Part of the job responsibilities for Jimmy Jacobs, who was recently fired from WWE's creative team, involved working on 205 Live. WWE's all-cruiserweight show continues to struggle to develop a consistent following but Jacobs said WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was supportive of the concept from the break.
"Vince was really excited about 205 Live when it first started," Jacobs said in an appearance on a recent episode of Chris Jericho's podcast, Talk Is Jericho.
Jacobs, who was fired after taking a selfie with Bullet Club members outside the venue where Raw was being broadcast, said that 205 Live faced some inherent struggles in getting off the ground with fans.
"They were in a really tough position right off the bat. First off, going on at 10 o clock after two hours of Smackdown," Jacobs said, adding, "It's really hard to create stars from non-stars. You need somebody that people know. I need to know at least that Noam Dar has met Chris Jericho."
Jacobs added that changes to the prevalent in-ring style of WWE also affected the ability of the cruiserweights to stand out.
"Look man, this isn't 20 years ago where WCW and the top of the card was Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan and Lex Luger and the Big Show. … The top of the WWE card, those guys can go. Seth Rollins does the 205 Live style better than most of the guys on 205 Live, so where's the demand?"WWE announced earlier this week that 205 Live would hold its first live events, which are set for January 19-21 in the northeast United States.
WWE has taken different steps to try and shake up 205 Live, adding Neville, Enzo Amore, Kalisto -- all of whom have held the Cruiserweight Title -- to its roster.
Jacobs pointed to positives like the additions of Enzo and the imminent debut of Hideo Itami, but noted that, for both wrestlers and the behind-the-scenes staff, working on 205 Live was a tough job.
Another recent episode of Talk Is Jericho saw guest Austin Aries, a former commentator and wrestler in WWE's cruiserweight division, comment on the struggles for the division as a whole to connect with the crowd.
Click here to check out Jacobs' entire in-depth interview on Talk Is Jericho.
