8 Ways WWE Can Build Interest In 205 Live

205 Live’s shooting schedule remains one of its biggest problems. Filmed directly after SmackDown, the show often takes place in a half-empty arena, with much of the audience leaving the building after SD’s conclusion. Furthermore, the remaining fans are often tired and bored after sitting through a two-hour wrestling show, and the Cruiserweights regularly struggle to elicit even the meekest of reactions from them.

Nothing symbolises this better than the Akira Tozawa/Brian Kendrick Street Fight from a few weeks ago. The Japanese star laid his opponent out on a table, then scaled the turnbuckles, leaping off with a spectacular (and risky) senton. Both men crashed through the table, but one fan was pictured on his phone as one of the month’s most spectacular spots took place just metres from him, totally uninterested.

The show can’t succeed until the format is changed. Shooting after SmackDown hasn’t worked, and while filming episodes before SD brings a fresh set of problems, it has to be worth a try. Switching to a pre-taped format for a more engaged and energised crowd at Full Sail University would also do the trick, but reduce the show’s scale. The alternatives aren’t perfect, but they can’t be worse than the current situation.