There are many instances of the down-ward spiral. One is the Dorian winning in 1994. Another is when Flex didn't win in 1998, if had been on his P's and Q's and won, we wouldn't be seeing so many bloated guts and low quality physiques.
Another is if you look at the NPC's very few good bodybuilders are "earning" their cards. They have "give" to mediocre bodybuilders like Kamali, Maddron, Cook, even Garrett Downing, those who don't deserve their pro cards at all. They can get their pro cards, but Lionel Brown can't?
Melvin Anthony was one of the last good ones to come out of the late 90's. They need more like him, Richard Jones, Phil Heath, these are physiques that need to get their pro cards.
And then you have people who hype up the mediocre bodybuilders like Dave Pulcinella, instead of given the truly gifted, but little known bodybuilders like Auguste, or others, the esposure. Give Wolfe hype when he needs it, or Ronnie Rockel. The trend for fugly guts can be reversed...