WWE Star Blasts Fan For Being On His Phone

If you're going to a WWE live event and are lucky enough to get a front row seat, you may want to [...]

By Brandon Gnetz

If you're going to a WWE live event and are lucky enough to get a front row seat, you may want to watch the action. Because if you don't, you might just get put on blast by a WWE Superstar. 205 Live's Tony Neese caught one fan paying more attention to his phone than a big table spot that was happening right in front of him last night and called him out on Twitter.

Neese said, "why even leave your house and waste a good seat? Loser!"

Tony Neese's complaint may seem directed specifically towards wrestling fans, but any live performer in any arena could likely make the same gripe. Go to any child's pre-school performance and you'll see more parents staring at their phones than at the children in front of them.

But Tony's complaint does strike a chord with those a little on edge about the current state of the 205 Live brand.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, 205 Live has been performing very poorly on the WWE Network. The show is apparently being beaten (numbers wise) on a weekly basis by NXT, a show that is taped. It appears that a large chunk of fans aren't changing the channel after Smackdown Live to follow along.

But really, can you blame them? There is currently nothing "must see" about 205 Live. Casual fans assume they will catch any of the important cruiser matches on Raw or pay per view. Ironically, giving the 205 Live stars a showcase on Raw has only hurt their product. Many of the matches shown on Tuesday nights are simply re-arrangements of matches that have already been show on Raw, the home for the cruiserweight division. Since its inception, only one title change has taken place on 205 Live - when Rich Swann defeated Brian Kendrick for the championship.

There have also been mixed responses regarding the Smackdown Live crowds in person and 205 Live. In some cases, we have heard that a solid chunk of the crowd sticks around to watch 205 Live after Smackdown. In other arenas, there are a ton of visible empty seats and a lot of fans leave. Meltzer noted that taping the show before Smackdown Live begins could help from a crowd reaction standpoint.

While that certainly would help, a better solution would be to drop Raw down to two hours and let the 205 Live stars have the first hour to themselves to really tell a program. They could show it live on USA and replay it on WWE Network, adding in more tournament-esque specials that are specific to the show, as the tournament format was a big part of what made the CWC stand out.

Up Next: The New Day Return On Talking Smack

Not only would this make the 205 Live stars feel like a bigger deal, but it would give Raw the same 2 hour format that has made Smackdown Live consistently feel like the fresher main roster show.

Right now, more people are tuned into NXT because it feels like its own universe. 205 Live feels like the little brother tagging along to his older brother's basketball game.

0comments
Start the Conversation

of