John Morrison and the Art of Bumping Simplistically

Morrison's 'bout to get his back cracked
Photo Credit: WWE.com

John Morrison and Sheamus had a non-descript confrontation last night. What started out as a match turned into a double disqualification due to a pull-apart brawl that was unable to be contained by the referee. After the match, the Anonymous GM made a match for the TLC, a ladder match between the two with the stakes a contract for the WWE Championship, presumably at the Royal Rumble.

What followed sold me on the match and is playing a big part in possibly selling me on this PPV. It was something simple, a back body drop over the ropes onto a ladder. However, it just looked so brutal in the execution. Comparatively speaking, it might not have looked as bad as even Mickie James' Thesz press from the top of the cage on Impact to win against Tara. It may not have been as graphic as what was reported to have gone down at Cage of Death Saturday. But it was effective.

It almost seems that when a promotion wants to hammer home a "holy shit" spot, it has its workers go out and perform something eye-popping and potentially dangerous. I'm not going to puff up the WWE here, because even recently, they have guys do stuff that looks more like something a stuntman would do rather than a guy legitimately trying to win a fight. I go back to Morrison at Hell in a Cell, when he dove from a great height on top of Daniel Bryan and The Miz. It was impressive, yes, but it was also riskier than what he did to sell a PPV last night. Yeah, taking a flat back bump onto a ladder isn't exactly the paragon of safety, but at the same time, it has a lot less margin for error than diving from great heights.

I do like a good bump and great bumping always gets high marks from me when analyzing a match. However, the best bumps to me are the simple ones that are done well, that look like they hurt rather than the ones that are done with the trappings of weapons or stunts. Yeah, what Morrison, Mickie and Frightmare at Aniversario Elf did were cool too look at and enjoyed them a lot, but I think what makes a match for me is when a guy makes it look like he's being abused without doing anything extra. Going hard into the ringpost, embellishing recoil to make a move taken look extra stiff, even something as germane-seeming as going to the outside - these are the things that are done in every day matches that really do it for me. Morrison going to the outside on a ladder was more of an embellishment on the everyday bumping, but it was still simple enough for me to appreciate it for not being over the top.

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