instance, Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese do not wrestle the same styles as Asher Hale (FKA Anthony Henry) and Ikemen Jiro. August Grey wrestles a different style than Jake Atlas. During his tenure on the purple brand, Drew Gulak wrestled a style unlike many of his colleagues. 205 Live presents opportunities for several different styles and techniques of wrestling to co-exist without a single one seeming out of place.

One of my favorite aspects of the purple brand is how it has become WWE’s true “Land of Opportunity”.  New talent getting the time and recognition they deserve? 205 does that. OG 205’ers booked in a manner that keeps them looking strong even in a loss? Done. Incredible character development? *Looks at EverRise, Bollywood Boyz, Mansoor, August Grey, etc.*…check.

Despite all of its positive selling points, however, 205 Live doesn’t gain nearly as much attention as it deserves. Per the interwebs, many stopped watching the product when Mustafa Ali, Cedric Alexander,  Drew Gulak, and Akira Tozawa were drafted to Raw and Smackdown. Now, I understand that opinions and preferences regarding the product will differ from individual to individual. However, it does raise the question of why?

What was it about the purple brand that initially drew viewers in, and why is that gone with the absence of the above-mentioned superstars? Many refer to 205 as a “wasteland”; however, it is the most coherently booked brand under the WWE umbrella. Of course, as previously mentioned, many share the sentiment of  “WWE doesn’t care, why should we?”  and to back up that statement just a little, can anyone remember the last time the NXT Cruiserweight Champion made an appearance on 205 Live?

Furthermore, 205 barely gets a mention on other WWE programming, unless it’s in passing. So what can be done for superstars like Ariya Daivari (who is the backbone of 205 Live and should have been cruiserweight champion years ago), Tony Nese, Samir and Sunil Singh, Grayson Waller,  Ikemen Jiro, Asher Hale, Ari Sterling, and the rest of the 205 Live roster to gain more exposure?

According to  Fightful Select, there has been a push to put more focus on cruiserweight division, and what better way to do that than showcasing 205 Live?  In order to do that, I propose the following strategies:  First, WWE needs to develop a whole new marketing strategy for showcasing its cruiserweights — barely announcing matches on socials and forgetting to tag the official 205 Live Twitter page 97% of the time doesn’t work.

Second, as the Cruiserweight Champion, Kushida needs to make appearances and have matches on 205 Live. The Open Challenges have been a great way to showcase Kushida’s abilities as champion while bringing attention to the talents of Carmelo Hayes (FKA Christian Casanova) and Trey Baxter (FKA Blake Christian), i.e. the superstars that have so far answered them. I propose that Kushida holds open challenges every other week on 205 Live, and have the WWE Social Media team, as well as both the NXT and 205 Live commentators, announce these matches well in advance.

In addition to the above, a 205 Live fan account suggested the following as a means of bringing more eyes to the brand.

Bringing back former 205 Live superstars like Mustafa Ali, Cedric Alexander, and Drew Gulak for a few matches will bring back viewers that were fans of the purple brand during these superstars’ tenures there, and allow them to see what the current roster has to offer. In addition to this, WWE should give lesser-known members of the roster (to the WWE universe, at least)  the opportunity to have showcase matches on NXT. It is pertinent to point out that these should be proper showcase matches, not matches where the 205 Live superstars are treated like enhancement talent over on the black and gold brand despite having significant pushes on their home turf.

There are many ways for WWE to showcase its cruiserweight division and bring more attention to the purple brand. It is important to understand, however, that the most important of these is for WWE to care about 205 Live succeeding as a brand. 205 Live fans are some of the most diehard within the wrestling fandom, however, if our favorite brand is to get the attention it deserves, I believe that it is pertinent for us to be more vocal about its treatment.

I believe that 205 Live truly is the best brand under the WWE umbrella, and hopefully, more people will consider giving it a chance.