Who are the top five sellers in wrestling?

Selling refers to what the performers do in order to make the product look as real as possible, either making the blows and bumps they take look real, or it could come down to delivery on the microphone. Whatever it may be, selling is one of the most important things a wrestler can do. Join us as we take a look at 5 of the top sellers in wrestling.

Selling through the ages

Back when the audience thought wrestling was in fact “real” or rather the athletes in the ring were perceived to actually be hurting one another, selling was perhaps the most important thing that a wrestler could learn how to do; perhaps just as important as learning the moves and how to take the bumps.

What the audience thought was superiorly important and the list of wrestlers that made it look good is an intricate one. But perhaps more on that older generation of top sellers in the industry another time…

These days, selling is just as important, and it serves as a form of respect between the two wrestlers in the ring, and as a respect to the fans as well. If a wrestler simply phones it in and doesn’t sell to his or her ultimate capacity, it removes something from the overall product and takes away from fan enjoyment.

Unfortunately there are those that miss the boat in this department but as my mother once told me: if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all. The adage still applies and in this case especially, which brings us to the list of wrestlers doing an epic job of convincing the audience that what goes down in the ring is as real as the UFC.

5. Seth Rollins

Seth “Freakin” Rollins definitely makes the cut for very good reason. One need only to remember his attacks on Cesaro in recent months. The bumps he takes are just as convincing as the violence he dishes out in large doses. He probably takes the best swings from Cesaro as well.

4. Charlotte Flair

The Queen herself cannot be left off this list, as her accolades certainly speak for themselves. But her accomplishments aren’t exactly the point here, as it isn’t the reason she’s on this list.

Her ability to sell in any capacity is unquestionable. Just look through the many memories she’s had both on Raw and at NXT and you’ll see that she is rather convincing with anything she does, whether it’s delivering a fusillade of harsh blows to taking some of the hardest bumps in the game. Charlotte definitely hits a home run in that department.

3. Christian Cage

Yeah, we’re going back to the Attitude Era here, but since he decided to come out of retirement, he definitely makes the cut. If it wasn’t the bumps he took in the countless ladder matches he had alongside Edge, then it was in his singles run as Captain Charisma. With his emergence on AEW this year and the matches he’s been having, there’s no question as to who one of the greatest sellers at AEW is. Take a look at his recent match against Matt Hardy on night one of Fyter Fest this past Wednesday. By the end of that match, you’d think he’d been through a war of epic proportions.

2. Xavier Woods

The next two entries on the list are on the list for similar reasons and that is solely because of a single match or two apiece.

Two of the dominant forces in WWE right now are Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley. Both of the aforementioned men fill the void felt by the absence of Brock Lesnar or at least come close to it. But to make these men seem as mighty as they do, you need epic faces that can sell.

Enter Xavier Woods. He’s been pitted against Lashley twice now and the first time was in Hell In A Cell on Raw. That was a war and by the end of that, Lashley looked like a beast that would never lose the title, thanks to Xavier Woods.

He also faced the All-Mighty Lashley this past Monday and defeated him in a surprising end result. But the bumps that Woods took during the match were pretty effective in delivering the message that the win was a fluke, which was perhaps the point and what led to Lashley being so upset at the loss and leading to his sudden change in perspective going into the match against Kofi Kingston at Money In The Bank on Sunday.

This brings us to our honorable mention, Kofi Kingston. Did you happen to see his reaction after Woods secured the pinfall? Now talk about selling!

1. Cesaro

And like Woods, Cesaro certainly had his part in recently making Roman Reigns look like an unstoppable Behemoth. His match with the Head of the Table at WrestleMania Backlash was a battle the likes of which the WWE audience has rarely seen. Cesaro sold and perhaps like he’d never sold before, making the end result that much more unacceptable. The referee stopped the match because Cesaro passed out during the Guillotine submission Roman applied, and that was after surviving bump after bump after bump…all of which looked vicious enough to maim.

Of course, there are so many others that didn’t make the cut. Some other honorable mentions are of course Johnny Wrestling himself, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Shayna Baszler, Asuka, and the list only goes on and on from that point.