According to the current WWE Network schedule for Sunday, Oct. 9, plans for the second SmackDown-branded pay-per-view (PPV) of the “new” era include a special episode of the critically acclaimed Talking Smack post-show.
With the half-hour afterparty, No Mercy coverage will take up four-and-a-half hours.
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Everybody loves the Renee Young and Daniel Bryan-hosted Talking Smack, and there is a ton of well-deserved buzz around the blue brand in general right now. But is this more wrestling overload on an audience still getting used to bi-weekly PPVs for the ‘E?
And while the on-demand feature of the Network mitigates this problem somewhat, how much attention will No Mercy grab when going head-to-head with the second Hillary Clinton/Donald Trump Presidential debate and the multitude of fallout coverage it will get? Ratings and PPV buys may not be as important to WWE with their over-the-top service, but they still crave social media impressions, which may be harder to come by on the 9th.
Let us know if you care about any of that stuff yourself, or if you’re just excited for John Cena vs. AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose - and the interview with the winner Bryan & Young will grab in the aftermath?