A decade ago, the future really looked bright for dark matter theory, so bright in fact that the mainstream had to wear shades.
The Bullet Cluster study claimed to have found 'proof", not evidence mind you, actual "proof" of dark matter from uncontrolled astronomical observations. Even more exciting however, LHC was about to enter the search for exotic matter and there were several other DM experiments in the works. At least some of these experiments were expected to help the mainstream find exotic forms of matter, and at least verify the DM aspect of LCMD theory. Fast forward a decade however, and what was once a hopeful and exciting part of LCDM theory has since become a nightmare for mainstream dogma, and it's become an empirical noose around their neck.
Not only were their Bullet Cluster baryonic mass estimation techniques shown to be riddled with serious underestimation problems and flaws, every single lab "experiment" came back negative. Those negative results from LHC outright falsified all their "popular" (SUSY) mathematical models for dark matter. With the last round of LHC data, the future of exotic matter research looks pretty bleak. Not only didn't LHC find evidence of new, stable forms of matter, it demonstrated conclusively that the standard particle physics model has a very high degree of accuracy in terms of it's predictions, so stunningly accurate in fact, it's been downright eerie.
The last LUX experiments reached their theoretical limit in terms of sensitivity, yet again, they found absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support WIMP theory, as was also the case with the Xenon100 experiments, Now even the first round of Xenon1T experiments has come up empty. PandaX also came back negative as well. In 2017, WIMP theory is definitely looking shaky at best, and down right falsified at worst case. With the next round of updates for LUX-LZ that are scheduled to start in 2020, they're basically pushing the limits of "weak interaction" to its practical limit. Soon they'll be down into the neutrino/baryonic level of "weak interaction", in which case it becomes logically impossible to differentiate between ordinary weak interactions between neutrinos and ordinary matter, and exotic interactions.
The empirical gaps for DM to be hiding in are shrinking by the day, and the mainstream simply cannot live without exotic matter. Their whole theory *depends* on it's existence, and yet there's absolutely no evidence left standing to support it.
What was once the bright hope of the mainstream has now become an empirical noose around their own necks. If they don't find something "soon" (next 5-10 years), they'll be nowhere else for look for WIMPS, and the mainstream doesn't really have any viable alternatives that have fared any better. Axions have been ruled out by numerous cosmological studies, including most recently by studies of the sun, and the sterile neutrino ideas haven't panned out either. ICE Cube recently announced that they found no evidence of sterile neutrinos.
The mainstream is definitely starting to panic as it relates to DM. Since they are like a drug addict with respect to their need for exotic forms of matter, there's really nothing they can do now except keep pouring money down the same holes in the ground and to pray for a miracle, hence the last round of funding for LUX-LZ. By the time LUX-LZ comes online in 2020 however, Xenon1T experiments will have already "tested" a great deal of the weak interaction space that LUX-LZ was intended to test, and they're now reaching the limits of "weak interaction" with respect to neutrinos. They're very quickly running out of real estate space to even search.
I think it's very ironic that DM theory has gone from being the poster child of mainstream 'experimentation", to quickly becoming the laughing stock of physics. Not only did LHC blow away their "best" mathematical models of exotic matter, it demonstrated conclusively that the standard particle physics model is *incredibly* accurate in terms of its predictions. They've literally blown away their best DM models and they don't have any real alternatives left anymore. They've already spend billions and they've found absolutely nothing to support their claims.
IMO DM theory is very likely to be the death sentence of LCMD. Without exotic matter, the mainstream's BAO predictions, their nucleosynthesis predictions, and their claims to fame related to the CMB go flying right out the window.
I expect to see about 4 - 7 more years of the same basic pattern of pure denial of any problem, followed by pure, unadulterated panic.
If the Xenon1T experiments and the LUX-LZ experiments continue to follow the same pattern of dismal failure, it's going to be curtains for DM claims, and LCDM along with it.