It's Official: Wrestling Needs An Unthinkable Revolution

Perhaps revolution in wrestling would warp the form so beyond recognition that it would no longer be effective.

All wrestling has to be unrealistic to function, to an extent. The finishing move has to be registered with a crowd that is conditioned to anticipate and want it, as an example. When the action is at its most urgent, when the stakes are highest, showmanship is required. Wrestling is inherently counterintuitive in that way. Shawn Michaels didn't stamp on the mat to power up his leg. Crowd psychology isn't a synonym of realism; if anything, it's an antonym.

But, Christ almighty, the deadening blur of interference and stupid decisions and logic gaps...wrestling is stupid, and those who prefer wrestling over sports entertainment really seem to be in a mood with it. AEW is cold. Does anybody even watch anything else?

If nothing else, evolution is required, a far more disciplined approach. Maybe silly wrestling is timeless - it's lasted this long! - and, as with most things, is best when it doesn't indulge itself to the point of parody. Imagine how much more effective MJF would be as AEW's top heel, if he was the one unscrupulous, wickedly evil ar*ehole who ruined the sanctity of the sport? Now that everybody does it every single week, as cleans wins die a death across the shows, AEW is colder.

These things, perhaps, are not unrelated.