Theory of æther was disqualified because of relativity. If there was some real mesh, its nodes would have to be located somewhere, and we would be able to measure our velocity relative to it. It does not work that way. The way it works can still be described by æther, but one must postulate that time and distance measurements are distorted depending on the velocity with respect to the æther, and still one has no chance to determine in which inertial system the æther is stationary. This is not how real entities behave.