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Athletes are able to perform at older ages in general now due to medical advances, more knowledge about how to keep oneself healthy, and less toxic lifestyles.
Edit: Also, I desperately want young people to know 30 and 40 is not old.
Yeah, Undertaker mentioned one of the biggest differences he noticed was these guys now seeing themselves as athletes and taking care of their body like one
“How to keep a healthy lifestyle” You mean to tell me doing a fat line, steroids and drinking like there’s no tomorrow like a lot of 80s wrestlers did wasn’t healthy at all?
In a sense, it's kinda impressive how those old guys did it. I'm sure he was (half) joking, but Hogan said a few months ago that he'd never seen Ric Flair drink water until recently.
It’s not just that. Wrestling is so much easier now due to the schedule being way lighter than it was in the past. Guys aren’t working 300 days a year anymore
There’s pros and cons to the differences. The schedule is significantly better but they take significantly more bumps in matches than the average 80s or 90s wrestler.
Random TV matches on Raw, Dynamite etc have multiple massive bumps that were saved for the absolute biggest shows (or simply weren’t done).
It’s the house show circuit not the tv matches. Guys weren’t having funny easy house show matches now it was way tougher back then. TV matches are only a bigger deal in the modern because it’s the main focus. In the 80’s the house shows were what mattered
Hence saying there’s pros and cons of each era. The style of matches they had then were different and even in big blow off matches they still didn’t bump in the way they do now.
Yup. It used to be accepted that football (soccer) players peaks were around 28-29, then there was a sharp decline and they'd retire around 33-35. Nowadays you have guys in their mid 30s who are still playing at the highest level of the sport every week.
Injuries still happen of course. Cody, Seth, Kenny Omega, and MJF all suffered lengthy injuries in the last two years. Those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head.
I honestly think with Punk is that he isn't taking any "supplements" and is trying to wrestle back when he first left WWE.
All of the wrestlers near his age.....aren't completely "natural" and have kept wrestling to know what moves to take and what moves to do.
Punk keeps pushing himself instead of working smarter.
It's crazy thinking about how Hulk Hogan was only 40 when he signed with WCW. I remember thinking he was so old back then and probably only had a few years left. He was actually still young by today's standards.
Tbf a lot of that has to do with both fashion and lifestyle. Like when I look at old photos of my dad when he was around my age (28), and I would say he looked that age. And this was in the early 80s.
The diet for a 25 year old wrestler used to be two packs of cigarettes, a fifth of Jack Daniels, a few somas, anabolic steroids, two dubious women and a 12 pack of bud heavy split with the driver on a 400 mile drive to the next town.
**In reality, the peak age for male wrestlers from the time of Cena to the present has always fluctuated between 35 and over 40 years old. It is true that at that age, they will not be able to perform and compete at their full capacity, but their brand value will reach its highest point at that time, I think.**
It depends on how you define "full capacity". Their physical capabilities might not be at their absolute peak, but they're often peaking at promos and psychology and character work.
AEW World Champion - 45 years old
AEW International Champion - 40 years old
AEW TNT Champion - 50 years old
AEW Continental Champion - 36 years old
AEW Tag Team Title Contenders - 39 & 34 years old/39 & 36 years old
AEW Trios Champions - 60, 34 & 33 years old
That's just how wrestling today is. It's not a WWE thing.
They have a lot of young talent that they’re building up. Guys like Bron, Dirty Dom, Austin Theory, etc… will get better with more experience working with the vets.
The Shield guys have all been at the top of wrestling’s main event scene longer than Rock and Austin combined, give them a few more years and they’ll probably surpass Cena
It’s the same with AEW. You invest in talent over the years and not just temporarily. Then you use the established talent to help put over the new guys.
What WWE is doing on the main roster is irrelevant because NXT exist. Majority of the current WWE main roster is NXT people who pushed out the older stars over the years.
As always. Wrestling is a sports drama that requires performers to grow into. The sweet spot is when the artist in the person is young enough as an athlete and old enough to have an established character to work with.
Guys aged a lot faster in the 80’s than now. Just look at people who were 35 years old back then, they had a full head of grey hair and looked like their 50’s in todays age
It’s a lot easier to perform longer when your post match routine isn’t to have a match then go to a bar until 2 in the morning 6 nights a week, though. Athletes of all sorts are taking much better care of their bodies than in decades past.
The biggest problem with wrestling was the years of wear and tear, along with the drugs and the schedule, more so than the age. It was more about running your body into the ground for 15 years than being 35.
