10 Amazing Signs Wrestling Is Entering A New Boom Period
4. Retro Stars Are Working In Harmony With New
Remember all those returns for Bill Goldberg that hammered home just how uninspired some WWE booking could be? The way he hammered Bray Wyatt's 'Fiend' character over in Saudi Arabia at Super ShowDown 2020 was agonising to watch, and it definitely started that gimmick's slow death.
Contrast that to the way Steve Austin worked harmoniously with Kevin Owens at last year's WrestleMania 38, or with Sting's work alongside Darby Allin and others in AEW. It's night and day. Those guys don't feel like they're stealing spots. Instead, they're retro flavour fans actively want to see interacting with younger stars.
Nostalgia, if harnessed properly, is big business.
Other part-timers, like The Rock and John Cena, are genuinely over with the mainstream audience too. They bring some fresh eyeballs back with them whenever they dip a toe into pro wrestling, and that should be welcomed; seeing older names slot neatly into the product rather than act as some emergency 'break glass' panic button is great.