What’s the story?
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the 24th January episode of 205 Live and 25th January episode of NXT was not in the top 20 most watched programs on the WWE Network of this week.
It should be noted that Talking Smack, one of the most critically acclaimed programs on the WWE Network did not break into the top 20 list this week either.
In case you didn’t know...
NXT at one point was one of the most consistently watched shows on the Network that would generally top the top 20 lists (except on weekends with big Pay-Per-Views and Takeover events). NXT has gotten criticism in 2016 for having a reduced quality product.
The father of NXT, Triple H, was very transparent about the state of NXT in the NXT Takeover: San Antonio conference call. He said that he was quite disappointed with the state that NXT is in.
NXT used to be one of the hottest, most talked about products in the world of pro-wrestling, but then WWE had the brand split. The draft saw six NXT call-ups to the main roster. The issue was that almost all these call-ups were integral to NXT, many being top or rising stars.
This affected NXT’s creative plans and future, leading to them bringing forth a lot of developmental talent to replace the more established talent on NXT television.
The heart of the matter
NXT has been struggling throughout 2016, and 205 Live has not been able to find its footing and draw in an audience, despite being advertised as “the most exciting hour on television”.
The Observer noted the top 10 most viewed programs on the WWE Network this week:
1. Royal Rumble2. Royal Rumble kickoff show3. NXT Takeover; 4. Holy Foley episode six5. Holey Foley episode seven 6. Holy Foley episode eight7. Holy Foley episode nine8. Holy Foley episode 10 9. WWE 24 WrestleMania Dallas10. Holy Foley season two preview
What’s next?
With NXT, it is a long-term process of elevating their talent, and a combined effort from the talent, creative, production crew and Performance Center coaches that will help bring back NXT to its glory days, and perhaps to even greater heights.
With 205 Live, WWE and the Cruiserweight talents have to start focusing more on character and character development. This is the first step towards resurrecting the Cruiserweight division, which many feel have been botched by WWE.
Sportskeeda’s take
Nothing can happen overnight. It’s no secret that NXT and 205 Live have been negatively affected the past many months. However, in time, both programs should attain a great level of success. With the cruiserweights, it is all about the character development of the talent that will get the audience to organically get invested in them.
What is quite surprising is the number of people who have viewed Holey Foley on the Network, as it has garnered a plethora of criticism online among Network subscribers.
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