Greatest Promo Guy Ever!!!

[supernatural1981]

First of all if this has been done before then please forgive me it's a genuine mistake.

Ok so i want to know who you guys think is the greatest ever on the mic. I've just been watching some classic promos from dusty rhodes and jake roberts and it got me thinking about some of the best in history at working the crowd.

So im gonna post a poll and see who wins the vote. Also if you think of someone who is not on there then say who they are and why they are the greatest.

My vote goes to dusty rhodes. The guy could sell ice to eskimos he was THAT good.

 

[Kinsey144]

I have often thought about this question... and to me it seems impossbile to answer.

There are two people who are SO far ahead everyone else, that it makes the others look bad... these two are none other than "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "The Great One" The Rock.

Hot Rod was miles ahead of his time on the stick, knowing exactly how to make a crowd hate him, or love him.

And ofcourse, the Rock was entertaining every single time he picked up the stick


However, despite my sig - i think i have to pick Roddy piper, because it could be argued that the rock's promos were/are repetitive


OH and in before "wheres hogan"

 

[Dusty Roids]

I think Jake Roberts was pretty ahead of his time so I picked The Snake! He delivered some bad ass promos along with the dark charisma that he had.

 

[dadubay]

i want to give a nod to a wcw guy, the cat ernest miller. he was such an antagonist with his promos and for a lower midcarder he was great with his promos.

 

[Iversen]

I went with Piper. I think it's kinda summed up by this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yiNtjBQFSE

A lot of the older guys promos have got repetitive or they're just not quite as on top of it as they once were, Hogan in particular hasn't looked a shadow of himself on the mic recently, but Piper proved right there that he can still cut it with the best of them and in my opinion probably is the best of them.

However it's a tough question and if you asked me tomorrow I'd probably say someone different.

 

[Odisho]

i think sting should go their hes pretty good with the stickl, and in a couple of years we r gonna be saying the rock was nothing compared to CM punk. i voted for the rock hes great.

 

[SickJames]

I'm not trying to take away from anything those other great promo guys have done in the past, HBK is good, Flair, Jericho, right now Punk is killing it on the mic, but really there is one undisputed BEST EVER on the mic and really you're crazy if you cant tell it's The Rock.

Now everyone's entitled to their personal favorites for various reasons, but there's no disputing The Rock as THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME.

It's just like sure there are many great wrestlers such as Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Owen Hart, but no one touches Bret Hart when it comes to being the Greatest Pure Wrestler of All Time.

Some come close, but not better than, same with The Rock, although no one really comes close to him on the mic, a lot of very great promos have been made, but The Rock is in a class all his own on the mic that is in the stars while everyone else's, who's great, ability is just above the clouds

 

[JWGunslinger]

Rock and Jericho are definitely the top two guys, i'm torn picking between the two but I have to say Jericho. The guy has so much energy when he performs and he uses it in h in his promos, when he has the long haired rocker Y2J he had the adittude of a rocker and the loud fast talk on the mic. Then when he became the narcissistic heel with the limitless vocabualry he changed to a more quiet and monotone mic man that really made people want to listen even if they hated him. No matter what part of his career you look at or what character he's playing he knows how to talk talk straight to the people and how to improvise with comic gold.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

It took me 15 minutes of indecision to actually make one but in the end I chose the Rock. Roddy Piper and Ric Flair are probably 2 and 3 on my list (not necessarily in that order I can't choose) and Rock is extremely close to them but I gave Rock the edge because Rock's promos were amazing at getting the job done. As a face, Rock could get the loudest pop of the night in a promo alone, and as a heel (even in 2003 after years of being the top face) he could get the most heat in the night in a single promo (look at the funeral Rock held for Austin in 99). If he needed to put over an event, he new the exact things to say to do so and had the best delivery perhaps of all time (how many buys did WM 27 get? exactly). Can you smell what he's cookin? I can

 

[RJJ]

Rock, hands down. Face or heel, you'll pay attention when he speaks, and you'll react to him as long as he's holding the mic. Love him or hate him, you can't deny that he's entertainig on the mic. Like they said, He's got the audience in the palm of his hand.

 

[JasonSensation]

Seriously? Jim Cornette recieved NO VOTES?! The fans that post on this forum just lost a bit of credibility to me at this point. Hands down, Jim Cornette is one of the very best promo men to ever hold a mic.

 

[supernatural1981]

The reason i limited it 10 was because i could go on all day with a list of people who did a couple of good/ great promos but i wanted to try and find who people think is the GREATEST when it comes to selling a fued/ppv/story or to just make the fans listen when they speak.

I agree with everyone saying the rock but do you not think he is a bit predictable with his promos?

 

[poppycock]

Roddy Piper wins it for me. Everybody on the list has points you coulld argue as to why they should win it but for me Piper is ahead of the pack by some way. Everytime he got on the mic it was like a timebomb waiting to go off and when it did he spewed out the truth and wore his heart on his sleeve..bringing the biggest egos crashing back down to earth.

 

[Negrodamus]

Seriously? Jim Cornette recieved NO VOTES?! The fans that post on this forum just lost a bit of credibility to me at this point. Hands down, Jim Cornette is one of the very best promo men to ever hold a mic.

the question is not one of the best, its who IS the best, that clearly goes to the Rock, and to whoever said he was repetitive is crazy. The only thing repetitive are his catchphrases. There is nobody and Negrodamus means NOBODY who can touch The Rock on the Mic.

To all the CM Punk marks out there, he is nowhere near the Rock, since his initial pipe bomb and thats only because he used internet stuff and said some inside information. To be considered the greatest you have to own the crowd for years.

