History Main / GenreKiller

-->-- '''Website/OldManMurray''', [[http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html "Death of Adventure Games"]]

* Music/{{Madonna}} killed the "Nymphet Culture" in the ''entire'' entertainment industry. Throughout the 70's, there was a lot of media that simultaneously fetishized and infantilized young girls, often based off an [[MisaimedFandom extremely common misreading]] of ''{{Lolita}}''. The movement was in its death throes at the time Madonna emerged on the public scene, but her raw and unapologetic sexuality instantly made it look creepy.

* ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' killed NewWaveScienceFiction in ''both'' film and literature. The movement was tottering anyway by the time ''Star Wars'' was released, and its massive success convinced publishers and producers that there was more money to be made with simple action-adventure sci-fi than more cerebral stories that were often [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible difficult to understand]].
* Music/{{Madonna}} killed the Nymphet Culture in the ''entire'' entertainment industry. The movement was in its death throes at the time Madonna emerged on the public scene.

** The first and most obvious one was the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. With the U.S. no longer in conflict with anyone for most of the 90s (save for minor skirmishes here and there that are largely forgotten[[note]]The WWF did try to exploit the [[UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar first Iraq war]] by turning Wrestling/SgtSlaughter into an "Iraqi sympathizer", which flopped so badly that Vince was forced to move ''Wrestling/WrestleMania VII'' from the 80,000 seat L.A. Colosseum to the 17,000 seat L.A. Sports Arena on account of poor ticket sales, though the WWF claimed it was due to security reasons[[/note]]) promoters had to invent foreign heel gimmicks from whole cloth, the majority of which were total flops. While Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} was able to get over in spite of his silly "dirty foreigner from a place we've been allies with for 40 years" evil sumo gimmick (probably because he was [[Main/WrestlingMonster 500 lbs]] and from [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty the family]], the Japanese bit was just a hat on a hat), stuff like evil Finnish militant environmentalist Ludvig Borga died a pretty quick death. When we finally did get into another war about a decade later the Muhammad Hassan incident[[note]]Hassan (actually an Italian-American from upstate New York named Mark Copani) was doing a pretty ingenious gimmick where he wasn't playing an "evil Arab" but rather a man lashing out because he felt he was being perceived as one after 9/11. His career was over after one segment (a "terrorist attack" on Wrestling/TheUndertaker) on ''WWE Smackdown'', while the segment itself wasn't particularly controversial the fact that it was left in the broadcast after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings London 7/7 attack]] had occurred earlier in the day definitely ''was'' controversial (''Smackdown'' was taped Tuesday and aired Thursday Night, the bombing happened Thursday morning) and Copani was [[Main/SquashMatch completely demolished by 'Taker on PPV]], then released shortly thereafter, he elected to retire and pursue a career in education[[/note]] showed that UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror was a little too hot for wrestling to touch. Time will tell if the situation in Ukraine leads to the Evil Russian making a comeback in wrestling.

** The first and most obvious one was the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. With the U.S. no longer in conflict with anyone for most of the 90s (save for minor skirmishes here and there that are largely forgotten[[note]]The WWF did try to exploit the [[UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar first Iraq war]] by turning Wrestling/SgtSlaughter into an "Iraqi sympathizer", which flopped so badly that Vince was forced to move ''Wrestling/WrestleMania VII'' from the 80,000 seat L.A. Colosseum to the 17,000 seat L.A. Sports Arena on account of poor ticket sales, though the WWF claimed it was due to security reasons[[/note]]) promoters had to invent foreign heel gimmicks from whole cloth, the majority of which were total flops. While Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} was able to get over in spite of his silly "dirty foreigner from a place we've been allies with for 40 years" evil sumo gimmick (probably because he was [[Main/WrestlingMonster 500 lbs]] and from [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty the family]], the Japanese bit was just a hat on a hat), stuff like evil Finnish militant environmentalist Ludvig Borga died a pretty quick death. When we finally did get into another war about a decade later the Muhammad Hassan incident[[note]]Hassan (actually an Italian-American from upstate New York named Mark Copani) was doing a pretty ingenious gimmick where he wasn't playing an "evil Arab" but rather a man lashing out because he felt he was being perceived as one after 9/11. His career was over after one segment (a "terrorist attack" on a job guy) on ''WWE Smackdown'', while the segment itself wasn't particularly controversial the fact that it was left in the broadcast after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings London 7/7 attack]] had occurred the day before definitely ''was'' controversial (''Smackdown'' was taped Tuesday and aired Thursday Night, the bombing happened Thursday morning) and Copani was released shortly thereafter, he elected to retire and pursue a career in education[[/note]] showed that UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror was a little too hot for wrestling to touch. Time will tell if the situation in Ukraine leads to the Evil Russian making a comeback in wrestling.

