The onion was overshadowed because it stuck to an old media style and had a clunky adaptation to the internet. They've got good content now with things like Click Hole and some YouTube content but it was many many years of trying to be an online newspaper and nothing else. The saving grace of The Onion and why it's able to come back as strong as it has been is that it's the holy grail for comedy writers so it still gets the best writers in the business.

yeah the jokes were already pre-written and delivered. there was no commentary to make. no twists or turns to point out the absurdity as the real news was already bonkers