It’s a pretty exciting time to be a wrestling fan in 2019.
Wrestling seems like it is on the verge of really exploding once again due to the competition that AEW promises to give the WWE on a weekly basis with the beginning of the Wednesday night war.
The AEW flagship show ‘Dynamite’ will go head to head with WWE’s previously developmental brand NXT, and both shows will ensure that fans are engaged in both products.
It’s still early days for AEW, and they undoubtedly have a long way to go to be able to call themselves the best wrestling promotion on the planet, but the initial signs are good. However, sustaining that has been what’s made the WWE the brand it is, and many expect AEW to struggle long-term. But, at present this promises to be the best era of wrestling fans have ever seen, and here’s why.
Competition
Many fans have been quick to pick their side with the start of the Wednesday night war, but in truth, fans should continue to watch all the shows. Of course, it’s a massive commitment, but both products will become stronger since they have something they are being compared to, and this will enable sports bets to become more profitable with wrestling matches becoming less predictable.
We can see the example with the popularity of betting on boxing, with matches such as Wilder vs Ortiz igniting the bookmakers.
The competition will mean that the WWE will need to pick up its game and deliver on a weekly basis, which is something that it has failed to do for the past five years. The biggest winner of the competition between the two brands will always be the fans.
Talent
Fans of wrestling who haven’t watched the product for years are always quick to allude to the fact that the golden days of the Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart were the best. They constantly reiterate that they were the best wrestlers to have stepped foot in the ring. However, there is no doubting that they are superstars, and for their era, they were the best.
But, at this moment in time, there has never been as much talent in the ring. Athletes such as Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho and Seth Rollins prove that. They have taken the ball and ran with it. While wrestling may not get as much mainstream attention as it previously was the action is much better than it was. Anyone that thinks differently should go back and re-watch matches from the 80s and then compare that to what we can see on a weekly basis now.
Women roles in wrestling
The biggest indicator that wrestling is now reaching its pinnacle is the attitude that there is to women’s wrestling. This year a woman’s match headlined Wrestle Mania, and that would have been something that superstars such as Trish Stratus and Lita could have only dreamed about during their careers.
The best that those two amazing athletes could do was headline a Raw show, but they were never truly given the chance to show the world their full abilities. Instead, they were forced to prance around in their underwear and accommodate to an older audience and never had a chance to inspire the younger girls that watch the show every week.
It’s the opposite in this modern era, with many younger girls going to shows and hoping to one day match the accomplishments made by Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley and of course, Becky Lynch.
The latter of which has had an overwhelming response since her arrival as ‘The Man’, and she has featured on talk shows with ESPN. It could be argued now that the women’s wrestlers are actually better than their male counterparts, and could be the decisive factor in driving this industry to the next level.
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