Most Innovative Promos of all time

[dtroppe]

So I have been going around Youtube and trying to figure out and watch some of the best promos of all time. I am hoping that readers can point to what they feel are the best promos. I have 4 attached that I think really changed the landscape of wrestling.

1. Stone Cold wins KOTR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R-d17t0Nk0

This was the promo that proved Austin could dominate on the mic. And he winged the whole thing- not scripted. Obviously Austin took the momentum and ran right to the top.

2. Rock Joins Nation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzuvSyzKQPg (starts at about 3mins)

The always despised Rocky Maivia cuts a great promo- again on the spot- not scripted. He would quote this promo again when he joined the corporation. Again Rock used the momentum and went to the top.

3. Scott Hall invades Nitro

I cant find the video for it. There are usually quite a few of them on youtube. This is a goosebumps moment for wrestling fans. Scott Hall showed up and fired the first real shot of the Monday Night Wars. Who would have thought at the time that Scott Halls invasion would lead to the biggest angles in wrestling history.

4. Jericho shows up on RAW -1999
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32OPyEAraU4

This was another big turning point in the Monday night wars. .At this time in his career I think Jericho was at his best on the mic, and the countdown was great. I think a lot of fans were excited to see where Jericho could take his career. We truly were all behind him.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

If you want to see Steve Austin's greatest mic work, you need to look no further than his awesome promo in ECW, which showed for the first time just how good he was.

He slates WCW and lets us all know what he was about and what he wanted to achieve. He claimed that he was ready to become the superstar that he knows he can be, and look where he ended up. Austin believed in himself and this promo was the first time we saw the side of him that ended up becoming Stone Cold in the WWF.

I think its probably my favourite promo of all time, still captivating to this day.

[YOUTUBE]JKEgdQdhjCE[/YOUTUBE]


If you are looking for innovative promos, then again look to ECW, but this time to Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack) and his "anti-hardcore" promos in 1995. There are several of these, so look them up on YouTube and see just how creative Mick Foley could be.

And my final pick for innovative promos is Raven. That man has one of the best wrestling minds in the business and is capable of some phenomenal promos.

 

[dtroppe]

Yes that above SCSA promo is excellent. I am not sure if I had seen it before- but his ECW stuff is perhaps some of the best around.

 

[harrythem]

Gotta give a lot of love to Brian Pillman. During his "Loose cannon" phase in WCW everything he did was innovative.

 

[tommyh]

If you want to see Steve Austin's greatest mic work, you need to look no further than his awesome promo in ECW, which showed for the first time just how good he was.

He slates WCW and lets us all know what he was about and what he wanted to achieve. He claimed that he was ready to become the superstar that he knows he can be, and look where he ended up. Austin believed in himself and this promo was the first time we saw the side of
him that ended up becoming Stone Cold in the WWF.

I think its probably my favourite promo of all time, still captivating to this day.

[YOUTUBE]JKEgdQdhjCE[/YOUTUBE]


If you are looking for innovative promos, then again look to ECW, but this time to Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack) and his "anti-hardcore" promos in 1995. There are several of these, so look them up on YouTube and see just how creative Mick Foley could be.

And my final pick for innovative promos is Raven. That man has one of the best wrestling minds in the business and is capable of some phenomenal promos.

The mick foley anti hardcore are my favorite ones for sure. When you look back at everything he had done and made his name on hardcore wrestlin just to turn like that was wonderful. Also like youd said raven has one of the best minds an he has got to be one of the best ever on the mic

 

[HBsam31]

I have to agree with the guys that said the Stone Cold ECW promos, and the Mick Foley anti hardcore promos. I just hadn't seen anything like them up to that point. Mick Foley's was almost so strange it was eerie. Hardcore wrestling defined him and here he was giving an anti hardcore promo. Stone Cold's ECW promos helped make him a star. Definitely some of the most innovative stuff I have seen.

 

[mikde_]

Actually SCSA's ECW promo's did not make him a star and had nothing to do with him becoming what he was destined to be. On one of his DVD's Vince tells a story that he never even knew Austin was in ECW at the time and only signed him based on his WCW work, hence why we got 'The Ringmaster' and he then says if he knew who Steve really was then we would have got Austin at a much earlier time which would have completely changed everything! Cool little story for you there.

As for the question I will add Jake Roberts at WM 6 (I think). We normally had 2 types of promo back then, 1. The Face that was ready to take on the world and entertain for the fans and 2. angry or cocky generic heel and then Roberts comes along and changes all that! He should you that bad can be cool and the said promo was unnerving for the time. A very strange, scary dude indeed.

 

[IT Factor]

I had previously seen that Austin promo on one of the Austin dvds I bought[I've got two different ones, the older one released back in 2006 and the new one released in 2011]. That ECW Austin promo was golden and how Vince McMahon didn't see that begs the question; How stupid is he? He had a casual working relationship with ECW during 1997 when they "invaded" the WWF. So, how could he not have been paying attention? This is the same McMahon that also stole ideas and concepts from both WCW & ECW at different times at roughly the same time period. Sounds more like McMahon being arrogant and only looking at history through WWE propoganda-colored glasses.

I actually liked The Rock's promos when he "sold out" and went to the "Corporation". His heel stuff back then was innovative and you could tell he was driven[unlike the Dwayne of today]. He was verbally shredding his opponents to bits on the mic, which was very rare because usually the faces win the war on the mic.

 

[Giddy]

The "Cane Dewey" Cactus Jack is one of my favorite promos ever. Mick Foley was awesome during that time period

 

[scomvp316]

The most innovative persona on the mic is clearly Flair. Of all the guys that went off script later on is due to Flair and you can includ Big Dust as well. No two guys in the biz other than Flair and Rhodes have come close to oof script promos that fit into their character and entertain at the same time. Even Rock has admitted if it wasn't for those classic promos of Flair in JCP there would probably be no Rock. Also Anderson was great on the mic seeing he didn't get alot of mic time but always help make the Horsemen cool from the mic!

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Probably anything by Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. Since he was one of the first flamboyant wrestlers. I mean really, one of the first guys to actually do promos with emotion and a character.

Hall's first one in WCW was innovative but more of an innovative angle than an actual promo. It was essentially Razor Ramon talking in WCW in street clothes, the ACT was revolutionary and so was the angle, the promo itself wasn't. I guess in a roundabout way it was.

Dusty Rhodes with the rhyming, the catchphrases, the analogies, without him, Rock doesn't exist.

Roddy Piper pushed the boundary of being a heel more than anybody probably. I mean sure, the Dudleys called some woman a gutter **** and said she taught her daughter how to suck dick, but that was just crude and it was in Philly and in ECW so yea, not really saying anything. Piper said things that really got under people's skin because it was subtle enough he could get away with it, but out there enough that you knew what he meant (watch his stuff with Mr. T, borderline racist).

Arn Anderson was really good at what he did, but I wouldn't say innovative.


The MOST innovative promo is probably this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzwIo5O99vc

I mean, he cheats at blackjack by having 22? INNOVATION!!!!

That last one was a joke. I hope you get it.

AND RANDY SAVAGE Almost forgot, had to edit. The voice, the mannerisms, just really got completely into character. Some guys have a voice or catchphrases, but he had everything. Twirling the fingers, kinda nervously moving around, changing loudness and softness and speed. Still think he was half crazy to this day.

For new stuff, look up Dean Ambrose. He uses a lot of mannerisms, changes in his voice, analogies, etc. Kinda like a sick version of Piper, Jake Roberts, and Dusty Rhodes (using stories from his life as analogies of what's going on, not any other part lol). Dean is innovative I guess.