Recently blaming WWE's problem in creating fresh top guys on the "millenial" mentality on a live version of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's podcast, Vince McMahon accidentally ushered in the "milennial" era of pro wrestling in full. Intriguingly, it was NXT head trainer Bill DeMott (and not McMahon, who was the first victim of this wildly progressive new era in WWE history. Eschewing a debased behavior approving, subterfuge-favoring, corporate and sanitized presentation, milennials want wrestling to be an industry where talent, honesty, decency and connectivity matter more than anything else. Is the "millenials" mentality the reason why Bill DeMott recently quit the company because of allegations about his training methods? These "barbaric" methods were part and parcel (and likely tame, in comparison) of what every wrestler grew up with in a prior era, but they apparently just don't fit in the presentation of the business that fans (and wrestlers) are willing to accept. Is DeMott the only wrestler or WWE personnel affected by this generational shift? No. From doctors to world champions and movie stars alike, "milennialmania" is running wild in WWE-at-present, leaving many negatively impacted in its wake.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
