Ricky Morton Thinks Selling Is a Lost Art in Wrestling

Ricky Morton would like to see more selling in today’s pro wrestling, as he noted in a recent interview. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express member was a guest on Talk is Jericho and talked about how he would change current wrestling for the better. You can see some highlights below, per Wrestling Inc:

On selling being a lost art: “Don’t get me wrong: I don’t have the answers to everything. I sure don’t. But I sit back and I watch, and I see things [where I can say], ‘Maybe if you did it this way right here and make the people outside understand… I watched a match the other night, I forget where I was at, but the bell rang and the guy went off the rope, dropkicked the guy outside, and did a triple [twisting dive] on him. The people popped and it was good. But the people popped more the rest of the match. Why couldn’t we tell a story for that [and save it] until the end? I watch these guys give people finishes; 17 million finishes and everyone kicks out [at the count of] one. And then the guy would small package him out of the corner or something, and I’m telling this guy, ‘You’re the heel, but you made him the strongest guy in the world I’ve ever seen.”

On how not selling can devalue a character: “I wrestled Killer Karl Krupp. What an a**hole he was, too! Just a belligerent a**hole; he didn’t like to work small guys. So he’s gotta put me over. So I go to the ring with him and he will not do nothing, because we don’t talk. You call it in the ring. I called every finish in the world. I kicked out at one. Then he gives me a turnbuckle, I move, and I schoolboy him [for the win]. And I walk to the back door, and Jerry Jarrett, he says, ‘Killer Karl Krupp didn’t wanna sell for you, did he?’ […] He says, ‘I saw Killer Karl Krupp give you every finish in the world, and [you] kicked out on one. We gotta put the world belt on you! You’re the toughest son of a b***h I’ve ever seen in my life! And smart!’ You see what I’m saying?”