The Best Seller In The Business Today

[Ferbian]

Selling is a general thing in wrestling. It's what makes it look realistic, and therefore it's important to maintain a bit of kayfabe, and to make the moves look legitimate. However it's obvious that there's some wrestlers that are superior to others in terms of selling a move, selling a match. As well as there's some that are generally worse at selling, or goes to the point where they're practically no selling a move.

Selling can be done in so many ways, selling a submission hold by screaming out loud in the style of Chris Jericho (Hell he even sells his own submission moves), John Cena's selling of a punch (The Miz vs John Cena this week is a nice display of John Cena's selling ability), selling a clothesline or lariat like Evan Bourne.

So it's obvious some are better at selling something specific than the next guy, but there's also some that generally makes their opponent look amazing through a general ability to sell. A guy like John Cena is generally very good at that, Chris Jericho just as well.

However, who is the best seller in the business today? There's got to be one that you think sells better than anybody else. A guy that generally makes his opponent look great, or simply sells one specific type of moves to the extend that he is definitely the better seller.

So that's what I ask you - Who is the best seller in the business today? Remember to give reasons.

 

[I Suck Ass]

I feel that Evan Bourne is. He might over-do it a little bit, but when he gets hit, he does a great job of going limp and falling in a pile, and it works for his size. Here are a couple examples. Not the best ones, but the only ones I could find.

[YOUTUBE]7Ygo4YV1xBM[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]LrMU2u5zSfA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[X]

How is John Cena a good seller Ferbian? That's one of his biggest flaws, his selling, he's not very good with it. Everyone remembers his atrocious selling against HBK at Wrestlemania 23, in which HBK worked on his knee for the entire match only for Cena to jump right up like Superman and start running around without showing even the slightest bit of pain or weakness in his knee. One of the worst sell-jobs of all time there that really hurt a pretty damn good match. Then there's Summerslam a few weeks back where he's getting worked on by several members of the Nexus, putting him into crossfaces and other painful submissions only for Cena to again jump right up and run around like absolutely nothing had happened. Cena is great no doubt about it, but his selling is pretty bad.

Evan Bourne is a great choice though, he sells like few others. Punk would be another good mention in my eyes.

 

[Ferbian]

How is John Cena a good seller Ferbian? That's one of his biggest flaws, his selling, he's not very good with it. Everyone remembers his atrocious selling against HBK at Wrestlemania 23, in which HBK worked on his knee for the entire match only for Cena to jump right up like Superman and start running around without showing even the slightest bit of pain or weakness in his knee. One of the worst sell-jobs of all time there that really hurt a pretty damn good match. Then there's Summerslam a few weeks back where he's getting worked on by several members of the Nexus, putting him into crossfaces and other painful submissions only for Cena to again jump right up and run around like absolutely nothing had happened. Cena is great no doubt about it, but his selling is pretty bad.

Sure John has the whole ability to hulk up like Hogan did. However you couldn't possibly go ahead and tell me that John isn't a good seller? I mean come on dude, I know you've watched his matches.

John might not be the greatest seller, but he spends the majority of a match selling moves. Sure in the end he might not be completely selling stuff like a knee injury and such. That is a negative I'll give you. However, is John not the one that practically sells moves for an entire match, and does it well. Making the opponent look good while being dominated and whooped around the ring?

John is certainly no bad seller. Especially considering there's far worse sellers in the industry today, and John isn't even near that level.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

My favorite seller would have to be Christian. He sells so well that some people would say that's what's stopping the E putting the big belt on him and just utilise him as a enhancement wrestler, because he makes his oponents look like world beaters.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Sure John has the whole ability to hulk up like Hogan did. However you couldn't possibly go ahead and tell me that John isn't a good seller? I mean come on dude, I know you've watched his matches.

John might not be the greatest seller, but he spends the majority of a match selling moves. Sure in the end he might not be completely selling stuff like a knee injury and such. That is a negative I'll give you. However, is John not the one that practically sells moves for an entire match, and does it well. Making the opponent look good while being dominated and whooped around the ring?

John is certainly no bad seller. Especially considering there's far worse sellers in the industry today, and John isn't even near that level.

Sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one Ferbian. In fact, I am even having trouble following your logic, you seem to be a little inconsistent in what you are saying.

You say yourself that he "might not be the greatest seller," but then you go on to say "he spends the majority of a match selling moves." Then, "he might not be completely selling stuff like a knee injury and such." A definite lack of consistency in what you are attempting to say. Just because Cena spends the entire match selling moves, does not automatically mean he's good at it, it simply means his character is asked to do it a lot. Not only is he not good at it, he's very poor at it. I am a big fan of John Cena, unlike a lot of the haters on these forums, but I do think he's one of the worst at selling moves.

