Who Cuts the Best Promo's? (Best Mic Skill)

[nightmare]

so after seeing dreamer on tna last night i started remembering some great promos in past history. alot of wrestling comes down to ability on the mic to incite riots in the crowd or put over a storyline with a few choice words. in the past we have seen some greats and have also see some guys flop completely. but having a great promo can boost a fued or ppv to new heights that would otherwise cause us to change the channel.

so my question is..... who do you think cuts the best promo in the biz (past or present) or just has the best mic skill?

my pic is ric flair. anyone who has been a fan of wrestling for a while has seen that man cut some of the best interviews ever. flair uses his unique charisma to cause fans to scream out loud in appreciation or turn red with anger in the blink of an eye. Whoooooo! jet flying, limo riding, kiss stealin, wheelin-dealin son of a gun! Whoooooo! he still to this day gets into the promo with such passion his head looks like he is goin to have an aneurysm.

 

[Christian42]

My pick would have to go to Chris Jericho. Whether he is making hte fans want to rip his head off as a heel or making them love him as a face he is the most consistent with good promos.

 

[Maestro48239]

I gotta go with Mick Foley!

boy can he pour emotion into a promo. or he can make a promo friggin hysterical if he wants, the guy is pretty brilliant when you hear him in interviews.

one reason he came to mind so fast is that i just saw an old promo he cut back in the early 90s for ECW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-lJTvgaZME

what do you think?

 

[mrbrownstone]

If You Smelllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, It has to be the rock no questions asked I mean how many people get a section on their DVD devoted entirely to there classic promos(and there are lots), not many look at all of the classic one liners the rock has left us with from Finally the rock has come back to..... to What in the blue hell are you doing to my personal favoirite It dosent matter what your name is. Y2J is also a close second.

 

[Maestro48239]

If You Smelllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, It has to be the rock no questions asked I mean how many people get a section on their DVD devoted entirely to there classic promos(and there are lots), not many look at all of the classic one liners the rock has left us with from Finally the rock has come back to..... to What in the blue hell are you doing to my personal favoirite It dosent matter what your name is. Y2J is also a close second.

totally agree with you there, the Rock in his heyday, cracked me the fuck up! he came up with some brillliant shit, or was it creative that thought it up?

but the night he called coach a popcorn fart, i about spit my pop out i started laughing so hard. and there are tons of other little rips he got out on people that amused me to no end!

 

[Hazardous]

another vote for the Great One. even a lot of guys in the industry call the Rock the greatest to ever hold the Mic. some of the things he came up with would just kill me with laughter, even to this day i will go to youtube and watch some classic Rock promo's.
As a face, he could make every person in the arena repeat "AND MILLIONS" all at once. you dont hear much of that anymore, in any promotion. the guy had more catchphrases then anyone, and could pull out any of them at any moment. i agree with Y2J being a close second too. anytime Rock and Jericho cut a promo together... Gold. pure Gold.

 

[LamaNamaneumi]

There have been a lot of people who could cut good promos. Some could drag the crowd right in and have them eat out of the palm of their hand. The one that stands out to me is Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Back in the day it seemed that everyone yelled in their promos. Jake had that soft spoken way of talking and it worked great. I think you can see a lot of Jakes influence on a lot of the promos that wrestlers cut today.

 

[greg_74]

The best ever has got to be The Rock without a doubt. Presently I'd say Jericho, The Miz, and CM Punk are all pretty good at drawing heat with The Miz doing some good heel comedy stuff.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

The greatest promo of all time is, ironically, the Great One. No man ever held the crowd, captivated them, while holding a mic quite like the Rock did. He was innovative, hilarious, charismatic, captivating, and most importantly, effective.

Right now, I'd say the two best mic workers are Mr. Anderson #1 with the Miz being avery close #2.

 

[info62]

I definitely agree with most of the suggestions here. I was glad that somebody mentioned Foley because sometimes I think people forget about him when he really does deliver very good promos.

