8 Reasons Why Ricochet And Ospreay ARE Pro Wrestling
5. The Hard Sell Isn't Everything
No, there's not much hard selling of the supposedly vicious and violent moves in this match. Like superheroes in a Marvel movie or warriors in some anime show, Ospreay and Ricochet manage to shake off the damage taken: shouting in pain or writhing on the mat, but only for a moment; getting a counter attack in before selling a little of that last kick; or being forced on the defensive as their opponent gets the upper hand for a section of the match.
But there's a place for superheroes in wrestling, just as there is in cinema. And fundamentally, you vote with your feet and with your wallet: if you don't like a particular style, don't pay to see it. Promoters and performers will begin to get the message.
The days of kayfabe are long gone. These matches aren't exposing the business - it's already more exposed than a nudist on a bouncy castle. So it really just comes down to what we, the wrestling audience, can and cannot accept.
In the last few days, people have tweeted encouragement by relating anecdotes of non-fans and casual fans who’ve expressed sheer excitement at the clips they’ve seen of the match, and begged to find out where they can see the rest. These are the same non-fans and casual fans who wouldn’t watch three hours of RAW if you paid them, and who can’t even spell ROH.
The truth that many can't seem to handle (yes, like Sideshow Bob I deride their truth handling abilities) is that there's a sizeable audience for this particular style of pro wrestling. Promoters and performers have got the message… and that message was, "MORE PLEASE".
With apologies to the Rattlesnake, wrestling has always been all about the bottom line… and if low selling sells, then selling isn’t everything.
Personally, I'd rather see this kind of consistently rubber-ball, low selling but exciting wrestling dynamic than a more traditional WWE-style match in which the selling is inconsistent by design.
Let’s not forget that one of the greatest American workers in the history of the business, Shawn Michaels, had a trademark kip-up spot that flew directly in the face of this demand for the hard sell. Meanwhile, the legendary Ric Flair's own trademark selling spot, the Flair flop, inevitably turned high drama into low comedy. Hulk Hogan’s ‘hulking up’ spot helped turn wrestling into a cartoon back in the eighties, and plenty of fired-up babyfaces still ape it today to toe-curling effect: Daniel Bryan was one of the worst culprits for that.
It's not just Cena or Reigns and their baffling resurrections from nearly dead to suddenly superhuman: the art of the no-sell is as big a part of the wrestling that all these critics love as the art of selling itself.
And it's not like any style of wrestling is particularly realistic, when it comes right down to it...