At Summerslam, he gets his head bashed against bare concrete, and gets up like it was nothing at all. Talk about no-selling. I know that's his character, his whole Super-Cena against all odds schtick, but it does not translate to great selling. Hitting your head against a concrete floor should at least slow you down a little, yet he gets up like he's been victimized by a pillow fight.

I actually would not change too much about John Cena. I definitely would not give him a heel turn. But I think he should be a better seller, otherwise it's not so much that he looks invincible, as much as his opponents look weak.

 

[Ferbian]

Sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one Ferbian. In fact, I am even having trouble following your logic, you seem to be a little inconsistent in what you are saying.

You say yourself that he "might not be the greatest seller," but then you go on to say "he spends the majority of a match selling moves." Then, "he might not be completely selling stuff like a knee injury and such." A definite lack of consistency in what you are attempting to say. Just because Cena spends the entire match selling moves, does not automatically mean he's good at it, it simply means his character is asked to do it a lot. Not only is he not good at it, he's very poor at it. I am a big fan of John Cena, unlike a lot of the haters on these forums, but I do think he's one of the worst at selling moves.

At Summerslam, he gets his head bashed against bare concrete, and gets up like it was nothing at all. Talk about no-selling. I know that's his character, his whole Super-Cena against all odds schtick, but it does not translate to great selling. Hitting your head against a concrete floor should at least slow you down a little, yet he gets up like he's been victimized by a pillow fight.

I actually would not change too much about John Cena. I definitely would not give him a heel turn. But I think he should be a better seller, otherwise it's not so much that he looks invincible, as much as his opponents look weak.

Yeah I fully get it might have come off a little bit odd there.

What I'm trying to say is that while John definitely has his moments of getting up and no-selling, that shouldn't overshadow the fact that John throughout the majority of his matches spends the time selling the opponents moves. He's always known as the guy to get dominated and then win eventually, and that's what it's all about. The dominated period, the period where he sells suplexes, punches, neckbreakers etc.

Like I've said, John is definitely not the greatest seller, but he's definitely not the worst neither. John's match against The Miz this week like I mentioned in the OP definitely shows his ability to sell move after move and make it look legitimate.

 

[Rayne]

It's a toss-up for me between The Undertaker and Chris Jericho.

I can't say Cena for a second. He doesn't "hulk up"- he, as if a switch was flicked in his body, simply goes from badly beaten to perfectly fine. It's nothing like what Hogan used to do; build himself up, psych himself out, then psych his opponent out, then hit his finishing combinations. Cena just... gets up.

People might wonder why I say The Undertaker then. First, there's more showmanship when Undi "hulks up". He'll be getting beaten badly, then he'll no-sell a shot and slap the goozle on someone. Or he'll take a bad beating- the crowd will think he's out of it, and then he does his sit-up. It's a cue for the crowd to pop, and they do, every single time. But at the same time, he can sell damage over the course of a match. If he has an opponent who's working the right arm the entire match, you can well count on a spot where Undi can't quite hit the chokeslam. When he does, eventually, hit it, he makes it appear as if it came at great personal sacrifice. He also does beatdowns very well, which Cena usually does only if he HAS to; like, for the Nexus angle. I'll have forgotten who the Nexus beat the hell out of to make their impact in a year. I'm never going to forget how well Undi sold the beatdown from a returning Mark Henry a couple years back; trying to do his "rise up" and not quite making it before falling down.

Chris Jericho, is, in my always humble opinion, the best wrestler in the profession today. He's one of the few main-eventers who's capable of jobbing to a mid-carder while losing absolutely none of his own stock in the process. Really- can you see John Cena putting over Wade Barrett, clean, in a one on one match? I'd have to be at least ten beers deep to imagine that, and I only drink good, rich beers. So we're talking almost blacked-out drunk. But Jericho could still go out next month and be a credible world title competitor. Being able to sell, and put people over, but not killing your career in the process is a very, very rare trait.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Respect to Ferbs and Rayne for going leftfield on their choices - Undi and Cena have a very hard tightrope to walk between being beatable and unbeatable in the same match.

However for me, I still have to say that the non-superhero wrestlers are the ones I prefer for their selling. In particular those that transition between face and heel because there is a whole different mindset to selling as a goodguy or a badguy. This is the reason that I adore the Christians, Y2Js and Angles, they are as equally adept at the cowardly heel sell as they are at the determined hero sell.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I'm a bit torn on this. But I think I'm stuck between Randy Orton, Jericho, and Christian. Now, before anyone says anything about RKO, just hear me out. RKO does a great job doing the psycho-crazy stalking viper thing, we all know that. But when he gets hit hard, he really does a great job selling the hurt on his face. Now, we all know he's had his shares of some nasty shoulder/neck injuries, so wehn you see him getting the ring post toss, or some damage to his neck, I really do believe and can see some legit feeling, and he does a great job in taking the bumps and if he and the opponent are going for a high impact move that takes the wind out of both of them, he does a good job of NOT waiting to the count of 9 to make it back in the ring, but also allowing himself some time to recover enough to get back to a stable offense.