* ''WCW Monday Nitro'' pretty much killed the traditional "jobber squash match"[[note]]"Jobber" as in guy that gets no entrance, has ring gear that cost no more than $20, and is probably using his real name. Not a guy that usually loses but is still on the WWE roster page, in the video games, etc...[[/note]]. With a roster of around 200 people and only one hour of (always live) TV to fill a week Eric Bischoff promised only name talent on ''Nitro'', forcing ''Monday Night Raw'' to (eventually, once they got enough people) respond in kind. Old fashioned jobbers could still be seen on the B and C shows for a couple more years but were basically gone by the turn of the millennium. The concept made something of a comeback in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling in 2019, with signed wrestlers squashing unsigned local or indie talent on their ''Dark'' and ''Dark Elevation'' Website/YouTube shows.

** The first and most obvious one was the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. With the U.S. no longer in conflict with anyone for most of the 90s (save for minor skirmishes here and there that are largely forgotten) promoters had to invent foreign heel gimmicks from whole cloth, the majority of which were total flops. While Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} was able to get over in spite of his silly "dirty foreigner from a place we've been allies with for 40 years" evil sumo gimmick (probably because he was [[Main/WrestlingMonster 500 lbs]] and from [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty the family]], the Japanese bit was just a hat on a hat), stuff like evil Finnish militant environmentalist Ludvig Borga died a pretty quick death. When we finally did get into another war about a decade later the Muhammad Hassan incident[[note]]Hassan (actually an Italian-American from upstate New York named Mark Copani) was doing a pretty ingenious gimmick where he wasn't playing an "evil Arab" but rather a man lashing out because he felt he was being perceived as one after 9/11. His career was over after one segment (a "terrorist attack" on a job guy) on ''WWE Smackdown'', while the segment itself wasn't particularly controversial the fact that it was left in the broadcast after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings London 7/7 attack]] had occurred the day before definitely ''was'' controversial (''Smackdown'' was taped Tuesday and aired Friday, the bombing happened Thursday morning) and Copani was released shortly thereafter, he elected to retire and pursue a career in education[[/note]] showed that UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror was a little too hot for wrestling to touch. Time will tell if the situation in Ukraine leads to the Evil Russian making a comeback in wrestling.

* Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy and spread throughout Europe in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth, and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city. The Futurists practiced in every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, urban design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles, literature, music, architecture, and even gastronomy. Unfortunately, both [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly the fascists in Italy]] and [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany the Nazis in Germany]] found the Futurist movement to be subversive and outlawed it. Futurist artists were targeted, and most died in concentration camps. The USSR also clamped down on its own futurist movement in the '30s (along with all other modernist styles) following the rise of UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, favoring SocialistRealism instead. For extra black irony, many (though by no means all) of the most prominent Futurists, especially in Italy, had been enthusiastic or at least ambiguously positive about fascism, and fascism, in return, had taken a significant amount of intellectual inspiration from futurism - Filippo Marinetti was the author of the Futurist Manifesto that birthed the movement in 1909 and, ten years later, the Fascist Manifesto that kicked off Mussolini's political career. They embraced the movement due to their admiration of the dynamism of violence, nationalism, and power, at least until they themselves started getting jailed and [[DeathByirony murdered]] for creating "degenerate art". This retrospectively tainted the entire movement, and the survivors quickly found new art movements to be a part of. As a result, Futurism was as dead as Julius Caesar by 1944. Nonetheless, the ideals of Futurism remain as significant components of modern Western culture, especially in ScienceFiction. (Usually this is without the obsession with war and violence, which comes off as ValuesDissonance these days.)

* Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy and spread throughout Europe in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth, and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city. The Futurists practiced in every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, urban design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles, literature, music, architecture, and even gastronomy. Unfortunately, both [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly the fascists in Italy]] and [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany the Nazis in Germany]] found the Futurist movement to be subversive and outlawed it. Futurist artists were targeted, and most died in concentration camps. The USSR also clamped down on its own futurist movement in the '30s (along with all other modernist styles) following the rise of UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, favoring SocialistRealism instead. For extra black irony, many (though by no means all) of the most prominent Futurists, especially in Italy, had been enthusiastic or at least ambiguously positive about fascism, and fascism, in return, had taken a significant amount of intellectual inspiration from futurism - Filippo Marinetti was the author of the Futurist Manifesto that birthed the movement in 1909 and, ten years later, the Fascist Manifesto that kicked off Mussolini's political career. They embraced the movement due to their admiration of the dynamism of violence, nationalism, and power, at least until they themselves started getting jailed and murdered for creating "degenerate art". This retrospectively tainted the entire movement, and the survivors quickly found new art movements to be a part of. As a result, Futurism was as dead as Julius Caesar by 1944. Nonetheless, the ideals of Futurism remain as significant components of modern Western culture, especially in ScienceFiction. (Usually this is without the obsession with war and violence, which comes off as ValuesDissonance these days.)

** The first and most obvious one was the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. With the U.S. no longer in conflict with anyone for most of the 90s (save for minor skirmishes here and there that are largely forgotten) promoters had to invent foreign heel gimmicks from whole cloth, the majority of which were total flops. While Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} was able to get over in spite of his silly "dirty foreigner from a place we've been allies with for 40 years" evil sumo gimmick (probably because he was [[Main/WrestlingMonster 500 lbs]] and from [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty the family]], the Japanese bit was just a hat on a hat), stuff like evil Finnish militant environmentalist Ludvig Borga died a pretty quick death. When we finally did get into another war about a decade later the Muhammad Hassan incident[[note]]Hassan (actually an Italian-American from upstate New York named Mark Copani) was doing a pretty ingenious gimmick where he wasn't playing an "evil Arab" but rather a man lashing out because he felt he was being perceived as one after 9/11. His career was over after one promo on ''WWE Smackdown'', while the promo itself wasn't particularly controversial the fact that it was left in the broadcast after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings London 7/7 attack]] had occurred the day before definitely ''was'' controversial (''Smackdown'' was taped Tuesday and aired Friday, the bombing happened Thursday morning) and Copani was released shortly thereafter, he elected to retire and pursue a career in education[[/note]] showed that UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror was a little too hot for wrestling to touch. Time will tell if the situation in Ukraine leads to the Evil Russian making a comeback in wrestling.

** One narrow exception that does still often work: the arrogant heel from a Commonwealth or Western European country that brags about their homeland's socialist ways while putting down America for its crime, poverty, and other issues. It helps that race doesn't really come into play. Wrestling/BretHart drew ''huge'' heel heat with this towards the end of his WWF run in 1997[[note]]In the United States anyway, in Canada and Europe he has/was a huge babyface[[/note]], and when done right it usually draws the good kind of boos rather than the "We don't want to see this" kind of boos.

