''WWE 205 Live'' is an American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

program that was produced by WWE. It premiered on November 29, 2016, and ended on February 11, 2022. The show originally aired exclusively on the

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television t ...

until March 2021 when the American version of the WWE Network merged under

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

, after which, it was available on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets. The show was originally centered around cruiserweights, male competitors billed at a maximum weight of 205 lbs. from the namesake 205 Live brand. With some exceptions, the show originally aired

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music * Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of album ...

(as its name implied) at 10pm

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small ...

following WWE's primary television program, ''

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes sim ...

'', and was broadcast from the same venue. By 2020, ''205 Live'' episodes were pre-taped on the Tuesday before its airing. In October 2019, ''205 Live'' was integrated with the

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

brand with cruiserweights from both NXT and NXT UK appearing on the show. By August 2021, the show included female competitors as well as male competitors above the weight limit. The final episode of the series aired on February 11, 2022. On February 18, it was replaced by '' NXT Level Up''.

History

2016–2018

''205 Live'' was established following the success of the

Cruiserweight Classic The Cruiserweight Classic, formerly the Global Cruiserweight Series, was a professional wrestling tournament and WWE Network event produced by WWE. All participants were billed at a weight of 205 lbs or less to determine the inaugural WWE Cruis ...

tournament, to feature those who competed in the tournament and others who have become full-time members of WWE's cruiserweight division.

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as ...

, WWE executive producer and wrestler, stated the program was designed to serve as a showcase for the division, with its own distinctive feel and style compared to other WWE programming. The Raw brand was originally established as the exclusive home of the division during the 2016

brand extension Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use thi ...

, with all cruiserweights being drafted to Raw during the

2016 WWE draft Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film ...

. Following the premiere of ''205 Live'', the cruiserweight wrestlers appear on both ''Raw'' and ''205 Live'', as well as making occasional appearances on ''

''. The show premiered on November 29, 2016; the main event of the inaugural episode saw

Rich Swann Richard Allen Swann (born February 15, 1991) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling. He is a former Impact World Champion, TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Impact X Division Champion and Impact Digital Media Cha ...

defeating

The Brian Kendrick Brian David Kendrick (born May 29, 1979) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE. Kendrick is also known for his appearances with Ring of Honor (ROH), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), New Japan Pro-Wrestli ...

for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. The show would replace '' Talking Smack'', which previously held the post-''Smackdown'' 10 p.m. ET time slot before moving to 11 p.m. after the debut of ''205 Live''. In January 2018, Triple H took over the creative side of ''205 Live''. The first of the changes under Triple H was Drake Maverick as the brand on-screen general Manager. He announced a 16-man tournament for the vacant WWE Cruiserweight Championship, which was won by Cedric Alexander on the

WrestleMania 34 WrestleMania 34 was the 34th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on April 8, 2 ...

kickoff. Once the tournament begun, WWE's cruiserweight division began to wrestle exclusively on ''205 Live'' and ceased to appear on ''Raw''. In September 2018, due to the second season of '' WWE Mixed Match Challenge'', ''205 Live'' went from a live format airing post-''SmackDown'' to a pre-taped format (being taped before ''SmackDown'' goes live) and airing before ''NXT'' on Wednesdays.

2019–2022

On January 15, 2019, the show moved back to Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET and began airing live again. Just prior to ''WWE NXT'' moving to

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

head Triple H spoke with ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' in September 2019 and said that "You'll start to see 205 ivebegin to" become part of NXT. He said that 205 Live's talent would start moving towards NXT, that 205 Live had "become lost in helimbo", and that the Cruiserweight Championship would have more meaning on NXT where it could create more opportunities for the cruiserweight wrestlers. It was then reported that the ''NXT'' Creative Team would be in charge of ''205 Live''. The following month, the title began to be defended on ''NXT'' and was renamed to "NXT Cruiserweight Championship", becoming a part of the NXT brand. Following ''SmackDown''s move to Friday nights on October 4, 2019, ''205 Live'' was also moved. The integration of 205 Live with NXT took effect in-universe on October 18, 2019, following the

2019 WWE Draft The 2019 WWE Draft was the fourteenth WWE Draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between their Raw and SmackDown brands. Returning to its original name (the "WWE Draft") and a traditional draft format, it was the se ...

