A former WWE Champion has criticised modern wrestling for looking “too fake” and that “nobody sells sh*t.”
Professional wrestling is in a constant state of evolution, something which has been the case ever since people started paying to watch people fight in their underwear.
For many years forearms were thrown instead of punches, and the action spilling outside of the ring seemed unthinkable. The prospect of someone jumping from the top rope was simply ludicrous. However, over time attitudes changed and every generation of performers did their bit to push the envelope.
By the year 2000, wrestling was almost unrecognisable from what it had been just 30 years previously. The sight of a performer jumping from the top rope was common place, while jumps and falls from ladders, cages and even arena staging was relatively normal. The action within the confines of the ropes also changed, with the pace increasingly dramatically.
All of these things have continued to evolve as tastes of audiences have changed, and performers want to push the boundaries of what is possible.
However, one former World Champion believes that some of this progression has come at a cost. Speaking on his new podcast, Kliq This, Kevin Nash explained that modern wrestling has become “too fake,” in part due to a lack of selling, citing a recent example featuring Seth Rollins, where he wasn’t ‘laying in’ his punches.
“I think that what it is, is that it’s just that the workstyle has just changed, you know, where it’s a spot fest.
To me, it almost feels, like when I watch a match… I’m so glad when they go into that… And I’ve realised now, that thing both the company’s are doing where they the commercial break to go to the you know, the the action in a small box. I actually enjoy that more because they’re going so f*cking fast on a large screen TV, it’s just like, ‘slow the f*ck down’. Yeah, it is just too fake, like nobody sells sh*t.
Like you can throw one punch, and have the guy f*cking sell it and go against the ropes. Sooner or later, you’re gonna send the guy off the ropes and you can go to your high spot, but you don’t, you don’t have to.
I watch Seth Rollins, Seth is a great athlete, and he’s unbelievably talented, he’s had some of the best matches I’ve seen. But transitionally right now, that first volley on Monday that he threw in the corner with a guy who kind of turned his back out and was just, it looked like he was like making egg whites.”
Earlier in the conversation Kevin Nash also discussed the disconnect he feels between his own career and today’s product. ‘Big Sexy’ claimed that no one has any heat, or looks like they can “throw a f*cking punch.”
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