10 Ways WWE Can Break Out Of Their Summer Slump
8. Rethink 205 Live
205 Live debuted to less than stellar reviews last year, but WWE’s Cruiserweight show has gradually increased in quality throughout 2017. Much of this is down to Neville’s ascent as ‘The King Of The Cruiserweights,’ but 205 has become one of WWE’s most consistently enjoyable brands, and can usually be relied on to deliver a quality match or two every week.
There’s only one problem: nobody cares, and nobody’s watching. Neville, Austin Aries, and Akira Tozawa are some of the best wrestlers in the world, but they’re performing to half-empty arenas of tired fans who’ve already sat through a whole SmackDown show. On top of that, the “teaser” matches they perform on Raw do nothing to build towards 205, and the wrestlers are given little chance to show the full scope of their talents on the red brand.
The division should be so much more, and with a rethink, WWE could have a huge asset on their hands. Changing the timeslot should be the first step, but if these wrestlers were given 10-12 minutes to dazzle the crowd in an all-action Raw spotfest every week, their popularity would soar. It would help bring a level of in-ring excitement currently missing from the flagship’s midcard, and encourage more viewers to tune into both shows as a result.