On his “Road Trip After Hours” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long gave a blunt assessment of what he feels is missing from today’s wrestling product. Long pointed to three major issues: inconsistent storylines, a lack of selling, and unbelievable in-ring offense , and even offered an old-school fix for the problem.

Speaking about modern storytelling, Long said the lack of follow-through leaves fans with nothing to invest in. “I think story lines play a big part. And I see them, they’ll start something, and then they don’t finish it,” Long said. “So I don’t understand, how am I [going to] start to follow something, and then all of a sudden, it’s not there anymore. But now here comes something brand new that you want me to start all over again to see… I don’t think they give storylines a long enough time for the fans to digest and kind of see what’s going on.”

He then shifted focus to the in-ring action, particularly the lack of selling that has become common. “I see a lot happening with the selling. Lot of guys ain’t selling nothing, man. I mean, it’s Jesus Christ,” he said. Co-host Mac Davis added that the lack of protected finishers has hurt the believability of matches. “I still am saying, name me one finisher that somebody has not kicked out of,” Davis said. Long agreed, saying that wrestlers used to build toward those moments carefully. “You made the people wait on it… and you had that signal right there. When it was time for it, you gave it, and the people knew it, and they all right, here it comes.”

Later in the show, when asked about poor working punches, Long suggested a hands-on solution that takes things back to basics. He proposed that WWE assign one respected veteran to oversee matches and hold wrestlers accountable on the spot. “I think they need to designate one guy, just one guy to watch every match, and one… veteran guy, a guy that knows what he’s doing and what he’s talking about,” Long said. “And each match he watches, and he’s like, when a guy don’t sell, he calls him to get on him right then, just as soon as he comes back through that curtain, you get on his ass right there… you’re not letting them know the importance of selling. That’s what’s gonna draw your money.”

He added that the veteran should be respected enough to enforce the standard , even if it means giving the talent a “working punch” to make a point.

Davis summed it up by saying that the lack of realism makes matches difficult to enjoy. “I want to see contact because I want to believe what they are telling me in the ring,” he said.

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