** One narrow exception that does still often work: the arrogant heel from a Commonwealth or Western European country that brags about their homeland's socialist ways while putting down America for its crime, poverty, and other issues. It helps that race doesn't really come into play. Wrestling/BretHart drew ''huge'' heel heat with this towards the end of his WWF run in 1997[[note]]In the United States anyway, in Canada and Europe he has was a huge babyface[[/note]], and when done right it usually draws the good kind of boos rather than the "We don't want to see this" kind of boos.

** One narrow exception that does still often work: the arrogant heel from a Commonwealth or Western European country that brags about their homeland's socialist ways while putting down America for its crime, poverty, and other issues. It helps that race doesn't really come into play. Wrestling/BretHart drew ''huge'' heel heat with this towards the end of his WWF run in 1997, and when done right it usually draws the good kind of boos rather than the "We don't want to see this" kind of boos.

!!Subpages:

!!Examples

** The first and most obvious one was the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. With the U.S. no longer in conflict with anyone for most of the 90s (save for minor skirmishes here and there that are largely forgotten) promoters had to invent foreign heel gimmicks from whole cloth, the majority of which were total flops. While Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} was able to get over in spite of his silly "dirty foreigner from a place we've been allies with for 40 years" evil sumo gimmick (probably because he was [[Main/WrestlingMonster 500 lbs]] and from [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty the family]], the Japanese bit was just a hat on a hat), stuff like evil Finnish militant environmentalist Ludvig Borga died a pretty quick death. When we finally did get into another war about a decade later the Muhammad Hassan incident[[note]]Hassan (actually an Italian-American from upstate New York named Mark Copani) was doing a pretty ingenious gimmick where he wasn't playing an "evil Arab" but rather a man lashing out because he felt he was being perceived as one after 9/11. His career was over after one promo on ''WWE Smackdown'', while the promo itself wasn't particularly controversial the fact that it was left in the broadcast after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings London 7/7 attack]] had occurred the day before definitely ''was'' controversial (''Smackdown'' was taped Tuesday and aired Friday, the bombing happened Thursday morning) and Copani was released shortly thereafter, he elected to retire and pursue a career in education[[/note]] showed the UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror was a little too hot for wrestling to touch. Time will tell if the situation in Ukraine leads to the Evil Russian making a comeback in wrestling.

** The first and most obvious one was the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. With the U.S. no longer in conflict with anyone for most of the 90s (save for minor skirmishes here and there that are largely forgotten) promoters had to invent foreign heel gimmicks from whole cloth, the majority of which were total flops. While Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} was able to get over in spite of his silly "dirty foreigner from a place we've been allies with for 40 years" evil sumo gimmick (probably because he was [[Main/WrestlingMonster 500 lbs]] and from [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty the family]], the Japanese bit was just a hat on a hat), stuff like evil Finnish militant environmentalist Ludvig Borga died a pretty quick death. When we finally did get into another war about a decade later the Muhammad Hassan incident[[note]]Hassan (actually an Italian-American from upstate New York named Mark Copani) was doing a pretty ingenious gimmick where he wasn't playing an "evil Arab" but rather a man lashing out because he felt he was being perceived as one after 9/11. His career was over after one promo on ''WWE Smackdown'', while the promo itself wasn't particularly controversial the fact that it was left in the broadcast after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings London 7/7 attack]] had occurred the day before definitely ''was'' controversial and Copani was released shortly thereafter, he elected to retire and pursue a career in education[[/note]] showed the UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror was a little too hot for wrestling to touch. Time will tell if the situation in Ukraine leads to the Evil Russian making a comeback in wrestling.

** The third, and the one that will likely keep it from making a serious comeback on a big stage, is the huge amount of money the TV networks are paying to air wrestling, which means they get a say and can kill anything too controversial right out of the gate. Same goes for any big money sponsors. Not to mention the country you're portraying as evil might take issue. Sure, a Evil Chinese heel might be topical right now, but then you literally get Main/BannedInChina, so kiss those 1.5 billion potential customers goodbye. Today if you see a foreign heel he's either being used as comedy fodder, using a gimmick that's a deliberate throwback (like [[Wrestling/RusevAndLana Rusev]]), or subverted in a way like "they're bad and they're from another country" rather than "they're bad ''because'' they're from another country."

