The State of Professional Wrestling

I have been thinking about the different eras of professional wrestling and where exactly this current era ranks with them. I'm only going to go as far back as the early to mid 80s because let's face it that is when wrestling really burst onto the scene. The wrestling that is presented today is a shell of what it should be. The athletes are probably better and the exposure is on a much larger scale but there is one major problem...Wrestlers are just terrible at promos. The great wrestlers of today like A.J. Styles, Randy Orten, etc are just plain boring. They are tremendously talented physically but just have no charisma. I always think it's  funny when fans of wrestling complain about old wrestlers hanging on too long. The reason they hang on is that these wrestlers of today have no ability to build up a rivalry. There is nothing I would like see more than the  AJ Styles of the world be able to succeed in the business but the guy is just plain boring. The wrestling business is the most successful when you have guys who can talk or they at least have great charisma like Hogan or the Warrior. I really feel like the pro wrestler of today needs to not only go to these wrestling schools but they also need to go to acting classes. I have no misconceptions about wrestling...it's entertainment....I know it's not real in the same way that I know 24 and Lost were not real. When they cast those shows I'm sure they just weren't casting the look of the characters, they hired people who could act. There needs to be a balance of the two. Wrestling needs to take more time in recruiting personalities. This was never more evident than a couple of weeks back when The Rock returned from a seven year hiatus and cut a promo that was better than anything either company had produced in years. I hope that Vince Mcmahon and Dixie Carter took note on how a wrestler that hadn't been around in seven years turned a whole crowd of Cena lovers against their own guy in less than 15 minutes. It was like wrestling fans had walked in a desert for seven years without water and the Rock emptied his canteen for us.  This is definitely a down era in wrestling. I still enjoy it but I can't follow it like I used to. I dvr the two major programs every week and probably watch about 20 percent of it. I know there will be a time when I will follow it more closely but I am getting older and my patience with crap wears thin. I figure that I will never outgrow it seeing I'm almost 40. I have a good solid 30 years of fandom in and it still makes me laugh every so often. I just hope that they start bringing in some personalities. I will end this with my top 25 wrestlers that are currently either wrestling for TNA or WWE.

(no specific order)

1. Wade Barrett
2. CM Punk
3. AJ Styles
4. Robert Roode
5. Jay Lethal
6. Kazarian
7. Mr. Anderson
8. Kurt Angle
9. Alberto Del Rio
10. Samoa Joe
11. Randy Orten
12. Edge
13. John Cena (didn't say my favorite)
14. John Morrison
15. Daniel Bryan
16. Sheamus
17. Jack Swagger
18. Justin Gabriel
19. The Pope
20. The Miz
21. Sabin/Shelly MCMG
22. Dolph Ziggler
23. Santino Marella
24. HHH
25. Taker

These have a mix of all things...some can wrestle,some can talk, some do both