Real Reason Talking Smack Was Canceled

While Dave Meltzer reported that Talking Smack was cancelled because of lower viewership, Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated is saying otherwise.

According to Barrasso, WWE canceled the weekly show because Vince McMahon was not pleased with the show and felt it wasn’t best for the company’s interests. Vince apparently made the decision last week while he was present for the show.

WWE issued the following statement on Friday regarding the cancellation of the show:

“We continuously review WWE Network’s programming line-up based on a variety of factors, including viewership and subscriber research. Talking Smack and Raw Talk will air following pay-per-view events, and Tuesday will continue to feature 205 Live.”

Simon Gotch Says He Was Unhappy While In WWE

Simon Gotch revealed in an interview with Wrestle List that he was unhappy during his time in WWE. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Leaving WWE: “I was really unhappy. I’d actually been pretty unhappy there for a while. It’s kind of an odd little side story – the previous year, right after the takeover they did in Dallas, which myself and my former tag team partner Aiden English weren’t even on the live special from Dallas. And I’d always been really close with Biff Busick or Oney Lorcan as he’s now known, and he walked by and said ‘Hey man, how are you doing,’ and I just looked at him and said ‘I f–king hate this place. I want to quit,’ and he got this huge grin on his face. If you’ve ever seen Biff smile you know he’s got this very unique sort of half smile does, but it was that thing of really, frustration building up and being really depressed about how we were being used. And you always want to be doing more and when you’re feeling like you’re not being allowed to you’re literally being barred from doing more, it can wear on you a lot.”

Main roster vs. NXT: “The one plus of NXT versus the main roster was in NXT they did the tapings every month or every couple of months. It was kind of like you knew where you were going or weren’t going. If you’re not used on a taping you know you’re not going to do anything for the next six weeks or month. So then you have time to work on stuff on house shows or put together ideas, new pitches – you know whether or not you need to do that. But, on the main roster, because everything’s so day-to-day and week-to-week, there’s very much that feeling of, am I doing anything on TV this week? No? Okay – let me pitch an angle. And next week comes and they tell me they like the angle but they don’t have time to start it yet. And another week goes by and they don’t do anything.”

If he would go back: “I wouldn’t say the door is closed obviously because in wrestling if it’s going to make them money, they’re not going to care about anything else. Serena Deeb was actually just back in the Mae Young Classic and I’m pretty sure everyone thought she was blackballed after she got released and I must have heard she’d retired a couple of years ago. So she’s an example of someone who a lot of people would’ve thought would never be back. Mickie James, Alundra Blayze, Drew McIntyre is probably one that people thought would never come back or Jinder Mahal. For me personally, I think it’s a matter of – I would need to come back under the right circumstances. I wasn’t happy with how I was used when I was there. I wouldn’t want to come back to basically fall into that same trap again.”

Jeff Hardy Brings Back an Old Look

WWE published an article pointing out that Jeff Hardy wore face paint at Saturday’s WWE Live Event in Roanoke, Virginia. Hardy hasn’t wore the face paint since returning to WWE. He routinely wore is back in 2008 and 2009.

What iconic change did Jeff Hardy just make?

Jeff Hardy channeled the Charismatic Enigma when he brought back his iconic face paint at a WWE Live Event on Friday night in Roanoke, Va.

WWE Cancels Another Show

Talking Smack wasn’t the only WWE Network show to be cancelled, as the company decided to canceled Renee Young’s “Unfiltered” series.

While responding to questions from fans on Twitter about the cancellation of Talking Smack, Renee Young revealed that her WWE Network Series Unfiltered has been also canceled.

WWE to Make Changes to 205 Live?

While talking about the cancellation of Talking Smack on Friday’s episode of Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez indicated that the company may be making changes to some of it’s programming on the WWE Network.

It was previously reported that WWE decided to cancel Talking Smack because it wasn’t getting the viewership that the company was hoping for. Alvarez indicated that 205 Live could possibly be getting a change as well if fans don’t tune into the show. The general feeling right now is that not enough people are watching 205 Live, which could ultimately led to some changes before the year ends.

WWE Cancels Talking Smack

WWE has decided to cancel Talking Smack’s weekly series and will only continue to air as a post-PPV broadcast instead.

Dave Meltzer mentioned on Twitter that the reason the company decided to cancel the show was because not enough people were watching it.

According to Daniel Bryan, he wasn’t even aware of the show being canceled until he came online:

Dana Warrior Says there Were No Plans for Ryback vs. Ultimate Warrior

Ryback claimed in a recent installment of Heated Conversations with The Big Guy that there were plans originally for The Ultimate Warrior to work with him at WrestleMania 30 before he passed away.

When asked about these rumors on Twitter, Dana Warrior claimed they were false. She wrote, “Not true. It always saddens me when people tell untruths on a man’s grave to promote their lives. Do your OWN work. Dana”

When Ryback asked Dana how she was doing, she called him out for living in a “fantasy” with the following remarks:

Reason The Hardy Boyz’ Deal with Anthem Sports Went Sour

Sports Illustrated claims that The Hardy Boyz were willing to pay between $10,000 and $15,000 for the rights to the “BROKEN” gimmick. This same deal would have included a non-disparagement clause and the Hardys sending out a press release to end the conflict on good terms.

As the deal was approaching completion, Anthem Sports reportedly tried to pull a a fast one and wanted more out of the deal. One of the things they asked for was 50% of all Hardy revenue which including Jeff Hardy’s art and music. The Hardys saw this as a ‘monumental heist and money-grab’ and the deal was not made.

The plan now is for Jeff Jarrett to stall the agreement in hopes that The Hardys will give up pursuing the case.