The wrestling business is always evolving, and has done significantly in the past 5-10 years. Let's discuss the direction wrestling is going and some of the trends, good or bad. I'm a negative nancy so I'll only be naming trends I dislike for now, to get the ball rolling. To be honest, all of these boil down to a good concept whored out until it loses all meaning.

Apron moves
For a long time the apron has been touted as the "hardest part of the ring", so a move executed on the apron is much more damaging than the same move done inside the ring. I have no idea if this statement is actually true, but it's become a big feature of modern matches. The first significant apron bump I remember seeing is when Kevin Owens debuted in NXT, powerbombing Sami Zayn on the apron. This was treated like a huge deal. Zayn was off screen for a few weeks, if not longer. It's amazing how quickly even this spot became worn out. Owens debuts on the main roster, he's powerbombing people on the apron in the middle of matches and it's just another move. Now you'd be surprised if you don't see an apron move in a match, and it's treated as little more than a regular high impact move in most situations.

Big guys doing cruiserweight moves
This is excellent when done sparingly, but now it seems almost everyone can do a suicide dive, or a moonsault, or a kip up, and they do it every single match. While it's spectacular to see, it's more bad than good. First, it doesn't really fit a big man/monster heel's style to do crowd pleasing moves. Second, we still have distinct cruiserweight/junior divisions in most of the big companies. If big guys can do everything they can, nothing makes the cruiserweights stand out.

Dives onto multiple people
In every multi-person match, there's a spot shoehorned in where one person does a moonsault or dive onto a bunch of people and they all fall down. I can't remember the last time I saw an example of this spot that was really organic. You can always see it coming a mile away.

Convoluted finishers
I'm talking about moves like the Lethal Injection (handspring cutter), the Oz Cutter (springboard cutter), Ember Moon's Eclipse (diving stunner), all of the Young Buck's double team moves, Seth Rollin's rainmaker knee strike thing, Naito's Destino (an Asai DDT with a preceding arm wringer thing) and so on. I understand the motivation - wrestlers want original finishers, and everything has been done, so they take a move and put a twist on it. But a lot of these twists defy logic and blatantly expose how choreographed it all is.

Thigh slapping/superkick spam

I'm tagging a few people. Big Pete because he is the inspiration for this thread. The HoW guys (Kilgore shinobimusashi Baker) because I'm not sure they would see this thread otherwise, and I'm interested to hear the reasons they dislike modern wrestling.

Move spam, specifically superkicks and knee strikes, drive me crazy. ROH tv is the worst for this. Practically every single match features a half dozen superkicks, just as many knee strikes, and the dreaded strike exchange (more on that later). But it's not just a little guy/indie/Elite problem. WWE hosses like Brock, Braun and Roman are just as bad when it comes to hitting the same moves over and over again. It's like there are so many moves nowadays yet somehow movesets seem to have gotten smaller.

*I've never noticed/had a problem with thigh slapping in my life though. Hell, my pet peeve would be seeing a superkick that DOESN'T come accompanied with nice noise 

Strike exchanges rarely fail to make me roll my eyes. Only a few people (KENTA comes to mind) make them look good. It's also somewhat tolerable when the crowd does the yay/boo thing, assuming they're yay'ing the face and boo'ing the heel, which I admit is a big assumption.

1 kickouts/no selling/fighting spirit crap- I HATE the 1 kickout from a big move. Also, whatever it is Tomohiro Ishii does when he is in the ring.

Every big match needing 3 or 4 finishers- I feel partially to blame for encouraging this modern trend since for years I rated matches based on how many finishers were kicked out of. More kickouts=more stars. My old favorite Kurt Angle also bears a lot of responsibility for this trend, as well as popularizing move spam. What was fresh and new and exciting in 2002 is beyond played out in 2018.

Modern crowds in general- Yeah, I know. This is the ultimate old man yells at clouds thing. But modern crowds make me want to pull my remaining hair out with all their "clever" chanting, cheering for the heel over the face like 70% of the time, and caring more about "five star matches" than wins and losses. Again, I feel like I hold some responsibility for encouraging this bad behavior due to growing up as a heel fan who wasn't afraid to engage in all sorts of dumb chanting when I went to shows. I'm so sorry.

Lack of (outrageous) characters- This is a big one. I've always been more of a sports entertainment guy so it's rough in a world where practically everybody does a bland "good wrestler guy" gimmick. It's no surprise that the wrestlers I've most been drawn over the past few years (aside from perhaps returning legends) were the likes of early Bray Wyatt, Broken Matt Hardy & Toru Yano. Early Damien Sandow was another good one. "Gentleman" Jack Gallagher & Joe Hendry are fun. These guys are Characters. Briscoes and Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser in ROH are also good examples. Now I don't love 'em or anything, and Silas often hits the wrong notes, but at least they're out there doing something beyond Good Wrestler Guy. It makes them stand out in a world of blandness.