** The third, and the one that will likely keep it from making a serious comeback on a big stage, is the huge amount of money the TV networks are paying to air wrestling, which means they get a say and can kill anything too controversial right out of the gate. Same goes for any big money sponsors. Today if you see a foreign heel he's either being used as comedy fodder, using a gimmick that's a deliberate throwback (like [[Wrestling/RusevAndLana Rusev]]), or subverted in a way like "they're bad and they're from another country" rather than "they're bad ''because'' they're from another country."

** The first and most obvious one was the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. With the U.S. no longer in conflict with anyone for most of the 90s (save for minor skirmishes here and there that are largely forgotten) promoters had to invent foreign heel gimmicks from whole cloth, the majority of which were total flops. While Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} was able to get over in spite of his silly "dirty foreigner from a place we've been allies with for 40 years" evil sumo gimmick (probably because he was [[Main/WrestlingMonster 500 lbs]] and from [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty the family]], the Japanese bit was just a hat on a hat), stuff like evil Finnish militant environmentalist Ludvig Borga died a pretty quick death. When we finally did get into another war about a decade later the Muhammed Hassan incident[[note]]Hassan (actually an Italian-American from upstate New York named Mark Copani) was doing a pretty ingenious gimmick where he wasn't playing an "evil Arab" but rather a man lashing out because he felt he was being perceived as one after 9/11. His career was over after one promo on ''WWE Smackdown'', while the promo itself wasn't particularly controversial the fact that it was left in the broadcast after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings London 7/7 attack]] had occurred the day before definitely ''was'' controversial and Copani was released shortly thereafter, he elected to retire and pursue a career in education[[/note]] showed the UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror was a little too hot for wrestling to touch. Time will tell if the situation in Ukraine leads to the Evil Russian making a comeback in wrestling.

* Depending on who you ask, WWE buying out the competition brought an end to the popularity of pro wrestling. A combination of the emergence of UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts and the stagnation of WWE have both played a role in this. The loss of a series of star wrestlers (as in stars even non-wrestling fans knew) and other popular top-level talents over the course of the mid-2000s to injuries, retirement, death, firings, moves to other companies or to other careers also contributed to the decline. That said, pro wrestling is still ongoing and WWE remains quite popular, but it's widely accepted that wrestling will simply never again be as popular as it was during its peak in the mid-to-late '80s and WWE will never be as popular as it was at its peak in the mid to late 90s. That is to say, even as WWE experienced its greatest success, the industry around it had shrunken as a whole, with there being few national promotions left in the entire ''world'', much less the United States.

* The absolutely vicious reception to Wrestling/DwayneJohnson's "Rocky Maivia" gimmick probably wasn't what killed the "[[Main/{{Face}} white meat babyface]]" character (think Wrestling/RickySteamboat) as a viable draw in pro wrestling, but it was definitely the sign that it was no longer going to work. In this case it was more a general culture shift that was represented across all media that saw heroic characters adopt a more gritty and realistic persona, with the Main/AntiHero trope really taking off in films, video games, comic books (see NinetiesAntiHero) and wrestling. The Main/{{Deconstruction}} of the "white meat babyface" by Wrestling/KurtAngle, who played it ridiculously over the top to intentionally get heel heat (which worked in spades), officially lowered the coffin into the ground. Wrestling/{{Sting}} is the one exception, as he is still using the character to this day in Wrestling/{{AEW}}.

