WWE may be bringing back Talking Smack

This morning, PWInsider reported that WWE is close to bringing the old SmackDown post-show Talking Smack back to the Network - possibly as soon as this month. Pro Wrestling Sheet followed-up a short time later; their sources confirmed that, but could offer no other details.

WWE’s apparently been discussing reviving the series since January of this year. One hang-up might be when it airs, as Fox will want SmackDown to have broadcast in all time zones before an after-show streams on WWE Network.

Talking Smack had a vocal, passionate following among online fans. I am not exaggerating when I say it was one of my favorite things WWE’s produced this century. Unfortunately, I can’t really get excited about this news. At least not yet.

For me and so many others, Talking Smack was great because of two things:

1. The chemistry between hosts Renee Young and Daniel Bryan.
2. The freedom the talent had to promo and interact with Young & Bryan without a script, and the ways they used that to develop their characters and sell storylines (even though there was no guarantee what was said on Talking Smack would be followed up on on SmackDown).

It’s possible, but seems highly unlikely the Renee & Dan team will be reunited. This was back during DB’s retirement/tenure as SmackDown General Manager. He’s more likely to be a guest than a host now. The Yes Man was sometimes unavailable for Talking Smack episodes, which aired live after SmackDown (the way Raw Talk currently airs after Raw) and let’s just say the drop-off when Bryan wasn’t available & folks like Shane McMahon filled in was... steep.

Even less likely is the return of Talking Smack’s unscripted approach to kayfabe. Reports at the time of the show’s cancellation were that once Vince McMahon found out what was going on on his Network every Tuesday night, he personally decided to pull the plug as he “strongly believed it did not serve the company’s best interests.” While some have refuted those reports, we haven’t seen any WWE productions that deal with ongoing storylines get the same freedom since. So there’s little reason to think Talking Smack 2.0 will either.

Maybe I’m being too negative though. Let’s reserve judgement until we see the new show - and save our energy until we see if it even happens.

In the meantime, we’ll always have Smacking Talk. Brought to you by Tout!