Details are sparse as of this writing, but the change looks official.
With Mixed Match Challenge (MMC) returning to Facebook this week (Tues., Sept. 18) after SmackDown Live airs on USA Network, 205 Live will now premeire its new weekly episode on WWE Network the following evening, on Wednesday at 7PM Eastern.
If the above graphic from WWE.com’s “Shows” page isn’t confirmation enough, here’s the WWE Network schedule listed for this week:
Presumably, the brand will still tape along with SmackDown and MMC on Tuesdays. Whether it will be after the mixed tag tournament show as it was earlier this year, or moved to before the blue brand tapes - as many have hypothesized would get the cruiserweights in front of a more energetic live audience - remains to be seen. In either case, the “Live” part of the series’ name is likely going to be inaccurate, at least for a while.
WWE’s loaded up a big show for the move, headlined by a SummerSlam rematch of Cedric Alexander defending his Cruiserweight title against Drew Gulak. Spoilers will probably be out in advance, but just knowing match results probably won’t dull the appeal of a show sold on workrate.
The move will give us three straight nights (four, on pay-per-view (PPV) weeks) with 2.5 - 3 hours of WWE programming each week, at least for the duration of MMC and the Mae Young Classic. Future readjustments to the schedule will likely depend on if moving 205 Live helps or hinders its numbers.
At this point, you certainly can’t blame WWE for trying new things with the brand in an effort to help it find a bigger audience.
Is this the move which will accomplish that? Thoughts on the nightly line-ups in general? That’s what those comments down there are for - sound off, Cagesiders.