Most of my match criticisms are covered by Baker. Most of what constitutes "great matches" these days, I just roll my eyes at. For a spell, I was reviewing the big NXT shows, and I just felt like an asshole finding most of the matches nothing special after the rave reviews they were getting everywhere else. The last thing I'd ever want to be is some message board Jim Cornette, so I stick to older matches for the most part. Most "great matches" are extremely formulaic, and I've yet to see anybody doing things against the grain to try to be different. Everybody just panders to the new standards, which is why I don't find it great. It's typical. Typical is the opposite of great. This decade's great match is going to contain:

Many reversals. Cena is the worst at this for many reasons. One, he lacks fluidity in the ring, so it usually looks bad. Two, every big match he is in, he's going to take every sequence and make it into a three step process. If he's going to do an AA, opponent gets out, looks to put Cena in their dogshit finisher, Cena gets out of that, and there's the AA. This will be done with every big spot in the match, and it will look like a dance.

Spamming moves/Spamming finishers. It's fucking awful. Truly, truly awful. As far as wrestling psychology goes, it used to be a common story that the big match wouldn't have finishers because you'd have two great wrestlers in the ring who would have scouted it, and allow any other move other than their opponents finisher. Now it's the opposite, people are just fucking saps for the one move they know is definitely coming. It doesn't make sense, and it only hurts the move itself.

Nearfalls. Yeah, I know I'm a Bret Hart fanboy, but can you name five times Bret kicked out at 2.9 in his entire career? Dude hated nearfalls. I've never heard him express why (I assume he found it cheap), but it's funny to rewatch his matches in today's climate and see how antagonistic he is to them, always kicking out at 2.5 the absolute latest. It is cheap. It's what beginners would spam because it's the absolute easiest way to manufacture drama, except it's now what everybody does, and it doesn't manufacture any drama for me personally because I know they'll be at least five of them in every match. I actually get annoyed at the crowds that pop for every one of them like, "Are you all dense? You watch way more wrestling than I do, I know they're coming, surely you do too." It's just lame at this point. I believe part of the reason Hart-Austin (WM13) has kept its reputation is because it's a match without any falls at all, so it's atypical nature makes it seem even better than it already is.

Selling. Selling is awful. This is the HBKification of wrestling where bumping gets mistaken for selling. These are two different things. Dolph Ziggler, when people still cared about him, often got a "great seller" moniker. Ziggler was a dogshit seller. He was a great bumper, though. He could make an average move look like death, which looks cool as fuck. But when you make something look like death, you probably shouldn't ever recover from it in the match, let alone recover from it two minutes later. Ziggler's Title Win is the greatest example of great bumping, shitty selling. ADR works the arm, Ziggler makes it look like his arm is broken, Ziggler wins, immediately starts flexing with the belt in that arm. You suck at selling. Dolph Ziggler wasn't the exception, he is the norm. Wrestlers suck at selling.

Lack of struggle. Few wrestling matches look like a struggle. I don't just mean high flying, or chain sequences that look more dance than simulated fighting, although that is obviously more of a problem than ever, I mean basic holds. Everything is so loose, every move is so easy to execute, there is no sense of struggle. I think it's because post-kayfabe, wrestlers go straight to cooperation, where in the past wrestlers were learning real holds first before they did anything cooperative with each other. So in the past, you had wrestlers who knew how to apply real holds cranking a little less so it wouldn't hurt, and it looked good. Now you more likely have wrestlers who have never done these holds for real teaching the next generation how to do these holds improperly, and we're now two, three, four times removed from the real thing, so you have these weak ass motherfucking holds as the norm. I think this is why Brock seems better than he probably actually is because he's simulating the real thing, while he shares a roster with people simulating a simulation of a simulation.

WWE stories: Their big matches tend to be the same story. I don't know what NJPW is doing, really, but the WWE big match is virtually the same match every single time. I'm down to watching Wrestlemanias, and every Wrestlemania match is the same.

Bad characters: While Baker wants more outlandish characters, I go in the other direction where I think lack of relatability is a much bigger problem, especially for babyfaces. Heels can always be more outlandish, but the problem WWE is having with babyfaces is there is absolutely nothing to hold onto. People related to Austin or they wanted to be The Rock. No adult relates to John Cena or Roman Reigns. No adult wants to be them. They're lame. They're so sanitized, there isn't a single real thing for an adult to latch onto. Now I see the opposite problem with Indy/NJPW guys, where comic book/anime type personalities is more common, which is unrelatable in the opposite direction. While WWE guys are too robotic to be human, the Indy/NJPW guys are too cartoonish to be human. I've read about how great a promo guy Kenny Omega is a lot, but I've never seen him cut a great promo. There is something about his delivery that is just so forced that I don't believe anything he says. It's like he's cosplaying a professional wrestler.