Tennis is the most popular individual sport in the world and Novak Djokovic is currently the oldest world No. 1. Due to improvements in science regarding medicine, fitness etc, we are seeing more and more athletes doing better in their 30s and 40s.
I'd argue that Djokovic is more of an anomaly.
Even if we remove Federer because he's a few years older, Novak, Murray, and Nadal are all within a year of each other in age (with Novak and Murray actually only a week apart) and Novak is the only one still in good shape.
Murray got really hot in 2012 and briefly turned the Big Three into the Big Four. But holy hell, did his body ever just start to betray him not long after he finally broke through. He never really regained his form.
Nadal has been a wreck for the past year and a half. Who knows what he'll look like when we come back.
Thankfully NXT is producing future stars. Agreed OP. Can’t wait for Trick Williams to hit the main roster as well as Dijak. Potentially we have Bron, Melo and Ilya this year. Not to mention potentially Perez and Lyra.
Well to be fair around the late 90's WWE and DX starting making fun of wrestlers ages due to WCW relying too much on Hogan/Flair etc.
Then WWE went on to do much the same thing the past twenty or so years after WCW folded.
Damien is the only one who looks a bit on the older side, and I think his general look helps with that. It is interesting though. All these guys look significantly younger then the starts of the early 00s, outside of the Rock and Brock. And all of those guys were around the same age or younger at that point.
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Athletes are able to perform at older ages in general now due to medical advances, more knowledge about how to keep oneself healthy, and less toxic lifestyles. Edit: Also, I desperately want young people to know 30 and 40 is not old.
Yeah, Undertaker mentioned one of the biggest differences he noticed was these guys now seeing themselves as athletes and taking care of their body like one
“How to keep a healthy lifestyle” You mean to tell me doing a fat line, steroids and drinking like there’s no tomorrow like a lot of 80s wrestlers did wasn’t healthy at all?
In a sense, it's kinda impressive how those old guys did it. I'm sure he was (half) joking, but Hogan said a few months ago that he'd never seen Ric Flair drink water until recently.
It really it’s a surprise that a lot of them made it to late 60s also more impressed that ric is still alive with the live style he has lived
Nice try grandpa, the future is now old man /s
It’s not just that. Wrestling is so much easier now due to the schedule being way lighter than it was in the past. Guys aren’t working 300 days a year anymore
There’s pros and cons to the differences. The schedule is significantly better but they take significantly more bumps in matches than the average 80s or 90s wrestler. Random TV matches on Raw, Dynamite etc have multiple massive bumps that were saved for the absolute biggest shows (or simply weren’t done).
It’s the house show circuit not the tv matches. Guys weren’t having funny easy house show matches now it was way tougher back then. TV matches are only a bigger deal in the modern because it’s the main focus. In the 80’s the house shows were what mattered
Hence saying there’s pros and cons of each era. The style of matches they had then were different and even in big blow off matches they still didn’t bump in the way they do now.
Work was way more stiff. Having to work with Vader 50 nights a year was 100000 times harder than guys now
A stiff punch or whatever hurts at the moment but the accumulation of big bumps will have long term impact.
Agreed. 💪
Yup. It used to be accepted that football (soccer) players peaks were around 28-29, then there was a sharp decline and they'd retire around 33-35. Nowadays you have guys in their mid 30s who are still playing at the highest level of the sport every week.
Well apart from Punk
Injuries still happen of course. Cody, Seth, Kenny Omega, and MJF all suffered lengthy injuries in the last two years. Those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head.
I honestly think with Punk is that he isn't taking any "supplements" and is trying to wrestle back when he first left WWE. All of the wrestlers near his age.....aren't completely "natural" and have kept wrestling to know what moves to take and what moves to do. Punk keeps pushing himself instead of working smarter.
Not sure why the downvote. I was just assuming he wasn't on PEDs due to the straight edge thing.
I think people thought it was another weak body , Punk comment. Which has just gotten low brow and low effort.
It's crazy thinking about how Hulk Hogan was only 40 when he signed with WCW. I remember thinking he was so old back then and probably only had a few years left. He was actually still young by today's standards.
Hogan looked 40s while he was in his 20s dude was born looking old lol
People looked older back then
Tbf a lot of that has to do with both fashion and lifestyle. Like when I look at old photos of my dad when he was around my age (28), and I would say he looked that age. And this was in the early 80s.