Jericho- this man, I've never seen him SERIOUSLY injured to the point where he was off tv for a considerable time. We've seen him with broken teeth, wrapped arms, ribs etc. But he still will get out there and does a great job of putting in enough of a believable offense/defense into a match to make you appreciate his efforts, and sometimes the opponents efforts. I know when he made the declaration against Bourne the "If I don't win, I'll leave" Many times during that match, I saw him take some good beatings from Bourne, and I really thought he may have been leaving, and he did look in some bad shape at one point in the match. But, he did manage to make to use his skills and veteran tactics to pull a win out in the end, if he's injured, etc, he finds his other skills to use to compensate for what's not working so well.

My coup de grat, or however you spell it, Christian. I think he is by far THE BEST SELLER right now. Most recent example, his matches with Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes. This man, will suffer a shoulder to ring post move, and some kind of constant attack that will debilitate him. Yet, he manages to stay self-aware, and trying to keep up a good enough offense against his competitor. He still will try moves that may put him at a disadvantage, but not enough to seriously harm him more. He will use his ring knowledge and experience to find other ways to pull out the win. Killswitch? Requires two good arms. If one is bum, may not work. That's why you see the small package roll up on both wins he's had in his last few battles recently. He's blue ribbon worthy in this category. Way to go Captain Charisma.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

I think what Ferbian is trying to say is that Cena is great at selling am ove as it happens, but not so great at necessarily selling the lingering affects of the move/injury.

I think Evan Bourne is flat out terrible. He oversells everything. In real life, you wouldn't do a backflip if you were hit with a clothesline, no matter the size difference. You just can't generate the force, physically.

Personally, I think Jericho is probably the best in the WWE at the overall selling, including maintaining the selling throughout the match.

From TNA, I like RVD's selling, he's one of the few guys who sells his own offense as being hurtful to himself, like his 5 Star Frog Splash, he sells it like it hurts him, too, which is the right way. Snuka and Macho Man used to do that all the time. But probably the best overall seller in TNA, as I'm thinking about it, is either AJ Styles or Ken Anderson. Ken Anderson does a lot of little things that many might not notice, but he's damned good.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Drew McIntyre.

The fact that his style isn't that fluid makes the bumps he takes look particularly painful (and they probably are). But, man, does he sell, especially with those agonized facial expressions. Plus, he has a way of making his body stiffen after a particularly hard landing from his opponent's maneuver. It makes his opponent look great.

It's been said that his early tenure in WWE revealed a personality that conflicted with others in the locker room......and perhaps a sense of entitlement that came from his early push. I don't know if this is true or not, but he's making up for it by helping his opponents look good.

Also, as I've said before....... the man is gorgeous.

 

[Chill]

John Cena is a good seller? Really? I actually think selling is one of the weakest aspects of his repitoire, for example, when he gets hit, quite often he will just lay there on his back almost as if dead (It has actually been referred to as the 'dead sell'), it's completely unrealistic.

Now, I'm not saying he's completely crap at selling, he's not and he does have his moments but generally speaking he gets it wrong a lot of the time and he certainly isn't the 'best seller in the business today', not by a long shot. Credit must go out to Cena's opponents actually, as they often have to sell his suspect STF, which rarely if ever looks devastating, quite often Cena's forearm never even connects with the opponent's face. So yeah, selling isn't one of Cena's strengths in my eyes...

As for who is a good seller, I often look to Evan Bourne who is able to effectively sell opponent's moves which makes them look credible. Others I feel are worth a mention are Christian, Cody Rhodes and Rey Mysterio.

Generally speaking though, most WWE wrestlers at least, have a good grasp of selling.

 

[Next Jericho]

My pick is Chris Daniels sold so many sick moves in TNA but he is in ROH now so he counts. In my option these two selling are the best as they both are sick.

like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT2nei54I-k

He landed so bad in this move against Suicide that I thought he had died as he lands on his head and that move finish him out off the match .

Also this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKu-Z95bgUk

The Jeff Jarrett Stroke in my option the stroke looks terrible but Chris Daniels sells it so good that it was a good move with a great finish as he is swooped up in the air.

Those two selling were very good and therefore I think Chris Daniels is the best seller today.