RCBH928 wrote:WWE is dreaming of filling 65K seats. 5 events per year maybe, but a monthly ppv plus like 3 shows a week (NXT) is just too much in the modern busy world. Corona and down economy is not helping. I for one still think wrestling fans are diminishing, at lest percentage wise of the population.
I don't think anyone can deny that, the numbers certainly back it up. AEW's existence hasn't really changed anything. Some people even think WWE will be sold soon, but I'm skeptical. I've watched a few old shows from WWF and WCW recently and my god, it's amazing how different everything was. You can not only see how much more popular wrestling was, but how it was much more ingrained into the culture. When guys like Hogan were on top in the 80s, or Rock and Austin or the NWO in the 90s, it wasn't really all that embarrassing to admit to being a wrestling fan. The 90s were great because things were not so sanitized. I've watched some WWF shows from that period this past week, and people just say or do whatever they want with no fear of "offending" anyone. Unfortunately, to truly appreciate WWF and WCW shows from the past, you have to go the route of piracy or private tracker sights that upload torrents. In those places you find old wrestling shows how they originally were broadcasted. If you go through official channels like the WWE network on Peacock, you're just getting butchered, chopped up versions of classic WWF and WCW shows where everything offensive have been removed, censored, or changed. Plus, so many of the songs people remember have been removed due to copyright issues. It's a travesty for a fan of classic wrestling. I can't even imagine how butchered the ECW shows must be on the WWE Network.
As far as modern wrestling goes though, it's clear that UFC has surpassed it in popularity and cultural relevance. I've even heard that while boxing's popularity has declined it's still a bigger deal than pro wrestling.
On the positive side though, for really passionate, hardcore, wrestling fans, there is a LOT of content available to them. There are TONS of currently active wrestling companies throughout the world right now. They are no where near as successful as WWE or AEW, but they are making enough of a profit to survive. Part of that is because a lot of bigger stars from AEW or former WWE wrestlers regularly make appearances for these smaller wrestling companies. Plus, a lot of Japanese stars are traveling around and making appearances in these smaller companies as well. Some of the Japanese women I've been seeing are better wrestlers than just about any women in America. I think Japan has perfected women's wrestling. Anyway, it seems like modern day wrestlers seem to want to make as much money as possible so they make appearances in many smaller wrestling companies. More money for them, and more incentive for someone to buy a ticket to see a show from some small, independent wrestling company. I saw a show just recently from a company called Prestige Wrestling, a company I had never heard of, that featured Scotty 2 Hotty who people probably remember from WWF's Attitude Era, and Mia Yim, who recently got let go from WWE. They had some Japanese female wrestlers too.
Wrestling is going to be around for a long time. There is no sign that it is dying, but it may never be as popular as it once was. AEW is failing to draw in more people to wrestling and if they can't do it, no one can. There's never going to be another wrestling "boom period" or another "Attitude Era"