Best Mic Worker in the Company- Now it's Chris Jericho, but who's next???

[CJ The Pirate]

MODERATOR COMMENTS (Lord Sidious)


In this thread, you can agree or disagree that Chris Jericho is the best mic worker in the company and explain why you feel that way.

Also, if you agree that Jericho is the best mic worker in the company, then tell us who you think the next "Best Mic Worker" or the next "Chris Jericho" is going to be and why.

It is January 25, 10:54 AM Eastern Time. Any posts from this point forward that simply state that someone's promos are "Awesome" or "Great" or "Interesting" ... or the like will have their posts deleted. Unfortunately, that doesn't tell us anything at all, other than you like them. What you need to do is be SPECIFIC about WHAT you like with the promos that makes you think they are "awesome", etc.

In my opinion, and I'm sure many of you will agree, there is one man who above all others is the best worker on the mic and that man is Chris Jericho.

The man has since I first saw him when he began in the WWF consistantly impresses me and uses perfect timing better than anyone I have ever seen before. His current heel role has been my favourite Jericho period. His delivery is deliberate. His words are cold and cutting. It makes for real emotion both on his end and mine. Jericho is the only heel I believe in right now.

My favourite example goes back to when he first began this heel run. He hit a promo on Raw basically telling us exactly how he was going to act. Gone are the silly catchphrases. Gone are the sparkly costumes. No more will he pander to the fans requests. He will take his time and tell us all exactly what he has to say. His words and intelligence come together to form hidden insults. Using words like Sycophant which fewer people understand, thus strengthening his mighter than thou attitude; knowledge is power.

I loved it. I lapped it up. His role since then has been reminiscent of a spoilt child, born into money and wanting for nothing. Then, when he doesn't get his way (Shawn Michaels being a cheat and then NOT retiring; Legends refusing to call it a day and continuing to 'prostitute themselves for money') he lashes out, angrily and passionately. Self righteously declairing his opinions as fact and when challenged by the fans, dismissed us as we were of lower intelligence and didn't understand. It is perfection.

He has since taken this side of his character and advanced it to seem even more self righteous. He believed himself the be the master in the relationship between himself and the Big Show. His mind told him that the Big Show was his body guard and he used him to hide behind throughout their teaming. His constant attempts to get back on Raw by going through countless celebrity guests... figures of authority... again, the spoilt child getting in with power. Like a child telling the headmaster on the bullies (DX).

I hope for Jericho to last as long as Flair but I know this is A) Unlikely and B) Futile. Even if he were to give us another 20 years, he would become less and less relevent and his skills would diminish. Flair himself was great on the mic back in Jim Crockett Productions, not so great now. Good. Not great. (Please do not take that as a Flair insult. It isn't. He's better than most, even now)

So my wonder is simply who is the next in line to be THE guy. The best at working the mic. I have a few contenders:

John Cena:
John has confidence. He has great control over his speech. He doesn't stumble over his words very often (recent memory has failed me!), what I like to refer to a Batista Blip. He is deliberate. He seems to think about what he wants to say and delivers it very naturally... When he's being serious. Last example would be the contract signing before Sheamus put him through a table. When he is excited and pumped and smiling and happy, he comes across very false... like a pantomime comic relief... Buttons in Cinderella. Kids love it, a critics mind would take issue. Sure, Critics are dicks. I'm one myself. But I'm calling it how I see it. Jericho gives me a constant sense of real. Cena gives me 5% of that. The rest of the time he's in court jester mode and I can't buy into that.

Randy Orton Again, he is hit and miss. He can be deliberate and again, rarely gets tongue tied. But he has Triple H's problem of repeating himself. We all know Triple H's list of title reigns speech. Orton has the same speech. Legends he's knocked out. Matches he's won. "I Don't CARE what you think!" He's said it too many times. Jericho rarely repeats himself. He brushes over the same point but does it differently each time.

CM Punk Has recently impressed me on Smackdown with his 'Better than you' schtick. It is very similar to Jericho's character. Self righteous. Egotistical. Inflated sense of intelligence. He's also aligned himself with a partner, although the Master and Bodyguard relationship with Punk and Gallows is more clear than it was with Jericho and Show. Punk could further this current storyline to include a straight edge faction, similar to the Right to Censor. Again, deliberate, clear and concise. I feel Punk has the edge over Cena and Orton as he can come across as believable when Face or Heel. Sure Cena is in the list and currently face but note I only praised his work when he displays his serious, possibly dark side.

My vote lies with Punk. I'm sure that will be disagreed with and I want to hear about that. Why? Who would you guys choose?

 

[jazzua]

Jericho is great on the mic. However, to sit and say he isn't repetitious is blatant blindness. He often does the same promo. He has used the same vocabulary since his heel turn for the most part, while at times he adds new words to mock his opposition. I do, though, agree. He is the best mic worker ON Smackdown. He is starting to get some stiff competition from a little guy over on Raw.