There isn't a Kilgore federation: The way I related to ECW, I haven't related to any promotion as a whole since. I actually respect Chikara the most just because they created a singular environment unlike anything before it, and I can see the type of person that would love that world. I know that person, but that person just isn't me. I don't like comic books, I don't like anime, I like fucked up realism. WWE is too corporate to ever be anything other than the sterile environment they are currently, and the alternatives seem to be more comic book influenced type environments. These are not worlds I have any interest in. If you're not invested in the world a fed creates, you're not invested in the characters, and if you're not invested in the characters, you don't give a fuck about the matches. If I loved or hated Kenny Omega, perhaps all those modern tropes that I dislike about modern wrestling wouldn't matter because I'd be so invested in his losing or winning that match, that I wouldn't even be thinking about what I was watching. I'd just be in it. Unfortunately, there is no wrestling promotion creating a world I want to be invested in.

GIF Wrestling: When you call a spot, even though it doesn't make any sense in the context of the match, just so it can be retweeted in GIF form of Twitter. This becomes more revolting when it's supposed to be a big match.

Move Out Of The Way!: Poorly put together high spots where guys look like dumb arses because they have to stand like statues so a guy can fly in the air and hit them. Bonus points if you're Cody (Rhodes) and you go from one side of the ring to the other like a dumb ass.

Babyfaces are boy-scouts: The biggest misconception in Pro Wrestling is that babyfaces should fall for trickery and just take it. That may have been fine in the 70s, but by the 80s, guys like Hogan would get over because they wouldn't fall for it, or if they were duped, they'd give it back to the heels twice as much.

When in doubt, go to the top rope: Why are modern guys so dumb? It seems like guys can't wait to go to the top rope, whether it's called for or not. More often than not, it's used as a transition and it's always so lazy. It's a crutch that should be used for beginners, yet even main event guys and supposed GOAT wrestlers rely on this cliche.

Wrestlemania Moment!: Similar to GIF moments, but when storylines or booking decisions feel especially contrived just so it can look nice in retrospectives. Strobe raised a good example at Wrestlemania XXXII where they had Charlotte go over and become the women's champion, even though Sasha was considered the better worker and was more over. You also get instances where feuds cool down because they had to happen at Wrestlemania and it just throws the weekly television into wack (eg. Rollins/HHH). Then you have these records like Okada's reign which is now a record, even though Naito was more popular and it would have made more sense for him to be champion.

Nobody likes repeats: Every post-PPV Raw is a chore to watch because you know half the show is going to be filled with rematches and more often than not they'll reverse the result from the night before. It's so counter-productive and yet because the writing team is too lazy they constantly do it.

Wins and losses don't matter: Then why is Brock Lesnar so over? Why are so many 50/50 mid-card guys struggling? Fans point to guys like Foley, Bryan and Jericho but they're the exception that proves the rule and had to win when it mattered.

We're creating history!: Similar to Wrestlemania moments, whenever they've promoted the women's Royal Rumble or the first Hell in a Cell, instead of it feeling justified, it feels like it's gifted. There's no bigger turn off than watching a blood feud like Charlotte/Sasha get diminished so they can put over how much the opportunity to work the Hell in a Cell means to them. The women are usually the best part of the broadcast these days, quit patronizing them with this bullshit.

I'll touch on them later, but I agree with most of the annoying trends put forward.

Jan 16, 2018 5:33:45 GMT Kilgore said:

Lack of struggle. Few wrestling matches look like a struggle. I don't just mean high flying, or chain sequences that look more dance than simulated fighting, although that is obviously more of a problem than ever, I mean basic holds. Everything is so loose, every move is so easy to execute, there is no sense of struggle. I think it's because post-kayfabe, wrestlers go straight to cooperation, where in the past wrestlers were learning real holds first before they did anything cooperative with each other. So in the past, you had wrestlers who knew how to apply real holds cranking a little less so it wouldn't hurt, and it looked good. Now you more likely have wrestlers who have never done these holds for real teaching the next generation how to do these holds improperly, and we're now two, three, four times removed from the real thing, so you have these weak ass motherfucking holds as the norm. I think this is why Brock seems better than he probably actually is because he's simulating the real thing, while he shares a roster with people simulating a simulation of a simulation.

