WWE's lying to us when they call this "The Reality Era." Instead, this should be referred to as "The Athletic Age." Kayfabe's dead. UFC was infinitely more popular than pro wrestling for awhile, too. As well, millenials want action with a side of drama, and not the other way around. Let's face it. What we once knew as "pro wrestling" is dead, and now we're definitely doing something based in the same, but also definitely something else. If a fan of a work of a shoot of a worked shoot, NXT is awesome. The best athlete always wins. These aren't so much "wrestling matches" as they are "competitions with grappling involved," and that's cool. Competitors are largely in phenomenal cardiovascular condition, because heck...why wouldn't you be? This is now a demanding "sport" more than ever before. Even those like Bull Dempsey and Baron Corbin look like the kind of guys built for impact, people who do with power what 90% of the rest of the roster do with guile. WWE would do well to adapt to this presentation, as well, the WWE Universe already has. The most over performers on the roster are Brock Lesnar, Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins, plus Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose look like they know a little bit about how to win a fight. John Cena? Well, he's boring unless you put him in there and have Brock Lesnar throw him around like a sack of potatoes, the the college football player takes over and Cena is instantaneously 1,000 times more entertaining than he's been in at least five years. NXT is best because on some level, NXT proves that "pro wrestling" is dying and is answering the question of "what's next."
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.