* On the other side of the spectrum is the Main/ForeignWrestlingHeel, a staple of pro wrestling for decades until the 90s, had its ability to draw major money killed off due to (mostly) events that had nothing to do with wrestling:

* The absolutely vicious reception to Wrestling/DwayneJohnson's "Rocky Maivia" gimmick probably wasn't what killed the "[[Main/{{Face}} white meat babyface]]" character (think Wrestling/RickySteamboat) as a viable draw in pro wrestling, but it was definitely the sign that it was no longer going to work. In this case it was more a general culture shift that was represented across all media that saw heroic characters adopt a more gritty and realistic persona, with the Main/AntiHero trope really taking off in films, video games, comic books (see 90sAntiHero) and wrestling. The Main/{{Deconstruction}} of the "white meat babyface" by Wrestling/KurtAngle, who played it ridiculously over the top to intentionally get heel heat (which worked in spades), officially lowered the coffin into the ground. Wrestling/{{Sting}} is the one exception, as he is still using the character to this day in Wrestling/{{AEW}}.

* The absolutely vicious reception to Wrestling/DwayneJohnson's "Rocky Maivia" gimmick probably wasn't what killed the "[[Main/{{Face}} white meat babyface]]" character (think Wrestling/RickySteamboat) as a viable draw in pro wrestling, but it was definitely the sign that it was no longer going to work. In this case it was more a general culture shift that was represented across all media that saw heroic characters adopt a more gritty and realistic persona, with the Main/AntiHero trope really taking off in films, video games, and wrestling. The Main/{{Deconstruction}} of the "white meat babyface" by Wrestling/KurtAngle, who played it ridiculously over the top to intentionally get heel heat (which worked in spades), officially lowered the coffin into the ground. Wrestling/{{Sting}} is the one exception, as he is still using the character to this day in Wrestling/{{AEW}}.

* The absolutely vicious reception to Wrestling/DwayneJohnson's "Rocky Maivia" gimmick probably wasn't what killed the "[[Main/{{Face}} white meat babyface]]" character (think Wrestling/RickySteamboat) as a viable draw in pro wrestling, but it was definitely the sign that it was no longer going to work. In this case it was more a general culture shift that was represented across all media that saw heroic characters adopt a more gritty and realistic persona, with the Main/AntiHero trope really taking off in films, video games, and wrestling. The Main/{{Deconstruction}} of the "white meat babyface" by Wrestling/KurtAngle, who played it ridiculously over the top to intentionally get heel heat (which worked in spades), officially lowered the coffin into the ground.

* The separation of India and Pakistan into two separate countries significantly weakened professional wrestling in both and led to the decline of almost all forms of wrestling, even those invented in India such as Pahelwani, like the Maharajas who enjoyed the contests and ensured the athletes could make a living at it suddenly found themselves without wealth or power. Professional Wrestling retained a cult following and aspiring Indian pro wrestlers such as Dara Singh (Maple Leaf Wrestling), Gama Singh (Stampede), and [[Wrestling/TheGreatKhali Giant Singh]] (All Pro Wrestling) find success after training abroad but new promotions in India itself do not tend to enjoy much longevity, most fans only being familiar with African (World Wrestling Professionals), Japanese (Wrestling/{{New Japan|ProWrestling}}) or most commonly USA (Wrestling/{{WWE}} or [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]) companies and only experiencing pro wrestling live when one of them comes over.

* At the same time, such cynicism led to the slow death of the traditional circus in the industrialized world: clowns became regarded as [[MonsterClown evil]] or [[SadClown bitter]] instead of [[NonIronicClown colorful jesters that children loved]], mundane takes on popular routines demystified everything but the tightrope, and the [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals allegations of animal abuse]] became PR nightmares. If this wasn't enough, the rise of the "premium circus" led by the Cirque du Soleil made older circuses [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny look old-fashioned and hackneyed]]. By the 2010s, most North American and European circuses had either closed down or were on the verge of. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, the last major American circus, filed for bankruptcy in 2017. Though Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey [[https://www.yahoo.com/news/ringling-bros-announces-comeback-tour-135456609.html announced a return]] in 2022, with the first shows set for September 2023. The rebooted circus will operate without animal acts.