Title: Foreword: Wrestling Brain 2021 Year in Review
Date: December 31, 2021
Original Source: Wrestling Brain
Synopsis: I wrote the foreword to the annual pro wrestling year in review from my friends at Wrestling Brain.
Bryan Danielson hadn’t even wrestled a match for All Elite Wrestling yet when he provided a statement of intent that may as well have been intended as a snapshot of pro wrestling in 2021.
“My goal is to produce excellent professional wrestling that people can watch,” Danielson said following his debut at All Out. “This is one of the things I truly believe: You show excellent professional wrestling to anybody and they will enjoy it, because excellent professional wrestling is fucking awesome.”
It really doesn’t need to be more complicated than that. If there’s anything we should all take from the last year in the world of pro graps, it’s that the industry has been far too guilty of overthinking things for far too long. Forget sports entertainment, gimmicks, stipulations, and kayfabe-breaking social media. There’s a place for a little bit of all of that, sure. But the marquee says wrestling, and you’re not building new fans, converting established ones, or – a major subplot to 2021 – reinvigorating lapsed ones without connecting with your audience with what happens between the ropes.
Continue reading at Wrestling Brain.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 