5 WWE Superstars who no-sold moves
The real-life people behind WWE’s on-screen characters have to work together during their matches to make it seem like they are legitimately hurting each other.
In wrestling slang, the term ‘selling’ is used to describe the art of making moves look genuinely painful.
One of the best sellers in modern-day WWE, Dolph Ziggler, discussed the art of selling in an interview with the Journal Sentinel in 2013.
“I pride myself on being one of the hardest workers in the business and part of that is making my opponent look good. They love it and the fans love it, too, because I try to make them feel the shots.”
Now, while Ziggler clearly takes selling very seriously, did you know that several WWE Superstars have been known to no-sell moves in the ring?
No-selling essentially means that someone pretends not to be affected by a move that has been delivered to them.
No-sells in WWE are often scripted and everybody involved usually knows in advance that the no-sell is going to happen.
In this article, let’s take a look at five WWE Superstars who no-sold moves.
#5 The Fiend Bray Wyatt no-sold Seth Rollins’ Stomp (untelevised WWE events)
One of the most controversial match outcomes in WWE history occurred at WWE Hell in a Cell 2019 when The Fiend Bray Wyatt challenged Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship.
The main event saw Rollins hit 11 Stomps on The Fiend before striking him in the skull with a sledgehammer, prompting the referee to end the match as a no contest.
In the weeks leading up to the show, The Fiend repeatedly no-sold Rollins’ Stomp at live events and in an untelevised moment after the September 23, 2019 episode of WWE RAW went off the air (see above).
Within a second of Rollins hitting his finisher, Wyatt’s monstrous persona hopped straight back to his feet and pretended that the move did not harm him in any way.
In November 2019, WWE Superstar Big E even joked that WWE NXT Superstars should prepare themselves for The Fiend no-selling their moves in the future.
The inspiration for this article actually came from the October 9, 2020 episode of WWE SmackDown, which saw The Fiend defeat Kevin Owens in the main event.
Although The Fiend did not completely no-sell Owens’ Stunner, he was still seemingly unaffected by the move while he kept the Mandible Claw locked in on his opponent.