But somebody who hasn't been mentioned who I think should be is Scott Steiner. He's somebody that either you think is total garbage on the mic, or is gold on the mic. Every promo is memorable to me at least and they all make me laugh (I think that's a good thing? lol)

As for current wrestlers in TNA/WWE, I would say that Flair, Anderson and Edge are my favorite mic workers (Foley too, if he counts). Jay Lethal is really starting to impress me as well

 

[Optimist Prime]

The Rock was pretty good...I'll admit. But he wasn't my cup of tea. He kind of told little kid jokes that never really made me laugh but I have to concede that it made everybody else laugh.

We were so spoiled in the mid-to-late 90's with great personalities that it's hard to say. I personally thought every single one of the NWO Promo's in their heyday were absolutely excellent. They were able to piss people over and make people love them at the same time. They pioneered the satire and outright bashing of other stables that DX stole and copied from them. When they paradied the Four Horsemen, Piper, etc. on numerous accounts...I was on the floor laughing.

Can't argue with those who picked The Rock though. He had talent for sure. I just didn't find his humor all that funny.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Hands down would have to be Ric Flair. When Flair is unleashed and allowed to say what ever he wants it is usually pure gold. He may come off as crazy and overzealous, but at least the man has passion in what he does. I would rather see Flair dropping the knee on his jacket, sweating, bleeding, and cursing profusely then to see some robotic cookie cutter promo any day of the week.

Another man that comes close is Mick Foley. Mick is the only wrestler I have seen that could cut a face and a heel promo on himself. He would actually get the fans to cheer and boo him at the same time. Foley has true passion in his promos and you know you are in for a treat. I'm not talking about the goofy comedy routine promos which are amusing at times, but the serious ones where he pours out his soul.

 

[eXtreme Hart]

No one can go "one on one with the GREAT ONE"! The Rock was amazing, it doesn't matter if he was doing a promo after a win or after getting his ass handed to him. He was always entertaining.

Mick Foley could work the mic well too. He can go on and on and I would still listen because he drew you in and kept you there. There was one promo he cut on RAW before ONS against Terry Funk & Dreamer. AWESOME

 

[The Holy One]

For me, It would have to be the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Flair can deliver any promo to your liking. He can give funny, personal, and serious. Flair puts the emotion in promos unlike anybody else. Almost everybody can remember the promo that Flair gave after the Royal Rumble in 1992. One of the reason why he's considered one of the best is b/c of his mic work which is the best ever imo.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Ric Flair and Jay Lethal's promo from last month is the funniest promo I think I've ever seen. I keep re-watching it and I almost cry from laughing so hard every single time. It's pretty much becoming a hobby to watch that video before every wrestling event both TNA and WWE...

 

[KnowYoRole]

Why do people think the rock could only be funny in his promo's? He was well capable of being serious and he did it well. so in that aspect i think rocks mic skills are underrated.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1u97o_the-rock-talks-about-wm-x7_sport

[YOUTUBE]XDO9l506-B8[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Since I have been a fan, there have been several guys who have really impressed me with their promo skills.

The Rock Probably the best I have seen, so funny in almost everything he says, he has so many great catchphrases, plus he was great at heel promos too. The Rock is something special in wrestling, he is simply a master

Stone Cold Steve Austin Another guy who was perfect. He really made you believe he was the toughest SOB on the planet when he wanted to, and later on we saw the comedy side of Austin, which was again just great. His ECW promos were masterpieces also

Raven- The master of the physchological promo, some of the stuff he came out with back in the day was awesome. A very smart guy.

CM Punk Cuts the best heel promos I have seen in years. Although the PG WWE doesnt let Punk go as far as he did in ROH, he is so talented. Hopefully one day we will see the proper Punk promos in WWE, he would make the crowd HATE him in seconds

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

I'm going to have to agree with Foley. I'm not going to say why, I'm just going to use this as my point:
[YOUTUBE]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/O0NuR2VkMYM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/O0NuR2VkMYM&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

sorry to post my own vid, didn't feel like looking for another one with that promo. But the beginning promo is why I love Foley. "The only man sick enough to walk in there with me! The only one mentally deranged enough to leave their flesh on the barbwire! BANG! BANG!" Just simply ridiculous, the only way to describe it.


