diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/Watch.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/Watch.java
index 057aa373567..8a4084ee5b3 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/Watch.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/Watch.java
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ public class Watch implements ToXContentObject {
                     actions = actionRegistry.parseActions(id, parser);
                 } else if (Field.METADATA.match(currentFieldName)) {
                     metatdata = parser.map();
-                } else if (Field.STATUS.match(currentFieldName) || Field.STATUS_V5.match(currentFieldName)) {
+                } else if (Field.STATUS.match(currentFieldName)) {
                     if (includeStatus) {
                         status = WatchStatus.parse(id, parser, clock);
                     } else {
@@ -350,7 +350,6 @@ public class Watch implements ToXContentObject {
         ParseField THROTTLE_PERIOD_HUMAN = new ParseField("throttle_period");
         ParseField METADATA = new ParseField("metadata");
         ParseField STATUS = new ParseField("status");
-        ParseField STATUS_V5 = new ParseField("_status");
     }
 
     private static final Pattern NO_WS_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("\\S+");
diff --git a/plugin/src/main/resources/watch-history.json b/plugin/src/main/resources/watch-history.json
index 8853b9f0be6..57fbee0c463 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/resources/watch-history.json
+++ b/plugin/src/main/resources/watch-history.json
@@ -98,11 +98,6 @@
         "state": {
           "type": "keyword"
         },
-        "_status": {
-          "type": "object",
-          "enabled" : false,
-          "dynamic" : true
-        },
         "status": {
           "type": "object",
           "enabled" : false,
diff --git a/plugin/src/main/resources/watches.json b/plugin/src/main/resources/watches.json
index baa9cf1251d..fe26b1a1988 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/resources/watches.json
+++ b/plugin/src/main/resources/watches.json
@@ -10,11 +10,6 @@
     "doc": {
       "dynamic" : "strict",
       "properties": {
-        "_status": {
-          "type": "object",
-          "enabled" : false,
-          "dynamic" : true
-        },
         "status": {
           "type": "object",
           "enabled" : false,
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/WatchTests.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/WatchTests.java
index f976f2c6e5c..a222b4507dd 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/WatchTests.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/watch/WatchTests.java
@@ -249,15 +249,7 @@ public class WatchTests extends ESTestCase {
         WatchStatus watchStatus = new WatchStatus(new DateTime(clock.millis()), unmodifiableMap(actionsStatuses));
 
         Watch.Parser watchParser = new Watch.Parser(settings, triggerService, actionRegistry, inputRegistry, null, clock);
-        XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder().startObject()
-                .startObject("trigger").endObject();
-        if (randomBoolean()) {
-            builder.field("_status", watchStatus);
-        } else {
-            builder.field("status", watchStatus);
-        }
-
-        builder.endObject();
+        XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("trigger").endObject().field("status", watchStatus).endObject();
         Watch watch = watchParser.parse("foo", true, builder.bytes(), XContentType.JSON);
         assertThat(watch.status().state().getTimestamp().getMillis(), is(clock.millis()));
         for (ActionWrapper action : actions) {