I see this as an evolution of the sport, to a more of a sophisticated striking game...not just wrestling but BJJ is used more and more as a finishing move for a stunned (from strikes) or wounded opponent. Take down defense vs BJJ and wrestling has improved by many of the fighters. Ground and pound, a wrestling staple has dimished in popularity and effectiveness in the MMA. Some of the rules about kneeing downed opponents, elbow strikes, and removal of head butts which are all natural effective offensive techniques for someone with a wrestling background have been eliminated by many of the governing bodies.
Wrestling is a great base, develops outstanding balance, reflexes, conditioning and years of learning how to maintain and cut weight. Wrestlers suffer from several weaknesses:
1)They lead with their head and can get caught with guillotines are triangles.
2)They like their feet on the ground...very few of them develop into outstanding kick strikers.
3)The 'sport' of wrestling at the high school and collegiate level has over the years ruled out some of their more dangerous moves or techniques. Similarly Judo also has been defanged to some extent.
4)Wrestlers are horrible from their back and not in dominant position.
I dont' think it is dead, several MMA champs when mixing wrestling with great boxing skills can produce winners. Chael Sonnen showed amazing ground and pound vs Anderson Silva in their first fight, I think if someone is going to be able to defeat Silva, it can be done through ground and pound or someone who has a great inside fighting skills and stays in close to the champ.
Bring back the head butt!
"if its ok for shaolin wuseng to break his vow then its ok for me to sneak behind your house at 3 in the morning and bang your dog if buddha is in your heart then its ok"-Bawang
"I get what you have said in the past, but we are not intuitive fighters. As instinctive fighters, we can chuck spears and claw and bite. We are not instinctively god at punching or kicking."-Drake
"Princess? LMAO hammer you are such a pr^t"-Frost