It Looks Like WWE Speed Has Been SCRAPPED! (WWE News)
Farewell to WWE Speed? The social media show on X looks like a thing of the past.
The Wrestling Observer is reporting that WWE has stopped taping new episodes of social media show Speed. At time of writing, the latest edition of Speed to go online was the 9 July edition. There's been radio silence since, both on X and on general WWE television (although, to be fair, Speed was barely mentioned on Raw, SmackDown or NXT), and there's a chance the contract with X has expired.
Sources inside the company told The Observer that nobody behind the curtain has really been talking about Speed as an ongoing concern for a while. However, again, WWE has yet to make an official announcement on the show's future.
Sol Ruca is the current, reigning Women's Speed Champion. She won the title from Candice LeRae on 11 April, but their match didn't air on X until 16 April. Similarly, Chad Gable's El Grande Americano offshoot won the Men's Speed Title on 5 May, but his win over Dragon Lee didn't go live until 7 May.
Gable has since suffered a serious shoulder injury that'll keep him benched for some time. Ludwig Kaiser has assumed the El Grande Americano gimmick on episodes of Raw recently, but he hasn't been referred to as the current Speed Champ or defended the belt.
It's worth pointing out that Mattel recently unveiled a brand new WWE Elite action figure of Andrade that includes a Speed Title accessory inside the box. That could become even more of a collectors item if Speed has indeed fallen by the wayside as an axed show.
Speed Flew Under The Radar For Most After Launching In April 2024
WWE Speed raced onto X starting with the 3 April 2024 episode, but it had been trialled as early as December 2023.
The concept was simple: 3 minute matches generally and 5 minute bouts for the titles once they were introduced. It was deliberately designed to be a quick and easily-digestible slice of wrestling content perfect for social media. If WWE could convince fans to stop scrolling for a few minutes to see some rapid action, then they'd keep X happy and consider the idea a success.
In truth, not many people spoke about Speed in glowing terms. It was rare to hear fans discuss Speed in the same breath as Raw, SmackDown or NXT. It was even lower on the company pecking order than 'C' tier programming like Main Event, which really says it all.
Current AEW man Ricochet was the first male champion. He defeated Johnny Gargano in a tournament final in April 2024 to bag the belt. WWE then added a female version in October of that year and crowned LeRae the first champ. To date, there have only been 4 men's champs (Ricochet, Andrade, Dragon Lee and El Grande Americano) and 2 women's champions (Candice LeRae and Sol Ruca).
If this is the end, then goodbye Speed. We hardly knew ye.
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