Ten years later, the 2016 wrestling landscape still haunts us

The 2016 fever dream remembered

Dusting off a decade-old podcast interview is usually a recipe for second-hand embarrassment. You expect to find some out-of-touch take about a guy who never made it or a promotion currently gathering dust in a bankruptcy court. But listening to the WKPWP playback of former WWE writer Matt McCarthy from mid-2016 is a frantic trip through a time machine that actually tells us something about why modern wrestling booking is, frankly, a bit of a mess.

Back in July 2016, we were staring down the barrel of the second brand extension. The roster split was being sold as the ultimate fix for an bloated, directionless WWE. McCarthy's commentary on the structural pros and cons of splitting Raw and SmackDown hits differently when you look at current product fatigue. He called it early: the division of talent creates a scarcity that keeps the midcard fighting for scraps while the main eventers recycle the same three feuds until everyone dies of boredom.

The Lesnar and Orton mismatch

The conversation regarding the impending Brock Lesnar versus Randy Orton clash at SummerSlam is the most delicious part of the archive. At the time, there was genuine anxiety about whether Orton—fresh off a hiatus—could actually stand in the ring with the Beast Incarnate. It serves as a sharp reminder that Lesnar booking has essentially been the same formula since 2014, minus the occasional detour into UFC territory or a surprising loss to Goldberg.

McCarthy navigated the creative challenges of writing for guys like Lesnar with a level of transparency that you just do not get from today’s corporate-filtered interviews. The reality of writing for Lesnar isn't about deep, nuanced character arcs. It is about logistics. How do you keep the man who only works the big four pay-per-views feeling like a threat without burying the guy who is wrestling on Main Event every single Tuesday? Spoiler alert: you rarely do.

Final Deletion and the TNA death spiral

The most fascinating relics from this audio vault are the critiques on the TNA Impact era of the mid-2010s. We were smack in the middle of the 'Final Deletion' era, the bizarre, cinematic fever dream that saw Matt Hardy turn into a compound-owning, pyromaniacal genius. It changed the way we thought about production values and what was even possible in professional wrestling.

Hearing a former WWE writer break down that chaos is worth the download alone. While WWE was obsessed with rigid, polished television at the 159 minute mark of the industry conversation, TNA was throwing a lawnmower into the booking department and somehow coming out with a viral sensation. It was raw, it was campy, and it was the anti-corporate rebellion we all claimed we wanted.

However, let us be real for a second about the state of TNA at that time. It was a chaotic fire, sure, but looking back, we over-romanticize the 'Final Deletion' because it was different. We were starving for something that didn't feel like a sterile WWE product, and we clung to Hardy’s madness like it was a holy relic. It was a circus, not a solution for a dying promotion.

Why the past refuses to stay buried

Listening to this 2016 perspective, you realize the industry has been chasing its own tail for a decade. The roster split, the reliance on part-time monsters, and the experimental cinematic matches are still the primary pillars of the business today. We keep recycling these same debates, like an endless loop of a commentary track that refuses to get to the end of the movie.

There is a specific feeling you get when you realize the creative problems McCarthy discussed are the exact same ones we are picking apart on social media today. If we are still asking if the roster split helped or hurt the midcard, or if the main event is truly elevated by part-time stars, we have to admit we are stuck. Wrestling creative has been in a cycle of diminishing returns for a long time.

Maybe the biggest takeaway from this walk down memory lane isn't that we have learned anything. Maybe it’s that wrestling fans are doomed to talk about the same three booking tropes until the end of time. Whether it's 2016 or 2026, we are just looking for the next big pop, trying to find a reason to care about the card between the opening pyro and the closing bell.

You can listen to the full blast from the past right here at PW Torch. It is a sobering reminder that while the names on the posters change, the headaches in the writer's room look exactly the same through the rearview mirror.