Last night was the debut episode of 205 Live on the WWE Network. 205 Live is a show dedicated to Cruiserweight wrestling. The debut episode introduced the WWE Universe to new Superstars like the Bollywood Boyz and Jack Gallagher. It also featured a Cruiserweight Championship match with Brian Kendrick defending his title against Rich Swann. It was a decent show and if you are a wrestling fan, a good wrestling show is few and far between nowadays. Rich Swann wound up capturing the Cruiserweight Championship last night and we will see how that story progresses on Monday Night Raw.
The vast majority of people that tune into Monday Night Raw every week didn’t watch 205 Live last night. These are the people that do not visit websites like this or tune into every single show every week. Â The WWE is putting out so much content right now that is almost impossible to keep up, unless you are an absolute diehard wrestling fan. Monday Night Raw is three hours and with the edition of 205 Live, Smackdown is essentially three hours now. That is six hours of wrestling in two days and then the next night there is NXT. If you are a fan of other promotions, Lucha Underground also airs on Wednesday nights and then TNA Impact is on the following night. Even if you are strictly a fan of WWE programming, the brand split has introduced more PPVs and there is just a ton of content to sift through. Talking Smack was a popular show that aired immediately after Smackdown. It has now been pushed back an hour to account for 205 Live.
There is so much WWE programming that 205 Live may get lost in the shuffle. The success of 205 Live depends on Monday Night Raw. Since the debut of the Cruiserweight division, it has been an afterthought. Every Cruiserweight match has been short and there has been virtually no character development for any of the Cruiserweights featured on the show every Monday. It has been a bunch of random six-man tag matches and Brian Kendrick battling with TJ Perkins.
In order for 205 Live to last, the WWE needs to build up the Cruiserweight division on Raw. They need to explain who these people are and give the general audience a reason to care. Last night, Rich Swann had an excellent vignette that aired before his title match with Brian Kendrick. Swann also delivered an emotional speech after his victory and dedicated the match to his late mother. The WWE needs to show that vignette and that promo again on Raw. If Swann just comes out to the ring with the Cruiserweight Championship and starts dancing around the ring, 75% of the crowd will not care. Last night, the crowd actually got into a couple of matches on 205 Live. The Cruiserweight matches on Raw almost never generate a response. If they do, it is usually a “boring” chant. There are people that are simply not a fan of Cruiserweight wrestling and I understand that. However, Monday Night Raw is a three hour program and they need to devote some more time to the Cruiserweights in order for the division and 205 Live to be successful.