THIS Is The Exact Reason Wrestling Will Never Get Big Again

There's a lot of playing along in 21st century pro wrestling. The same is true of any TV show or movie, but then, the best TV shows and movies are more worthy than professional wrestling. Great wrestling is better than anything. That's why we're here. But the medium does not lend itself to the rich layers of storytelling that draws people to the wider entertainment sphere. Wrestling - or what we know it to be - cannot grow.

Bill Watts penned the template of North American episodic wrestling television at the helm of Mid-South Wrestling in the 1980s, and it was awesome: rich in continuity and week-to-week intrigue, his innovation transcended the old model. The audience were there for the full ride, not just the cycle.

In 1998, Vince Russo rewrote the template, and that was awesome, too, at least when it peaked. Sensing that the old heat angle was dead, Russo instead built his TV product around the entertainment machine that was Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin wasn't victim to relentless heat angles. He was the whip-smart piss-funny ass-kicker who got one over Mr. McMahon almost every time, often, by commandeering a police vehicle, on the very same show he was thought foiled. The Mr. McMahon character was the ultimate love-to-hate figure. Nobody earnestly hated him. Nobody rioted when he sent Austin to jail. He played the panto villain to hammed-up perfection because he knew how best to get the Austin character over. Entertainment had replaced emotion.

In 2020, the big-time pro wrestling match is sold more on its potential quality than raw emotion. This MOTY-chasing mentality annoys the old school fan, but it exists for a stark reason. The old way is dead, and it can never be resuscitated. There has to be a new way. And perhaps, at their very best, All Elite Wrestling is paving the way forward.

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