Wrestling is Dead

Growing up, my dad was a big fan of wrestling. I never saw much appeal in it. However I remember being captivated one spring time. My dad and some of his friends were gathered around and watching television. Little did I know they were watching Wrestlemania. That night I became fascinated as The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boys and the team of Edge and Christian battled it out in a TLC match. Since then I've been a fan of wrestling. Well, I can safely say, it's over for wrestling. Sure, I'll still be a fan but this is it. The pro wrestling industry is about to die so enjoy it while you can.

Things may look great right now. With the New Japan and WWE Networks having great success, Ring of Honor finally getting together enough money to create better production values, and TNA finally picking up steam again. The problem is, it's all a farce and they're only doing it to hang on to what fan bases they have left. Let's look at the facts.

New Japan puts out a great product. As of late, it's probably been some of my favorite stuff. However, they're bleeding talent right now. Slowly some of their biggest talents have jumped ship to WWE leaving them shuffling the deck and looking for the next big star. Spoiler alert, it's Kenny Omega. That seems great and New Japan is probably in the best spot of any of the companies I'm going to look at. Mainly because Japan has more loyalty to pro-wrestling than any other country in the world. It's still real to them, always has been and always will be.

What about Ring of Honor? They've recently picked up a television deal in Canada and have gained funds to increase their production value. But, they're still relatively unknown to most casual fans, despite being around for nearly two decades. Despite Jay Lethal defending his championship all over the world, it hasn't done much to raise the profile of Ring of Honor to most people. Casual fans will see Jay Lethal and think "hey, that's the guy from TNA who did Ric Flair impressions," despite the fact that he's placed Ring of Honor on his back an carried it around the world.

And TNA? Well, their ratings are up. Similar to Jay Lethal, Drew Galloway is defending the TNA World Championship around the world. Things on the surface look great for TNA. Yet, rumors of bankruptcy continue. However, now there's actual proof, since TNA is openly looking for outside investors. Sometimes a change of owners is great, it did great things for WWE. However, the main people rumored to be investing in TNA are Ron and Don Harris. Two brothers known more for their Nazi pride than their wrestling ability of business savvy. The deal hasn't even happened yet and it's left a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths, rightfully so.

Then there's WWE, the big show. They've been sucking in talent from all over the indies, from TNA, from ROH and lately NJPW. But, how has it worked out. Despite people praising NXT, it receives less viewers than Total Divas. But what about Raw? They've got AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayne, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and proven talents like Chris Jericho, The Miz and the prodigal son Shane McMahon has returned to run the show. Sadly, April 18, 2016 Raw reached a historically low rating. It's the lowest rated show since September of 1997. Even giants have an Achilles Heel, and WWE's has been struck. Mainly because it's dull. They walk the line of trying to keep it family friendly and raunchy. Pander to hardcore wrestling fans, and put on a show for non fans. Somehow they've landed in a spot nobody wants to watch.

Then there's the indies. The internet has allowed them to receive more publicity than ever before. While it's worked for some such as ICW, bringing them more shine than ever before. Several popular indies have still gone out of business in recent years. If one independent will survive it's Evolve, because WWE has basically used it as a farm for the last two years. Funneling talent into NXT and using talents to display their working relationship with the indies, despite it being only one independent.

On the surface, it looks like a great time to be a wrestling fan. Yet there are a lot of issues deeper than the surface when it comes to pro wrestling. Maybe this isn't the end. Maybe this is the begging of another revolution in wrestling. Wrestling was at a historic low until the Attitude Era was born. Maybe this Reality Era needs to come to an end for wrestling to progress and return from the shadows. I hope that's the case, because it really looks like this could be the end.

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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