I also can't argue with The Rock and Austin. The Rock on the mic was always golden, as someone on the Greatest Superstars of the 90's said (can't remember who), He could read names from a phone book and still get a reaction from the fans. And Austin is one of the best trash talkers in wrestling history.

As for current wrestlers, I like Mr. Anderson and I love C.M. Punk as a heel. But I have to go with Kane. He pours so much emotion into his promos. You can feel his pain, anger, fear, hatred, loneliness, and insanity in every promo he does. Not many wrestlers today convey that much emotion into their promos.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

If we're talking about present day right now, I'd have to say:

CM Punk- as a heel, oh boy does he know what to say to anger people. That is truly a quality of a great performer, someone who knows how to get under people's skin, so much so to where they (fans) don't realize where the 'act' ends and the real person begins. It is proof positive by the amount of video clips on youtube I've seen of people that they took of CM Punk from flipping him off just as he walks in front of them, and throwing tons of cups of food,etc at the Cow Palace, and an old lady punching him out. Then my favorite of all time, a clip from an international house show, I think, where someone in the front row kept heckling him so much so that he got out of the ring to keep the fight going and almost missed the Undertaker intro. I mean, to see people just literally throw logic out the window and not realize that this is just 'an act' and these people are not really like this, is just as funny as the Rock or Stone Cold back in the day getting at Kurt, or Vince.

Chris Jericho- This guy, if this isn't the persona of a true mic worker, then wow. Someone, from the get go of his first round in WWF/E, he's known how to rub fans to where they will get thrown out of shows or get arrested just to tell him what they think of him. From the fan who hit him on his way up to face Stone Cold during Attitude Era. Then you see clips on the net now, or read online about kids, throwing their food, or random objects at him and getting thrown out. Even another senior citizen moment where on youtube, he gets face to face with an older man. I mean, other people you kinda think 'Yeah, sure' and then the match starts, or someone else interrupts, but with me, these two guys seem to take the cake when it comes to working the mic.

Others that were on my list, Mr. Anderson/Kennedy, HBK, Ric Flair, Foley.

 

[Aether13]

Hands down would have to be Ric Flair. When Flair is unleashed and allowed to say what ever he wants it is usually pure gold. He may come off as crazy and overzealous, but at least the man has passion in what he does. I would rather see Flair dropping the knee on his jacket, sweating, bleeding, and cursing profusely then to see some robotic cookie cutter promo any day of the week.

I couldn't agree with you more, Ric Flair is the man, he can cut a better promo then half the wrestlers in TNA and The E' when he is drunk. Ric Flair is amazing and I could listen to him all day and not get bored lol.

 

[Ming]

The Rock without a doubt, he was so charismatic and I don't think that a wrestler has had so many catchphrases in their career. He was so good on the mic and in promos that even when he was heel fans cheered for him during a promo or when he was on the mic and would "sing-a-long with The Rock", at the moment in the WWE I'd have to say Chris Jericho because of his charisma but of all time The Rock definately.

 

[ericbisonthecut]

