What Does Continuously Bringing Back Old Stars do for Wrestling?

Professional wrestling is an emotive sport that uses a myriad of plot developments to captivate audiences worldwide. It’s primarily for this reason that wrestling has a long lineage, evoking nostalgia among a diverse audience demographic and spanning generations.

The most popular network, WWE, has periods of its history solely defined by the wrestlers of that era. These speak to different generations of fans, but a way of connecting these fans is by bringing old wrestlers back to relevance.

As we are currently seeing with AEW, new promotions may reintroduce superstars to gain a foothold in the market and then integrate their own talent. However, what does reintroducing these former wrestling greats do to the product?

WWE

Consider Brock Lesnar. Lesnar first left WWE to pursue a career in UFC. When he first entered the Octagon, Lesnar was a relatively unknown entity in terms of combat but known to be a seriously imposing figure. Lesnar ended up having a short-lived but decent MMA career, even becoming UFC Heavyweight champion; however, competing against Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane today might be a different story. The French pair are set for a colossal match sometime next year that has been a long time coming. UFC betting with Betfair currently has Ngannou favored slightly at -125.

UFC betting tips would more than likely put Lesnar at a disadvantage if he were to re-enter the UFC today, but you could nearly guarantee that he would dominate any WWE storyline where he’s involved. Vince McMahon is a master at returning older superstars just when he may feel things are getting stale with his brand. However, does this reliance on superstars who can only compete on a limited basis hamper his product?

It brings us to the point, returning these superstars, although spectacular, hamper the development of new blood. With all the facets that come with making a WWE star, be that charisma, mic skills, in-ring talent, crowd working, and co-star chemistry, it isn’t easy to enhance your young wrestlers if they don’t get the chance.

A talent like Golberg seems like a great idea on paper, but he’s notoriously difficult to work with presently. John Cena may boost the brand and a particular event, but he cannot deliver consistently due to his other commitments. Even the likes of Bobby Lashley have come back and been instantly shoehorned into the spotlight. Talented, undoubtedly, but it stops the likes of Pete Dunne from making a smooth transition from NXT to WWE.

AEW

The new promotion has done an excellent job so far of stealing some of the limelight away from WWE, mainly through exceptional marketing and the implementation of some excellently talented new wrestlers.

However, AEW still needed a reason for people to leave watching WWE and watch their promotion. Therefore, they needed to create links, and the easiest way to do this was to poach some old WWE talent and bring it to their show. The likes of Chris Jericho, Christian Cage, Cody Rhodes, and Paul Wight have made the transition, while AEW also used iconic wrestler Sting to push the brand. However, the duo that pushed them over the edge was the introduction of CM Punk and Bryan Danielson, two technically superior wrestlers that are beloved within the industry.

Of course, using these superstars to convert already established wrestling fans is a clever move by the company, but it must not come at the cost of developing their own talent. If they are to surpass WWE someday, it’ll be through their ability to breed new stars, where WWE may fail.

Nostalgia

The main component in returning old wrestlers is nostalgia. New fans will automatically gravitate to contemporary wrestlers because it is how they are introduced to the promotion. They have no prior connection to stars of old. Nevertheless, they may have an interest in the history of the brand and find old wrestlers that they may form a bond.

However, bringing old wrestlers back helps to maintain engagement with older audiences in and among catering to the interests of contemporary audiences and newer wrestlers. After all, more mature audiences are ultimately the target audience with more disposable income who are more likely to spend on the franchise.

It’s also a pastime to be shared and inherited with modern audiences, tying together various generations over a mutual love of wrestling.