The show was originally centered around cruiserweights, male competitors billed at a maximum weight of 205 lbs from the namesake 205 Live brand.

[4] With some exceptions, the show originally aired live (as its name implied) at 10 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) following WWE's primary television program, SmackDown, and was broadcast from the same venue.

The show premiered on November 29, 2016; the main event of the inaugural episode saw Rich Swann defeating The Brian Kendrick for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

Once the tournament begun, WWE's cruiserweight division began to wrestle exclusively on 205 Live and ceased to appear on Raw.

[21][22] 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.

[27] By Summer 2021, as a result of significant roster cuts,[28][29] the show's format would change to lift the restriction on weight limits starting with the August 13 episode.

[30] On February 15, 2022, PWInsider reported that WWE was ceasing the production of 205 Live episodes, replacing the series with NXT Level Up.