History AudienceAlienatingEra / ProfessionalWrestling

** Another issue is the production and formatting of shows. While [=WWE's=] shaky camera work and annoying announcers have been drawing criticism even as far back as the Wrestling/AttitudeEra, the bigger problem in the 2010s was the Creator/USANetwork throwing a truckload of cash at WWE to extend ''Monday Night Raw'' to three hours, while at the same time adding another hour to the "Big 4" [=PPVs=]. Unfortunately this extra time has only resulted in a heavy amount of Main/{{Padding}} and shows that are just a slog to watch.[[note]]Older fans may remember ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'' going to 3 hours and running into the same problems, i.e. that 3 hours (plus overrun) is too damn long for a weekly wrestling program.[[/note]] Going into the 2020s one of the bigger complaints is overwhelming amount of commercials and the fact that they are usually shown during the matches, in other words a lot of the wrestling on a wrestling TV show isn't actually on TV. The problem has got even worse with the [=PPVs=] (now referred to as "Premium Live Events") since the WWE Network was folded into Creator/{{NBC}}'s Peacock service, now that they're no longer bound to time constraints ''every'' PLE is at minimum four hours and the Big 4 will often run over five (or in the case of Wrestling/WrestleMania, two 5+ hour shows on back-to-back nights).

** WWE's Women's/Divas Division had something of a golden age in the early 2000's, with Lita and Trish Stratus carrying the division well along with several other talented women. Once they both retired at around the same time, the division fell off a cliff. While the women were largely chosen based on their looks before this, it was around this time where WWE seemed to stop taking the women's in-ring ability into account at all, instead compiling a roster of almost entirely former models and cheerleaders who could barely wrestle (there were a few of exceptions to the rule such as Wrestling/MickieJames, Wrestling/BethPhoenix, Wrestling/NatalyaNeidhart, Wrestling/AJLee, and Wrestling/{{Paige}}, but they ended up being DemotedToExtra and/or released from the company). They eventually inflated the roster with so many mediocre women that they created a second Women's Championship, the Divas Championship, which fans complained looked like a toy and nicknamed the "Tramp Stamp Title" for its gaudy pink and silver butterfly design. Then things got even worse when WWE retired the actual Women's Championship shortly afterward when they mass-released many of the most talented women. WWE even essentially gave up on maintaining the heel/face dichotomy for its women's division, instead opting to have the women be whatever suits the situation best, with wrestlers just suddenly being heel or face for completely unexplained reasons. The perpetual push of the largely untalented Wrestling/BellaTwins as the centerpieces of the division, regardless of if they were heel or face at the time, also turned many people off on it. In 2012, WWE suddenly had a new star on their hands in Wrestling/AJLee when she was moved to play a managerial role for [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]]. Her work as a love interest like Bryan, Wrestling/CMPunk, Wrestling/{{Kane}}, Wrestling/JohnCena, and Wrestling/DolphZiggler was heavily praised and gave her the popularity boost she needed to re-energize the Divas division a year later. Meanwhile, WWE developmental saw newcomers Wrestling/{{Paige}} and [[Wrestling/TenilleDashwood Emma]] tearing up the scene and Wrestling/CharlotteFlair, Wrestling/SashaBanks, Wrestling/{{Bayley}}, and Wrestling/BeckyLynch arriving shortly thereafter. WWE sought to capitalize on this, but their attempt to engineer a "Divas Revolution" in mid-2015 failed so spectacularly that it became co-winner of ''Website/{{WrestleCrap}}''[='=]s "Gooker Award", with "highlights" including one half of the aforementioned Bella Twins, Nikki, saying "Wins? Loses? Who cares?" (What's worse, Nikki was actually being ''praised'' at the time by critics for improving her in-ring work.) Fortunately for everyone, 2016 was able to do what 2015 couldn't and truly get WWE women's wrestling back on track. For starters, more women have gradually come up from NXT developmental to round out the women's roster further, including Wrestling/{{Bayley}}, Wrestling/AlexaBliss, Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka]] and Wrestling/EmberMoon; the Diva's Championship was retired along with any mention of "Divas" terminology and the Women's Division was reborn, complete with ''two'' Women's Championships (one for Raw and one for [=SmackDown=], due to the re-emergence of the Brand Split) and eventually Women's TagTeam champions as well. Women also now get to compete in their own pay-per-view GimmickMatches that used to be exclusive to men, including Wrestling/SurvivorSeries, Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank, Wrestling/HellInACell, Wrestling/EliminationChamber and Wrestling/RoyalRumble. They even got their own all-women PPV, which was critically acclaimed as one of the best of the year! Between all those advances and a [[MeleeATrois Triple Threat]] match between Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Creator/RondaRousey being the main event of Wrestling/WrestleMania 35, it's safe to say that this particular Audience-Alienating Era has well and truly come to an end. If anything, women's wrestling in WWE might be better than ever!

* Combine the two previous entries and it's no shock that most people in the business consider the period between mid-1992 and the summer of 1996 to be one huge AAE for American wrestling in general. The crowds were small, the payoffs even smaller, and a wrestling industry that had a couple dozen promotions that one could earn a good living in a decade prior was reduced to 2. If you were an American wrestler making good money during this time period it's because you were working for [[Wrestling/{{NJPW}} Inoki]] or [[Wrestling/{{AJPW}} Baba]], not [=McMahon=] or Turner. The WWF actually lost money in 1994 in 1995[[note]]Though finishing 1994 in the red was more due to the WWF losing a couple big lawsuits rather than bad gates and buyrates. 1995 however lost money because everything not involving Shawn Michaels or one of the Hart brothers stunk out loud[[/note]], WCW meanwhile had been in the red for their entire existence and wouldn't have a profitable year until ''1997''. Many consider Wrestling/{{ECW}} to be the bright spot, but while they were drawing a lot of attention (though not as much as revisionist history wants you to believe) they weren't drawing a lot of money. The start of the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder angle in 1996 finally started pulling wrestling out of the hole, and the rise of Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin and the other major figures of the Wrestling/AttitudeEra through 1997 and 1998 would kick off the biggest boom period the business had ever seen.

*** TNA, now rebranded simply as Impact Wrestling, would be purchased by Canadian company Anthem Sports[[note]]After a really messy and convoluted ownership struggle between Dixie Carter, Wrestling/JeffJarrett, and Billy Corgan (yes, [[Music/TheSmashingPumpkins that]] Billy Corgan). Lots of lawsuits were filed, pretty much everyone looked like an idiot (or in Jarrett's case, a con artist), and the rest of the wrestling world collectively laughed its ass off. Corgan would not give up on his dreams of owning a wrestling company and would buy the National Wrestling Alliance shortly after this whole mess was cleaned up[[/note]]. The company would also buy AXS TV, meaning Impact now has a permanent home, albeit one on a high cable tier. Anthem has managed to clean up the company's financial issues and while it could probably be considered an indy promotion at this point everyone is at least being paid on time and Impact intends on sticking around for a while.