This is the single biggest problem with wrestling right now. No selling, essentially, is the opposite of selling it (i.e. making something look like it hurts for the benefit of the crowd/storyline). It has gotten to the point where it has become absolutely the norm in wrestling. In this context, no selling does not include The Undertaker sitting up after an aborted three count or monster heels squashing their opponents in humiliating, one-sided matchups. If anything, the two examples listed above actually highlight the power of the sell. What is meant by the term no selling (in the context of this argument, at least) is the lack of selling in the highly spot-heavy matches that are common in modern wrestling. Todays wrestlers create impossibly athletic displays and endure legitimately painful falls and moves, only to emerge seemingly unscathed a few seconds later. It doesnt make sense; both wrestlers are often in genuine pain, yet both are pretending not to be. How stupid is that? A superplex from the top rope or suicide dive to the outside of the ring legitimately hurts both wrestlers involved. Therefore, the effect of moves like that would be felt (and responded to) that much more deeply by the audience if they were primed to respond to them as the serious stunts they actually are instead of watching the wrestlers simply shrug it off and get on with the next spot. Wrestling moves need to be imbued with power and meaning once again if they are to have any effect at all. Anybody else remember being legitimately worried about Shawn Michaels spine when he first returned to WWE in the 2000s? Who else was so into his unsanctioned Summerslam 2002 bout with HHH that they felt every damn bump the guy took? THATS the power of the sell. This lack of selling is bad for more reasons than it would be feasibly possible to list here.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
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- CQ
