Remember when professional wrestling was all the rage?
The 1980s era of professional wrestling is mostly responsible for its rise in popularity. The likes of Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, and Hulk Hogan caused the World Wrestling Federation to expand and dominate our screens. Vince McMahon, in all his crazy glory, is one of the main reasons wrestling is where it is. Regardless of anyone’s feelings for the man himself, we cannot take that away from him.
Then came the 1990s, and the rise of World Championship Wrestling, to challenge Vince McMahon’s WWF for wrestling dominance. This “Monday Night War” between the two rival companies is looked at as wrestling’s ‘peak’ of fandom. With this “Attitude Era,” we saw the meteoric rise of stars like Sting, Goldberg, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. This war between the two companies was must see television, and families gathered to see the antics of these larger than life characters.
I am a huge fan of Professional wrestling, obviously. I have a blog centered around this crazy sport. Whenever I tell people I love wrestling, I usually hear similar things:
“Oh I loved wrestling when I was a kid.”
“Wrestling was so much better in the 90s.”
Well I’m here to garner the attention of these fans from back in the day. I’m here to tell them that right now is the time to come back to professional wrestling. If you were a fan of wrestling as a kid, or are a fan of wrestling and haven’t watched in years….
You owe it to yourself to check out Professional wrestling in 2021. The wrestling industry, as a whole, is better than it was “back in the day.” We are entering a new Golden Age of Professional Wrestling.
By our powers combined!
For the longest time, World Wrestling Entertainment has been the gold standard of American professional wrestling. They commanded a monopoly over the wrestling product, causing WWE to craft their vision of American professional wrestling. This caused professional wrestling to become synonymous with WWE, which helped them craft a mindset about working with other companies. They controlled the world of wrestling. This monopoly created a vacuum of other products reaching a large scale audience.
With the creation of All Elite Wrestling, that monopoly has vaporized.
The photo above contains the main companies that have begun working together, but there are so many more wrestling companies with products worth watching. I didn’t even include Ring of Honor, Major League Wrestling, or the various incredibly popular Japanese companies. There is a lot, and each has it’s own style depending on the taste of the audience. Maybe you didn’t even know there were multiple different styles of wrestling! Every company does things a little differently. New Japan puts on epic matches that tell a story inside the ring, rather than through long-winded promos American fans might be used to. Lucha Libre is very popular in AAA from Mexico, and it’s the high flying style commonly used by Rey Mysterio.
There is something for everyone, and that is why AEW is so important. AEW is the perfect blend of all the different styles. They do epic matches, have awesome stories inside and outside the ring, lucha style, and hard brutal hardcore matches. They are the buffet of Pro Wrestling. Consume a little (or a lot) of whatever you like!
Combined with that, every other big company in the professional wrestling industry have joined forces. Their goal is to create an old school style of wrestling, from pre-WWE monopoly days, where you could see anyone pop up at any given time. With AEW at the helm, they can give you a sampling platter of all of the different styles! Once the pandemic is more under control across the globe, I predict we will see a huge show with all of the companies, sell out a huge arena. That would be unprecedented for the wrestling business!
They’re here
Anyone that’s been a fan of wrestling at any time since 1990 should know somebody in this photo. Chris Jericho and Sting are two of the greatest performers of all time, and they have done nothing but be fantastic additions to the AEW Roster. If not for Chris Jericho, I truly believe AEW might not exist. At the very least, it would not have reached such heights so quickly. AEW’s first champion signed on from the very beginning, and brought along his esteemed reputation. He elevated the infant company and established them. His name and status as the first champion of AEW elevated that title into relevance. Not to mention, even at 50 years old, Jericho can still put a great match on.
Sting debuted in December of 2020 at one of the AEW Dynamite special shows, called “Winter is Coming,” to a thunderous reaction from the eight hundred or so fans in attendance. Nobody had any idea Sting was coming out of retirement to appear on a TNT show for the first time in twenty years. Sting’s partnership with Darby Allin has raised Darby up into the stratosphere of stardom within AEW.
Being one of the reasons for the evolution of tag team wrestling, Matt Hardy fit in seamlessly in All Elite Wrestling. He has wrestled a handful of matches, but his work as a leader and manager are where he has truly shined. His “Big Money Matt” persona is exactly as his moniker dictates, it’s money.
There have been a couple instances of a wrestling company gaining huge traction and momentum enough to garner respect and admiration of thousands of fans. The obvious one being the explosion of WCW in the 90s, but the one people tend to forget about is TNA. Total Nonstop Action wrestling (now IMPACT) became incredibly popular in the 2000s, and fell to a similar issue that WCW did. There were a multitude of reasons WCW and TNA failed, but both companies relied on older, established stars rather than continue to build new ones. Instead of continuing to play the long game growing underutilized talent, established stars always held titles, and won matches.
That is where All Elite Wrestling differs from those companies from the past. They use legends and veterans to build up young, inexperienced talent.
- Arn Anderson
- Tully Blanchard
- Jake Roberts
- Taz
- Billy Gunn
- Dustin Rhodes
This is just the short list of the stars of wrestling past that have come in over the past few years, used their names to build up current roster members, and help the overall product. None of these guys have been forced into any kind of title picture, or forced down the fan’s throats.
It’s complicated..
As of this writing, all reports are pointing towards Bryan Danielson and CM Punk have signed with All Elite Wrestling. The ‘Best in the World’ and the ‘American Dragon’ might not be household names like Sting, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, or The Rock, but they are some of the biggest stars of the last fifteen years. CM Punk’s “pipebomb” promo is replayed every single year on its anniversary, and Daniel Bryan’s Wrestlemania 30 victory is one of the best moments ever. They absolutely don’t have the superstardom, but they are A+ talents with a ton of gas in the tank.
I personally cannot wait to see what they do in a AEW ring, barring the countless rumors to be true and they are both signed. Every fan has been salivating over seeing both of these guys sharing the ring with any various AEW star. The easiest dream match is Kenny Omega with either of these guys, but what about Darby Allin? Hangman Page? Think of the promos and segments CM Punk could have with Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
Signing either Punk or Bryan, let alone both, cements AEW as THE show to watch in the coming months and years.
I haven’t even gotten to the best part about AEW, and why the time is NOW to start watching.
THE FANS!
All Elite Wrestling loves its fans. Look at the photo above, and how excited everyone looks! Live events are back, and All Elite Wrestling plays on the fan’s emotions unlike any wrestling company since the 90s. The virulent crowd cheers the good guys, hates the bad guys, and they play us like a fiddle. If you have the opportunity to ever go to an AEW event, it’s an amazing experience. Not to mention, with everything seemingly going to back to a semblance of normal, the live crowds are getting bigger and bigger. More fans are coming over to the All Elite brand because it’s so much fun. The company cares about it’s fans, and tells stories that we want to see and love to cheer for.
This writer is absolutely an unabashed, completely biased, dedicated fanboy of All Elite Wrestling. I personally don’t like WWE, but if you enjoy it…go for it! I want the wrestling industry to thrive, and for every wrestler to succeed.
So if you loved wrestling back in the day, and couldn’t be bothered by wrestling as you were growing up, I ask you to give Professional Wrestling a chance in 2021. It might surprise you by how fun it is, and how much nostalgia you get. Come jump on the bandwagon, there’s plenty of room!