In my personal opinion I think that Stone Cold has always been one of my favorite people to see cut a promo. Even watching his classic ECW promos he is still incredible at it. A lot of ECW promos were really good. WWE promos as of late haven't been too exciting but I honestly think Miz is really good on the mic same with Alex Riley. Jericho has really great mic skills, also CM Punk even though he is really annoying with his Straight Edge Society crap I still think that just means he's really good, because he's a good enough heel to make you hate him. I really hope Triple H comes back as a heel because he is always a great heel and he has good mic skills also. Husky Harris out of the rookies I think is really good on the mic. I mean theres no way you can't think of Kaval as the best rookie but he's been around for 10 years he doesn't even need to be a rookie. Though it's kind of stupid that his pros are Lay-Cool I think its a good thing, it can help him on his carisma because if they had put him with William Regal or Finlay (I would have liked that a lot) or someone like that he would be working even more on his wrestling skills which he is already a pro at so he needed someone to help him learn how to be more carismatic. But Alex Riley and Husky Harris are both really good on the mic. Though I don't think he's a good wrestler at all David Otunga was really good on the mic, thats mainly because hes just an actor and not a wrestler but I think he's pretty good on the mic. Of course Wade Barret is also very impressive on the mic. Michael Tarver is pretty good on the mic too he's really good at his role. Of course Bryan Danielson is very good on the mic, theres no questioning that, I hope he comes back to WWE here really soon. Justin Gabriel could use some mic work, he is an incredible wrestler but he is no heel and shouldn't be part of the Nexus heel role, he's not a heel. I'm not a huge fan of Cena but I have to admit that he is really good at making promos, some of them are kind of annoying but they do get you pretty pumped up. Rey Mysterio has gotten a lot better but his mic skills and promos could still use improving. The Hardy's both could use some work on their promo/ mic skills but Jeff Hardy is getting better in TNA, Matt Hardy though I think he needs to start working out more and get into shape and then they need to give him a big push. Carlito had some pretty good mic skills, I hope he goes to TNA. Mike Knox also needs to go to TNA, same with Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, and Mickie James. Kane has always been really good on the mic, same with Undertaker, I'm really glad they're bringing them back together into a storyline I always really like the Undertake/Kane storylines. As for TNA I think that I really like the new ECW story theyre bringing up. As for best promo/ mic work, The Dudleys have always been impressive on the mic. Same for RVD, AJ Styles, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Mick Foley of course, D'Angelo Dinero definetly has great mic work, and Mr. Anderson, also Desmond Wolfe. D'Angelo Dinero and Mr. Anderson are both two of my favorites and are both really great on the mic. Jay Lethal and Ric Flair's storyline, though kind of funny, I still think that it was stupid and I am glad its over I want to see more of Jay Lethal I'm glad they finally brought him back up to the main roster. I want them to finally give The Brian Kendrick a big main event storyline, even if not main event still something big against some of theyre other great talent. Hernandez is a great wrestler, the steel cage match he had was amazing. The Motor City Machine Guns and Beer Money are both incredible talents, I am very glad they decided to extend theyre matches further, because it was just an incredible match. In the end I'm not quite sure who my favorite person is on the mic, but I think my top three are definetly Stone Cold, D'Angelo Dinero, and Mr. Anderson (those are in no perticular order).

 

[lukeRKO]

My vote goes to my personal favourite superstar of all the. The Great One, The Rock. No matter what the gimmick, no matter wether his status was face or heel. He always managed to entertain the hell out of me.

Another i must mention is Kane. He has been the strongest on the mic in the whole company these last couple of months with the 'Taker vegetative state story. He has been the most interesting he has been since the time he debuted as Kane. Gives me a reason to watch smackdown every week.

 

[Hazardous]

Vince McMahon. another TOP Promo man in the company, no one can take away the fact that Vince is the biggest and BEST heel in WWE history, and anytime he came out, you knew someone was about to get hell.

 

[Jackal960]

Add another vote for The Rock, and thats because he became a superstar with his promos. Even during his matches he used to go to the announcers table, pick up a mic and start talking. He was very funny and comfortable at his promos. With most of the wrestlers you could sense that they are talking to get a reaction. With Rock its different, he is very comfortable and i think thats why it doesn't write wrestler on his business card now.

Also, I was watching some Raw episodes from the Attitude Era and you can tell that although he was a heel and Corporate Champ at that time, they couldn't turn him a real heel because everyone was cheering for him as soon as they hear "do you smell what the rock is cooking" theme. That shows how fan favorite he became with his promos.