But the evidence seems to suggest that professional wrestling has historically been, as noted above, in a relatively minor decline from its pre-WW2 peak, which was less than 2 percent in 1997 when the American Athletic & Intercollegiate Athletic Association merged with the Wrestling Entertainment Group. By contrast, a number of the earliest professional wrestlers appeared in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the dominant group on the planet in terms of membership. So, by examining the trends, the authors, along with numerous historians, may better understand the origins. The findings indicate that WWE is indeed in decline and is now almost as much seen than its pre-WW2 peak, which wasn't as powerful as it used to be, even though it peaked during the beginning of the boom. The decline in professional wrestling is also evidence that professional wrestling is becoming more diverse because it becomes available to a wider variety of audiences. The data also imply that WWE has become increasingly fragmented over time, from its original home in Baltimore in the 1950s through the early 2000s to at least two more major cities—Chicago and New York—to a point where the entire WWE roster is now split among just eight members a given year.