Excellent point. This is something I've noticed before when watching specific matches or even specific spots, but I never thought of it as this big universal trend until now. You hit the nail on the head with the problem and the reasoning behind it. Played out sequences like the headlock takeover-to-headscissors-to-kip up are the biggest red flag. Modern wrestlers fly through these sequences so fast that it's not genuine struggle, it's a cooperative gymnastics routine. Another example is pinfalls. Rarely does it look like the pinner is genuinely trying to hold the pinnee's shoulders down, and rarely does it look like the pinnee is struggling to get a shoulder up. Especially the case for fancier pins like sunset flips or bridging Germans. The pinner literally just releases his grip/moves away between the 2 and 3 count. That's not a kickout. That's the pinner voluntarily not pinning anymore.

Jan 16, 2018 5:33:45 GMT Kilgore said:

Bad characters:While WWE guys are too robotic to be human, the Indy/NJPW guys are too cartoonish to be human.

I'm failing to comprehend this issue. Of course Rock and Austin are relatable. I get that. I wouldn't say the same for the majority of their colleagues in wrestling's golden era. Undertaker? Kane? Hogan? Warrior? Sgt. Slaughter? Ted DiBiase? Too Cool? The Bushwhackers? These are all very cartoonish/unrealistic characters. Too cartoonish to be human. Such characters don't really exist anymore. NJPW doesn't have any cartoon characters except Kenny Omega and Hiromu Takahashi, but even they are pretty grounded compared to most of the names I just listed. I personally like characters to be realistic. Bret Hart is the perfect example. They are all real athletes, fighting to be the best, but they all have their individual personalities and quirks which manifest in the ring. This is what modern NJPW is like, and it helps me engage with the product, even if I don't like all of the modern wrestling tropes. I guess the difference is that Bret Hart in 90s WWF was the exception to the rule, so he stood out, and that's often a good thing, whereas in NJPW these guys are the rule. That doesn't bother me, but it might bother you.

I do agree that modern WWE characters are far too robotic. Some guys are trying, but they are held back by WWE's script writing and micromanagement. A lot of WWE characters are very dumbed down, caricatures of actual human beings (Big Pete's "babyfaces are boy scouts" point being an example). I guess this makes some sense for a family-friendly product, but I don't care for it.

Building the story line around the ppv instead of building the ppv around the story line. I remember when Hell in a Cell was something special. Once it became a yearly thing it seemed to lose what made it special.

Jan 17, 2018 18:27:42 GMT Emperor said:

I'm failing to comprehend this issue. Of course Rock and Austin are relatable. I get that. I wouldn't say the same for the majority of their colleagues in wrestling's golden era.

I shouldn't have used WWF as an example. ECW is really what I was thinking of.

Franchise: Fed up with his industry, taking matters into his own hand.

Taz: Miserable also ran, decides to change things up and stop caring about how people perceive him.

Raven: Permanently damaged person from childhood effecting everything he does an adult.

Stevie Richards: The person who really, really wants to be accepted.

Tommy Dreamer: The everyman.

Sandman: Suburban Dad who drinks too much on weekends.

New Jack: The realest motherfucker of all time.

RVD: Jock who just started smoking weed and is way too into it.

And so on.

ECW had the perfect blend of wrestling over-the-topness with human qualities that made their characters seem like real people. I think this is why Baker and I could have two different complaints about modern wrestlers (Baker wanting more outlandish, and me wanting more real) but still fall hard for ECW back in the day. They did them both to the point where even Austin, the best example in the WWF, found his character footing in ECW. 

Jan 16, 2018 5:33:45 GMT Kilgore said:

Bad characters: While Baker wants more outlandish characters, I go in the other direction where I think lack of relatability is a much bigger problem, especially for babyfaces. Heels can always be more outlandish, but the problem WWE is having with babyfaces is there is absolutely nothing to hold onto. People related to Austin or they wanted to be The Rock. No adult relates to John Cena or Roman Reigns. No adult wants to be them. They're lame. They're so sanitized, there isn't a single real thing for an adult to latch onto. Now I see the opposite problem with Indy/NJPW guys, where comic book/anime type personalities is more common, which is unrelatable in the opposite direction. While WWE guys are too robotic to be human, the Indy/NJPW guys are too cartoonish to be human. I've read about how great a promo guy Kenny Omega is a lot, but I've never seen him cut a great promo. There is something about his delivery that is just so forced that I don't believe anything he says. It's like he's cosplaying a professional wrestler.

Lack of real heels. 

Heels aren't heels anymore. Or, they're few and far between. I guess, if you're universally despised, you're not selling merch so much. Everyone's works a spotty, cheap poppy type of match or working match of the year contenders constantly. It's almost satire. 

The apron absolutely kills, the centre of the ring is the best place to bump..the ring apron basically feels like falling on wood.

Indy wrestlers just blatantly stealing moves from big Indy stars, and getting upset when called on it. Agreed with the super kick phenomenon, a tag team wanted to super kick me after a cheap sneak elimination, I said it didn’t make sense because it’s supposed to be a quick “what just happened” thing and they were annoyed 😑.