 

[akrassikauda]

Paul Heyman. When Paul E was on the mic it was time to shut up and hear what he has to say because before CM Punk nobody threw more pipebombs than Paul E. You wanted to hear what he had to say because most of it was shoot whether in WCW ECW or WWE.

"The only reason you(JBL) have that title is because Triple H didn't want to work on Tuesdays"

 

[thuggy bear]

scott hall, absolutely priceless on the mike sober or drunk

promo v flair

so benoit is the number one contender, why coz he washes your car?

 

[Long Island Iced D]

Thank god the guy above me mentioned Paul Heyman cause I was about to. I actually couldn't choose since most of the guys were great at cutting promos in different ways. Guys like Austin and Piper played the part of loose cannons (also Pillman) while Rock and Jericho would use witty humor to mock others. I really hope nobody thinks CM Punk cause it is way to early to start calling him the best promo guy ever.

 

[supernatural1981]

whoever said he was repetitive is crazy. The only thing repetitive are his catchphrases. There is nobody and Negrodamus means NOBODY who can touch The Rock on the Mic.

Me, I said it.

The way i see it with rock is he comes out spouts the usual "Finally the rock has come back" mumbo jumbo, then starts putting down his opponent with some kind of remark a 10 year old would find funny. Then halfway through he does the "It does'nt matter routine" and then finishing off with "If you smell"

Predictible yes, electric yes, but the greatest.........sorry but not in my eyes.

 

[Jsaturn14]

Honestly, and this is just my opinion, any poll asking who is the greatest promo guy of all time that doesn't include Mick Foley on it is completely invalid. Mick Foley during his time in ECW delivered at least two of the greatest promos of all time, and I am not talking about based on fan hype, or audience reaction, but promos that are so spectacular with the emotional content in them that they send shivers down your spine. Seriously, Mick Foley is the best promo guy ever when it comes to evoking a legit emotional reaction out of a person. Don't believe me, watch the promo below and prepare to be amazed:

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

 

[cawsnallthis]

I wanted to chime in and throw out some love for the guy who I think is the most underrated promo guy of all time. Because he spent the prime of his career attached to and overshadowed by Ric Flair, his name never seems to come up in these types of discussions. But Arn Anderson was as good on the stick as anybody. Intense, believable, and he could definitely turn a phrase. Didn't rely on repetitiveness or catchphrases. He just delivered the goods, time after time for years. The man could teach a class.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

Right, so, where's HBK?

HBK was never the best on the mic, he delivered when needed in top feuds, but other than that, he did all his talk in the ring.. I'd pick Taker and Trips over HBK anyday when it comes to top promos and even they are not on the list..

Anyway, I have to go with Ric Flair! He was GOLD! If there was any wrestler who could have a stroke/heartattack whilst shooting a promo, it's Flair! This guy was just one lethal heel when it came to mic work and he always got his point across, he was also serious and also made some seriously funny jokes..

 

[cawsnallthis]

Also, Bobby Heenan deserves mention on any list of the all time greats, if for no other reason than for the greatest one liner of all time, IMO. Can't remember the particular wrestlers, but the jist of it was one jobber had been wrestling the same guy numerous times recently. The other announcer made mention of that fact and Heenan blithely stated, "Yeah, if he beats him one more time, he gets to keep him." That, my friends, is greatness.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

Me, I said it.

The way i see it with rock is he comes out spouts the usual "Finally the rock has come back" mumbo jumbo, then starts putting down his opponent with some kind of remark a 10 year old would find funny. Then halfway through he does the "It does'nt matter routine" and then finishing off with "If you smell"

Predictible yes, electric yes, but the greatest.........sorry but not in my eyes.

There's a difference between familiarity and repetition. You're attacking the Rock because he had catchphrases? Everyone on this list had catchphrases, especially the ones who were WWE main eventers - why? Because the WWE likes selling T-shirts.

The Rock put over the hometown crowd to start his promos and everywhere around the world loved it. Of course he's going to put down his opponent, that's the whole point of the promo. Remarks that 10 year olds find funny? Did you watch wrestling from 1998-2003 or are you going by his 2011 return and home promos from 2007-2010? The Rock, just like everybody else in that era, cut promos that were vulgar, graphic, and full of expletives that 10 year olds (such as myself at the time) weren't allowed to watch but did anyway.

As for the "if you smell" line at the end, once again that's a case of familiarity that fans loved and still love today, which is why Miz gets the whole crowd saying "AND I'm AWEEESOMMEEE" even if his whole promo sucked balls

 

[supernatural1981]

Yeah i watched wrestling between 1998-2003 ive been watching it since wrestlemania 7 mate so i remember his promos from back then and as i said some of them were funny but still not the best ive ever heard.

Fair enough you are right about the wwe wanting to sell merchandise and catchphrases do that but i still dont agree with the point on the whole point of the promo is to put people down.

I think a promo should be used to build a fued and get people intrested in both guys. When the rock came out you knew 80% of what he was going to say when it came down to verbal jousting.

dont get me wrong im not saying i dont like his promos but i still dont rate him in my top 3. Maybe it's just because i grew up watching the likes of piper and roberts showing todays generation how it should be done.

 

[dadubay]

I agree with the arn anderson mention. To all of you Jericho fans, I felt like he was just going through the motions in his last wwe run. I really couldn't stand it. he lacked enthusiasm and emotion. i remember in wcw and wwe he was such a great promo, he could go at it with anyone on the mic. his stinko malenko promos were so great and really made him for me, but that monotone dullness was so boring. i know he says he wanted things that way because he was a heel, but there is a difference between good and boring and he was just plain boring last year.