It's Official: The Modern Era Of Pro Wrestling Is DEAD
Is any promotion operating at the absolute peak of their powers? CMLL is on fire, but that's about it, isn't it? Is any promotion not named WWE capturing its base like it did at various points over the last five years?
If you're reading this and you still love your favourite promotion, good. Genuinely. But is New Japan really as good as it was between 2012 and 2019? Is AEW hitting those magnetic highs of February 2020 or the summer of 2021?
Is this poop as fun as it was a few years ago, when wrestling was brimming with possibility?
That might be the thing - the thing that is preventing the non-WWE fan, the fan with vaguely discerning tastes who isn't devoted to a set of company initials, from feeling like they once did. The match quality is still outrageously great once a month, but the feeling?
The feeling surrounding All In, when wrestling might actually change?
Dead.
The feeling that New Japan's epic main event might one day get even better?
Dead.
The sense of anticipation that maybe CM Punk could one day return?
Dead.
The idea that something new might sprout and lead to a new revolution, or even something on a smaller scale, like a new style or a hybrid of two existing styles?
Dead. Michinoku Pro can't exist now, in a post-hybrid, post-everything world.
The modern wrestling resurgence felt from the west coast to the far east, the scene that made fans believe in pro wrestling when it was thought dead, forever, as a major arena concern?
Dead.