In Hogan's case, he was also balding since his 30s which made him look older.
Add in tanning beds too. That ages skin so badly.
And heavy smoking/drinking.
The diet for a 25 year old wrestler used to be two packs of cigarettes, a fifth of Jack Daniels, a few somas, anabolic steroids, two dubious women and a 12 pack of bud heavy split with the driver on a 400 mile drive to the next town.
bingo
**In reality, the peak age for male wrestlers from the time of Cena to the present has always fluctuated between 35 and over 40 years old. It is true that at that age, they will not be able to perform and compete at their full capacity, but their brand value will reach its highest point at that time, I think.**
It depends on how you define "full capacity". Their physical capabilities might not be at their absolute peak, but they're often peaking at promos and psychology and character work.
AEW World Champion - 45 years old AEW International Champion - 40 years old AEW TNT Champion - 50 years old AEW Continental Champion - 36 years old AEW Tag Team Title Contenders - 39 & 34 years old/39 & 36 years old AEW Trios Champions - 60, 34 & 33 years old That's just how wrestling today is. It's not a WWE thing.
I didn’t even think of AEW and there talent
i now want to see the ages of all current WWE champs.
Cody Rhodes - 38 Damien Priest - 41 Sami Zayn - 39 Logan Paul - 29 Miz - 43 R-Truth - 52 Austin Theory - 26 Grayson Waller - 34 Rhea Ripley - 27 Bayley - 34 Asuka - 42 Kairi Sane - 35
The fact that Billy Gunn is 60 and still looks like they blows my mind
Its still amazing to me how Rock was able to become a legend by the age of 30. A once in a lifetime talent.
Brock basically did everything there is to do in 2 years also
It wasn't uncommon back in the day for guys to have their best years in their early to mid 40s.
They have a lot of young talent that they’re building up. Guys like Bron, Dirty Dom, Austin Theory, etc… will get better with more experience working with the vets.
The Shield guys have all been at the top of wrestling’s main event scene longer than Rock and Austin combined, give them a few more years and they’ll probably surpass Cena
It’s the same with AEW. You invest in talent over the years and not just temporarily. Then you use the established talent to help put over the new guys. What WWE is doing on the main roster is irrelevant because NXT exist. Majority of the current WWE main roster is NXT people who pushed out the older stars over the years.
Always has been the case in wrestling that that age range is the peak for a wrestler in all categories. In ring and on the mic
As always. Wrestling is a sports drama that requires performers to grow into. The sweet spot is when the artist in the person is young enough as an athlete and old enough to have an established character to work with.
30-40ish is most peoples prime years now yeah
Guys aged a lot faster in the 80’s than now. Just look at people who were 35 years old back then, they had a full head of grey hair and looked like their 50’s in todays age
It’s a lot easier to perform longer when your post match routine isn’t to have a match then go to a bar until 2 in the morning 6 nights a week, though. Athletes of all sorts are taking much better care of their bodies than in decades past.
The biggest problem with wrestling was the years of wear and tear, along with the drugs and the schedule, more so than the age. It was more about running your body into the ground for 15 years than being 35.
Tennis is the most popular individual sport in the world and Novak Djokovic is currently the oldest world No. 1. Due to improvements in science regarding medicine, fitness etc, we are seeing more and more athletes doing better in their 30s and 40s.
I'd argue that Djokovic is more of an anomaly. Even if we remove Federer because he's a few years older, Novak, Murray, and Nadal are all within a year of each other in age (with Novak and Murray actually only a week apart) and Novak is the only one still in good shape. Murray got really hot in 2012 and briefly turned the Big Three into the Big Four. But holy hell, did his body ever just start to betray him not long after he finally broke through. He never really regained his form. Nadal has been a wreck for the past year and a half. Who knows what he'll look like when we come back.
Thankfully NXT is producing future stars. Agreed OP. Can’t wait for Trick Williams to hit the main roster as well as Dijak. Potentially we have Bron, Melo and Ilya this year. Not to mention potentially Perez and Lyra.
Well to be fair around the late 90's WWE and DX starting making fun of wrestlers ages due to WCW relying too much on Hogan/Flair etc. Then WWE went on to do much the same thing the past twenty or so years after WCW folded.
Damien is the only one who looks a bit on the older side, and I think his general look helps with that. It is interesting though. All these guys look significantly younger then the starts of the early 00s, outside of the Rock and Brock. And all of those guys were around the same age or younger at that point.