you may have noticed that the series feels far closer in essence to the
Cruiserweight Classic tournament that spawned it than what has been the overall
presentation of 205 Live itself over the last year.
There is a very good reason for that, PWInsider.com and others have confirmed. As of
last week's episode kicking off the tournament for the vacant WWE Cruiserweight
championship, Vince McMahon has stepped aside and is no longer personally
putting 205 Live together.
Various wrestling news sources have confirmed that the series is now being overseen by Triple
H, who has brought back many of the hallmarks of the Cruiserweight Classic
including the style and presentation of the Cruisers inside the ring. While
Vince McMahon had been personally working with the 205 Live stars to
bring out their personalities to present them in a certain light, there has been
more a focus on the in-ring work and competition under Triple H's vision.
In recent months, there had been talk behind the scenes about why the brand
wasn't firing on all cylinders. People were told that McMahon believed that a
character-driven show was the best way to get the 205 Live brand over, as seen
by his decision to have Enzo Amore shifted there and become the nucleus of the
brand, since he was such a strong character.
While Enzo led to an uptick in viewership and interest (before being fired by
the company), others in the company still argued that presenting 205
Live similar to how the Cruiserweight Classic was presented was the right
way to go. The belief among those who pushed for a return to the CWC
presentation was that having smaller talents echoing Raw and
Smackdown personalities wasn't going to showcase what made the Cruisers
different and unique and it wasn't going to help 205 Live grow beyond
being an hour of WWE TV on the Network.
It should be noted that aspects of the CWC were dropped almost immediately
from 205 Live after the series debuted, including personality packages
that had been produced to introduce viewers to the performers that were almost
immediately discarded.
McMahon finally made the decision to allow Triple H to take over as show
runner two weeks ago in an attempt to reboot and fix the brand. While there's
always a chance McMahon could place himself back in control (it is, after all,
his company), the last two weeks of 205 Live have been compared by
those behind the scenes to WWE NXT, in that Triple H has been the alpha and
omega when it came to being the decision-maker for the product.
The lead writer for 205 Live is currently Jonathan Baeckstrom, who
has been part of the company's creative team since August 2013. He's been
working for the company as a lead writer since November 2016, coming into the
company after working in talent management. Adam Pearce, the former NWA
champion who transitioned into a WWE Performance Center Coach before being moved
up to a Producer for the main roster, remains the lead Producer for the 205 Live
brand.
Sources were also told that the vision seen the last several weeks is very much in
line with the original plans for 205 Live series before Vince McMahon decided to
get personally involved with the direction of the product and the nurturing of
the 205 Live talents, who may end up being the last generation of talents
McMahon worked with on a specific one-on-one basis to groom.
Various sources were also told that 205 Live house shows are not off the table after the
two test shows in Lowell, MA and Poughkeepsie, NY last month, but there are no
current plans for additional live events at this time. Instead, the focus is
going to be building the brand up by presenting strong athletic characters and
in-ring competition before taking the brand back on the road for another
experimental house show run.
So, if you enjoyed the likes of Hideo Itami vs. Roderick Strong last night,
expect more of that in-ring style going forward as Strong was specifically
brought up as a way to help freshen up the 205 Live roster and product - and
there may be other additions in the weeks to come.
The first of those additions, WWE UK star Mark Andrews (who had a run with
Impact prior to signing with WWE) will face Akira Tozawa next week. Drew Gulak
vs. Tony Nese is also set for next week's episode with both matches taking place
as part of the Cruiserweight championship tournament.