Best sell jobs in wrestling?

[Atticus Chaos]

All of HBK's work in the Hogan match and I think Orton's selling of the SCM has been great.

 

Oh, and RVD taking Dreamer's piledriver is just so utterly beyond belief. I still don't even know how that was physically possible.

[Diamonddust]

Curt Henning in just about anything.

 

Ric Flair in just about anything.

[Cheech Tremendous]

All of HBK's work in the Hogan match...

 

I've never seen all of the match in question, but wasn't HBK's selling considered to be laughably bad and totally business exposing? I've seen parts and he makes Hogan look like an idiot with his cartoonish oversells.

[TheSSNintendo]

The Rock taking a Stone Cold Stunner.

[Hawk 34]

All of HBK's work in the Hogan match...

 

I've never seen all of the match in question, but wasn't HBK's selling considered to be laughably bad and totally business exposing? I've seen parts and he makes Hogan look like an idiot with his cartoonish oversells.

 

Correct. Shawn was doing backflips off punches and flopping like a fish on dry land. A good sell job is one where they don't overdo it and still convince the crowd and viewer of the legitimaticy of the injury. Some people like Savage or Hart would sell a knee for a month, even if it was a squash match.

[Guest]

Rhodes with Flair and the Andersons. I think we all know what I'm talking about. Both the time they "broke" his arm, and the time they "broke" his ankle.

[Papacita]

"MY EYE!!! DAMN IT, MICK!!! MY EYE!!!"

 

Terry Funk at ONS 2. Truth be told, I wasn't into the match at that point, but he was so convincing that when they took him out I was actually questioning whether or not it was for real.

 

Probably not the type of sell job you're referring to, but there was a match between Angle and Eddie just after WM in 2005 where, near the end of the match, Rey came out and prevented Angle from using a chair. Then, in one of those "face misunderstanding" moments, Eddie turns around and spots Rey holding the chair and completely goes into bitch mode--begging, pleading with Rey not to hit him. It's funny as hell and cool that Eddie went to such lengths to put Rey over as a threat to him, especially considering that he was still a face at the time.

 

Also, put me down for Rock's and Shane's Stunner sells, and--even with as much hate as it gets--HBK's big boot sell at Summerslam 05.

[CanadianChris]

Bret selling the knee during his match with Owen at WrestleMania X, and continuing to sell it during his title match with Yokozuna later that night.

[CanadianGuitarist]

Bret selling the knee during his match with Owen at WrestleMania X, and continuing to sell it during his title match with Yokozuna later that night.

 

I'll agree with this, and add to it:

 

Bret limping to the ring at #28 in the 94 Rumble, minutes after Bastion Booger didn't enter the ring, and we all assumed it was Bret.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Rick Steamboat selling his throat injury at the hands of Randy Savage.

[JST]

Rick Steamboat selling his throat injury at the hands of Randy Savage.

 

When he was on last monday's Raw, I wanted to see him take a Samoan Spike just to see him do it again.

[Vampiro69]

Sometimes Saturn would sell things almost perfectly. Then the next match he would totally oversell. It was always a mystery as to which version would appear.

 

 

[cd213]

It was more of an angle, but when Tommy Dreamer "knocked" the cig. into Sandman's eye. I remember Paul Heyman said Sandman didn't leave his house for the whole month just so no one would see him and realize that he was ok.

[Guest Hasbeen2]

Tully Blanchard taking the wooden stake to the eye from Magnum TA.

[haws bah gawd]

Someone has to gave a gif of HBK selling the Big Boot at Summerslam 2005. That was a thing of beauty.

 

Of all the people on RAW, I've noticed that Trevor Murdoch is pretty good at taking bumps on the back of his head/neck. Big, ugly guy is one of the better sellers on RAW right now.

 

RVD's sell of any kind of head-dropping move was always good too.

[AntiLeaf33]

RVD looks like he's about to die every time he takes a DDT

[JHawk]

Mark Cuban taking the RKO. Seriously, I was sitting there going "The guy who doesn't wrestle is the only guy who knows how to properly take that move."

[Black Lushus]

I hate RVD's selling...that RKO sell was crap, made the move look like garbage.

 

Rock's stunner oversell was cute at first, but got ridiculous after awhile.

[Diamonddust]

Arn Anderson was another overall great seller. He could easily make it look as if the face was absolutely murdering him in the ring. His facial expressions were key.

[haws bah gawd]

I hate RVD's selling...that RKO sell was crap, made the move look like garbage.

 

Rock's stunner oversell was cute at first, but got ridiculous after awhile.

 

RVD selling the move by taking it on the top of his head was crap (when most wrestlers just bump off Orton's shoulder)? Ok......

[Black Lushus]

someone find that clip...the top of his head hits the mat and doesn't hit Orton's shoulder at all, if I remember correctly....you're saying THAT'S how you sell that move? If I;m wrong so be it, but if that's how he sold it, yes it's garbage.

[Steviekick]

I didn't mind Michaels' ridiculous overselling in his match with Hogan. At that point, Hogan pretty much is a cripple and the match was very cartoonish. Both were so over the top that it worked.

[cabbageboy]

I'd say Michaels' selling vs. UT in the HIAC and other matches is better than the Hogan match. The Hogan match was silly and fun, but hardly what I would show an aspiring wrestler.

 

RVD's sell of the RKO was crazy. Bear in mind the point of the RKO is not the same as a Stunner (which is to hit the head/jaw area on the shoulder). In theory it's supposed to be face first on the mat with an RKO, much like a Diamond Cutter. Keep in mind that the point of that RVD/Orton match was to convey that Van Dam was being brutalized to the point of having a concussion, so a horrific, over the top sell job only served to put Orton over more.

 

 

[Diamonddust]

One we've all forgotten:

 

Ricky Morton

 

He could sell the "face in peril" during a tag-team match better than ANYONE.

[cabbageboy]

I would say yes and no on Morton and I'll tell you why. Yes because Morton was of course very good at the whole "face in peril" bit. No because it was Morton being so good at it that led to tag wrestling getting insanely repetitive and formulaic. I suppose there was such a thing as a face in peril before him, but it wasn't until Morton and Gibson that this became the typical formula for nearly EVERY tag match.

[Toxxic]

A fair point. I don't remember much of the tag team wrestling from when I was young but even so most of it I'd have seen would have been after the Morton/Gibson partnership. And these days it's bizarre to even consider a North American tag match without the 'hot' tag. You can pull it off, but not often.

[Diamonddust]

I would say yes and no on Morton and I'll tell you why. Yes because Morton was of course very good at the whole "face in peril" bit. No because it was Morton being so good at it that led to tag wrestling getting insanely repetitive and formulaic. I suppose there was such a thing as a face in peril before him, but it wasn't until Morton and Gibson that this became the typical formula for nearly EVERY tag match.

 

Yes, but as formulaic as it became... the crowd still reacts positively to it. It still elicits an emotional response, which is why the tag-team match hasn't changed much over time.

[luke-o]

RVD's sell of just about anything.

 

The selling part was OK, but Stacey Kiebler's take of the RKO was fantastic.

[Guest IronManLUNG]

Mick Foley selling his leg at Mind Games 96... Loved the stabbing of the leg and all his trademark Mankind squealing

[LooseCannon25]

Scott Hall selling the 2nd stunner to Austin at WM18 was fantastic.

 

I might get killed for this, but Hogan's selljob on Paul Orndorff's piledriver after Wonderful turned was very well done. His leg was twitching and everything.