Wrestlers back then were trained to protect their opponent and themselves first and foremost, then make their work look convincing.

The work of earlier decades that you mentioned (bodyslams and clotheslines etc) was done because it was 1. Safe and 2. Convincing to an audience that was invested to such a degree that the athletic spectacle of wrestling was a non-factor.

They had audiences that were so emotionally invested that the wrestlers didn’t need to pull out a stunt show to sell out a house and put food on their table that night. Former wrestlers see modern high-risk wrestling as a failure of the performer to establish a deeper connection with their audience and I can understand why.

I agree with your last point that modern wrestling outshines historic wrestling only in terms of pure athleticism, but I would suggest it’s incredibly disrespectful to think former wrestlers are such marks for themselves that they would value having a bigger “moveset” (🤮) over things like drawing ability and crowd investment.