In 1996 Monday Night Raw hit an all-time low in the ratings as the WCW and it's Monday Nitro was in the midst of a 3+ year reign atop the ratings. But that all changed in 1997 when Vince Russo became the head writer for the then WWF and was instrumental in the WWF's resurgence and eclipsing of the WCW during the Attitude Era! In 1999 he left the WWF for the WCW - he claims he left over a dispute with Vince McMahon.

So, what does Russo think of the state of pro wrestling today? Well he sure doesn't mince words in a post he just wrote for CSRWrestling.com whose opening line is "Professional wrestling is officially dead."

It is a very interesting - and I'm sure for some - very controversial article that does bring up some interesting questions about the wrestling product of today as compared to that of previous decades. Here are a few excerpts:

"With last week’s loss of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, fans from my generation had to come to grips with the cold heart fact, that the business we grew up on is long gone . . . and will never be returning again.

We lost something when all of the great ones started to pass; it started with the Macho Man, then the Warrior, Dusty Rhodes a few months back . . . and now the great “Rowdy” Ruddy Piper. In their prime, these icons were athletes and entertainers that perhaps we took for granted . . . I know I did . . . but now, in their passing we can truly understand and appreciate just how great they were."

"Unfortunately, since 2000 the wrestling business started to decline in popularity, and now it has for 15 straight years. The massive audience that was once there . . . is now only a fraction of itself. As the business moves further and further away from the entertainment aspect in favor of longer wrestling matches . . . less people seem to care. The internet exposed professional wrestling many years ago, and in 2015 we all understand what it is, with that being said, why would casual fans want to see a choreographed fight when they can see a real one over in UFC. The answer—they don’t—and that’s why they now spend their money on UFC. What they want to see is what they always wanted to see—entertainment."

Whether you agree or not, I highly recommend checking out the full post.