, when Drake Maverick – who himself was drafted to

but remaining as the General Manager of 205 Live, announced that he had made a talent exchange agreement with NXT General Manager

William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is known for his over 20 years spent in WWE, as both a performer and an on-screen authority, and for his ti ...

, whereby NXT cruiserweights could now appear on ''205 Live''. However, on April 12, 2020, Maverick announced that he was no longer 205 Live General Manager and that William Regal will instead be overseeing the Cruiserweight Division. Due to both ''Raw'' and ''SmackDown'' recording shows in

Manchester, England Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, the November 8, 2019 episode was recorded from the NXT "Full Sail Live" studio at

Full Sail University Full Sail University is a private for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts. The school moved to Florida in 1980 and began ...

. On April 12, 2020, with the announcement that Drake Maverick would be competing in the Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship tournament, Maverick confirmed via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that he had stepped down as the 205 Live General Manager so that he could return to in-ring competition (though Maverick was released from WWE on April 15). NXT General Manager William Regal was announced to take over the managerial duties of 205 Live in addition to NXT. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United States, it has resulted in confir ...

, ''205 Live'' moved to the

WWE Performance Center The WWE Performance Center is the official professional wrestling school system of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. The promotion currently operates two Performance Center locations, which serve as training facilities for WWE ...

indefinitely in March 2020, as with most other WWE programming. In August 2020, it briefly moved to

Amway Center Amway Center is an indoor arena located in Downtown Orlando, Florida. The arena is home to the Orlando Magic of the NBA, the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, and the Orlando Predators of the National Arena League. Amway Center hosted the 2012 N ...

via WWE's " ThunderDome"

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...

, before moving back to the Performance Center to join NXT in its new "Capitol Wrestling Center" studio. In 2021, first-round tournament matches for the

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament held by the American promotion WWE, and is featured on its NXT brand, having first been established in 2015. In subsequent years, wrestlers from the NXT UK a ...

were held on ''205 Live'', as tag teams from the 205 Live brand also took part. A women's version of the tournament was also introduced in 2021, and as part of the inaugural Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, women's matches were held for the first time on ''205 Live''; the first match specifically saw The Way (

Candice LeRae Candice LeRae Gargano (''née'' Dawson; born September 29, 1985) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand. She is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion and was a member of The Way. LeR ...

and Indi Hartwell) defeat the team of

Cora Jade Brianna Coda (born January 14, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, performing on the NXT brand under the ring name Cora Jade, where she is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion. Before signing to WWE, she previou ...

and

Gigi Dolin Priscilla Lee Kelly (born June 5, 1997) is an American professional wrestler. She performs under the ring name Gigi Dolin in the NXT brand, and is one-half of the tag team Toxic Attraction with Jacy Jayne, and she is a former record-tying two-ti ...

on the January 22 episode. By Summer 2021, as a result of significant roster cuts, the show's format would change to lift the restriction on weight limits starting with the August 13 episode. On February 15, 2022, ''PWInsider'' reported that WWE was ceasing the production of ''205 Live'' episodes, replacing the series with '' NXT Level Up''. ''205 Live'' aired its final episode on February 11, with ''Level Up'' premiering on February 18.

Broadcast history

On-air personalities

Authority figures

Commentators

* When McGuinness was absent at the time, he was filled in by ''SmackDown Lives Byron Saxton. * When McGuinness was absent for the birth of his daughter, he was filled in by his colleague from ''NXT'' Percy Watson for two weeks. * When Joseph and McGuinness were absent for the UK Championship Tournament, so both men were replaced by ''SmackDown Lives Tom Phillips. * When McGuinness was absent at the time, he was filled in by one of the pre-show panelists David Otunga. * When Joseph has been traded recently for ''

Main Event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

'', ''SmackDown Lives Byron Saxton fills in for him as play-by-play.

Ring announcers

References

External links

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