It's Official: The Modern Era Of Pro Wrestling Is DEAD
As Page rose through the ranks, literally, experiencing shocking dips in form to prolong the magic, that scene in Daily's Place informed the complexion of the singles and doubles World title scenes. Page ultimately defeated Omega at Full Gear '21, but only after his ascension deftly dovetailed across an incredible spiderweb of booking across the main event scene and upper midcard.
If you didn't like the melodramatic leanings of that story, AEW signed two of the best wrestlers of all time, in CM Punk and Bryan Danielson, who were on career form as talents impossible to cringe at. They fulfilled the "real graps" quota of a show that, for a time, was everything to everybody.
To put into perspective how catch-all AEW was, in 2016, the question was asked constantly in 2016. Who's better: the Young Bucks or the Revival?
AEW signed and promoted both as part of a wider quest to present a "buffet" of wrestling. AEW in the process bottled a magical feeling of impossibility. Yes, NJPW cooled off and yes, the pandemic took an ax to a wider scene that was already stagnating - but AEW centralised and for a time elevated everything.
That feeling is dead because that era is dead. The feeling of change and relentless brilliance has gone. Much of this is self-inflicted. Tony Khan didn't exactly "let" any other promoter have anything. While probably not acting out of malice, Khan has taken virtually every selling point there is and gobbled it up for himself. Unscripted promos, every single genre going, blood, that legend from yesteryear, that legend from the 2000s puro scene that is somehow still in great working knick.
It's almost as if Khan has anointed himself the President of Wrestling - the man who has taken it upon itself to continue certain traditions, strike inter-promotional (and invariably one-sided) relationships, reboot Ring Of Honor for himself, promote every title he can get his hands on. It's a lot of responsibility. With his insanely extravagant recruitment policy, the careers of too many talents are in his hands, too.
AEW is the epicentre of the entire industry, in a way - and when it fails, wrestling fails.
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