WWE recently made a big change to 205 Live. The show moved from after Smackdown Live on Tuesday nights to Wednesday nights prior to NXT. The show has been getting taped prior to Smackdown going on the air on Tuesdays.
So is the change to Wednesday nights helping viewership for the show?
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscribe here), the change of nights has helped so far.
In the Observer, Dave shared the top WWE Network shows of the week. The first episode of 205 Live on Wednesday (September 19th) finished in the fourth spot. Meltzer says that this “did significantly better than the live version on Tuesday”.
205 Live was behind the September 19th episode of NXT (Pete Dunne vs Ricochet). It was also behind episode 3 of the Mae Young Classic and the Hell in a Cell replay.
We will have to wait and see for the numbers over the next several weeks to make a definitive judgment but this is certainly a good start. I would have to think that a good chunk of the audience who tunes into NXT every week would also watch 205 Live beforehand.
Also, I think that it was a tough sell for fans to stay up late for 205 Live after Smackdown. We always see a decline in viewership for RAW in the third hour and I am not surprised that 205 Live never really took off in that spot.
I wish the show the best moving forward on its new night. There are tons of talented people working on 205 Live, so hopefully, this gives it the boost that it needs.
What do you think about 205 Live moving to Wednesday’s? Let us know in the comment section.
In other news, here are the latest updates on Sasha Banks and Neville.