It was reported earlier today WWE will be airing WWE Backstage on FS1 immediately following SmackDown on Friday Night. Backstage hasn’t been on the air in months after having difficulty drawing ratings in its original timeslot.
However, this was not the original plan for this Friday night after SmackDown. According to a report from PWInsider, WWE had planned to air a different show altogether.
“The decision to bring back WWE Backstage was a late decision as initially, the plan was to air a one-hour episode of “Talking Smack”, which normally airs on Saturday morning on the WWE Network.”
Of the two shows, WWE certainly has had more success with Talking Smack. Part of the success of the original Talking Smack was the fact it aired on WWE Network and appeared to not be overproduced.
When you think back to the most iconic segment (Daniel Bryan and The Miz), the segment appeared to be very much a worked shoot, where both men were not scripted.
When Backstage was announced, many fans hoped the show would be more like Talking Smack with the hosts being able to share their true opinions. However, that definitely didn’t happen.
The show became basically a WWE hype machine with a few corny segments sprinkled in. There was very little reason to tune in. Will this Friday’s show be any different?
