WWE Announces Return of ‘Talking Smack’

Talking Smack is officially back. After reports of WWE looking to revive the show, the company announced on Friday that post-show for Friday Night SmackDown is making its return to TV. Talking Smack will feature two new hosts, Kayla Braxton and Xavier Woods, who is still out of action due to an Achilles injury.

The first episode of Talking Smack will air Saturday morning on the WWE Network. It will be filmed on Friday night after SmackDown on Fox from the WWE ThunderDome at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Talking Smack will continue to air on Saturday morning so all markets can see SmackDown. Talking Smack originally aired from August 2016 to July 2017 with Renee Young and Daniel Bryan as the hosts. The interesting thing about the announcement is this comes after Young reportedly put in her notice with WWE. She will be leaving the company after SummerSlam.

The reason for Young leaving WWE is not clear, but according to Wrestling Observer Newsletter, at one point Young was working under two contracts — one with WWE and one with Fox, the contract with Fox ended a few months back when WWE Backstage came to end. It’s been reported Young could join AEW and be with her husband Jon Moxley who is the AEW Champion. Young is releasing a cookbook soon and has some other projects reportedly in the works.

Bryan was on Talking Smack because he was retired from in-ring action due to injuries. He was medically cleared in 2018, and currently, Bryan is on the SmackDown brand but has played more of a backstage role.

Having Braxton and Woods host Talking Smack makes a lot of sense. Baxton is a backstage reporter for the blue brand, she’s the host on WWE Network’s The Bump and she has the Braxton Beat, which can be seen on WWE’s Instagram account. Woods is one of the three members of The New Day, he’s one of the hosts of the podcast The New Day: Feel the Power and he has his own YouTube channel UpUpDownDown.

Talking Smack returns right after the debut of WWE ThunderDome. After spending five months taping shows at the Performance Center WWE will now have live shows at the ThunderDome that will have virtual fans.