Favorite old school wrestler for selling

[kcordloh]

I was watching Christian vs Swagger from WWECW earlier and realized how effective selling is in making someone else look better.
Steamboat will get a lot of votes I am sure, but my favorite seller of all time is Tully Blanchard. He had a way of bumping that looked, not entirely a work. He staggered, he didn't land flat, he did stuff that made it look like he was actually in pain.

Steamboat was good, but his bumps were to crisp for me to fully believe. Granted, I didn't start watching those guys tape until 2005, but I totally buy some of Tully's selling. Very few other guys can wrap me up like he can.


Who was yours? And if you could pick an old school wrestler's selling to go on a current wrestler, who would you choose and who would you give it to?

 

[relentless1]

i always LOLed at lex lugers selling, his shout/scream always made it sound like he got stabbed or something..i really liked hogans selling, especially in the 80s when he almost exclusively went up against huge guys, he'd sell like no tomorrow. i think cena should take one more thing from the hulk and thats his ability to make his opponent look like a million bucks before he beat them

 

[deadman talking]

of course you have to have the great mr perfect curt hennig. he truly was the best in the business at selling. you also have to mention the nature boy ric flair and randy savage.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

We've already named some of my favorites, but here's a few more:

Terry Funk - He'd get hit with a move, flip over the top rope, hit the floor on his ass, get up and just start flailing and falling all over himself...and it was hilariously awesome to watch.

Ricky Morton - Has there ever been a better face in peril? He would get smacked around, bloodied, and always look on the verge of dying in the ring.

Arn Anderson - Like Tully Blanchard, Arn sold his ass off. He was always known as the tough guy on the team, the Enforcer, but he also had some great selling. My favorites: Get nailed with a move, and he'd stand there, knees wobbling, dazed, swinging wildly. The other was when he stand over a guy and keep jumping on his back, until inevitably, the other guy would flip over and knee him in the junk. The reaction was beautiful.

Rick Rude - The guy MADE the Ultimate Warrior with his selling. Nuff said.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Randy Savage. If it's true he demanded that every match be choreographed to the max, with almost no improvisation or actual "working" during matches, at least he didn't have the kind of ego that made him insist on getting the better of the action at all times.

Far from it, in fact. Even in matches he wound up winning, he took much more punishment than he gave and sold his opponent's shots with rubber-legged authenticity that sometimes made me wonder if he was legitimately hurt.

 

[PingPongBundy]

I have to give honorable mention to Bob Backlund, even though what I'm referring to was one time. Nash once said in an interview that when he beat Backlund in eight seconds, Backlund sold it so well. He pretty much crawled all the way back up the aisle to the backstage area and made Nash look like a million bucks, on top of beating him in eight seconds to begin with.

 

[Ubermensch]

Luger was so dramatic. It screamed on offense and defense.

Flair's flipping under the middle turnbuckle and running alongside the apron to get clotheslined, or climbing to the turnbuckle to get body slammed were like clockwork. I also remember his "OHHHH GODS!"

 

[#HELLNO]

Nobody can disagree that Shawn Michaels is one of the best 'sellers' in the business, ever! But the best seller from the past has to be, Mr. Perfect. He was just so crisp at all that he did, he could sell the best, he was the strongest wrester technically in the ring & he was also one of the very few that had the charisma to give a good promo.

So for me it is Mr. Perfect.

 

[Pedigree1]

I agree with Mustang Sally! Randy Savage was an absolute master and artist of selling.. His epic match at WM3 against steamboat,Steamboat and Savage worked the whole match over and over again at Savage's home.. If Savage was so perfect and materialistic about every inch of his matches,no wonder why he looked like a Genius in the ring. Whether he won or lost he always looked like he took the worse end of the beating and often at times,looked like he was legitimately hurt.. RIP Macho Man OHHHHHHHH YAHHHHHHHH