Certainly, Chris still holds the card as the best talker in my book. Mainly, the fact that he was a great talker before with has crazy antics and screaming. He changed his entire game up and is still fantastic. There really aren't alot of guys who can change their promo style. Jericho is one of the few who can, and still do it well. He sounds nothing like he did through his whole career, and that is a testiment to his ability.

Now, lately we have been hearing alot of talk on the board about a couple of the Miz's promos over the last 3-4 weeks or so. I think, though, that Miz has been killing the mic for the better part of a year. He is showing great skill in this area. People can talk all day about a guy not being able to wrestle, but the guys who get most over in this business are great at entertaining, it rarely has anything to do with their ability in the ring. The Miz is using his promos to portray his character. Alot of wrestlers can't do that. Miz understands the business better than any up and comer in WWE. Use the mic to get you to the promised land. After that, all you have to do is be able to conduct descent matches and continue storylines with your mic ability. He is making people care about his character through his mic work which is why I think he is the answer to your question.

On a side note, the really big difference between Jericho and most others is that he still has the opportunity to change his promos. He takes what creative gives him, and chnages it to fit his needs. There isn't many other guys who have that leverage. It shows he knows what he's doing . I think it would benefit WWE to have guys like Jericho, Shawn, Christian and Hunter help younger guys out. Take away that cookie-cutter promo so the young guys can show some individuality. Miz is the only one doing that right now.

 

[ccod191]

i agree with you on all of your points. i think that punk comes off as too preachy with the younger (?-12 ) fans, and thats their target audience. the real wrestling fans love punk, but my vote goes to orton. he repeats himself, but he has a very distinctive and controlling tone in his voice. ill be doing something in another room nowhere near the tv but i then i hear orton talking and its hard to mistake him. same with cena, but punk is more of a joke to a lot of people.

 

[JJYanks121]

Not a bad job, though I have to disagree with you a little bit. You do make fine arguments for Chris Jericho, but in saying "Jericho never repeats himself" and then backtracking and saying he does but in different ways, you weaken your argument. The truth is, he does repeat himself a lot. The phrase "I am the best in the world at what I do" is uttered in nearly every promo these days. I don't say this to knock Jericho though. He is a fine promo worker as both heel and face which is something that's difficult to do. Your choices for "next best" are fair, though I don't agree with Randy Orton as a choice. I don't find his promos nearly as captivating as most. Cena is hit and miss so I will agree with that. Sometimes I think "wow, what a great promo" and other times it's "eh, been there, need something new". I do like the choice of Punk because I do think he does a nice job, but I will throw new names into the ring:

1) Christian - he has a wonderful sense of humor that he uses well. To truly take the next step, I want to see a serious feud with someone on one of the main shows and for him to get serious when he has to in his promos. I like the comedic approach, but it won't work all the time. A little variance will bring him very very close to the top.

2) The Miz -such an excellent mic worker right now. It is that skill set that will aide in his rise to the top of the WWE food chain. He's such a natural speaker that even long winded promos stay interesting. He chooses his words carefully and puts emotion behind them that you truly buy his character. He did show a comedic side while with John Morrison and I think he would be able to use humor and be a little lighter in his promos if he were to turn face, almost similar to the Rock in that the insults stay but they get a bit wittier and aimed more at heels.

Up and coming mic workers include Zack Ryder, Drew McIntyre, MVP, and perhaps John Morrison. These are guys who COULD become high end mic workers but need certain tweaks. I won't get into it, but they do have potential.

 

[The REAL Iron Chef]

Of your 3, I'd have to say CM Punk has the most potential to become the next great king of the mic, for a couple reasons:

1.) CM Punk is from Chicago. I'm from Chicago. Therefore, he's the best. On a more serious note...

2.) Conviction. He has it. You listen to him speak and there's a suspension of disbelief that's nearly unmatched these days, especially during his new "Straight Edge Society" promos he's been doing lately. The only time I've heard something close to his conviction these days was from (and I regret to give him credit) Triple H, during the feud with Randy Orton earlier in 2009. When Orton began wreaking havoc, especially after he hit Stephanie with the hanging DDT, you could hear how Triple H's character legitimately wanted to kill his wife's attacker. But I digress.

3.) Character. His character is much less plain vanilla than that of John Cena. And it's because of his character that John Cena's promos are very routine: keep things humorous and light, get serious, CENA RAGE!!! Too much is expected of Cena to allow him any room to breathe; pander to the children and be the top seller of merchandise. Orton had the potential to become the super cool anti-hero (he almost Austin'ed us earlier this year) but since he's now become "The Viper, Randy Orton, stalking his prey," (that should've gone on the Michael Cole bingo board) he also has large limitations on what his promos can be like. He now needs to speak slowly and with malice. CM Punk has much more room to move around with his character.

 

[Fallen Angel 21.3]

I do think that right now Chris Jericho is the best on the mic today hands down. He is the only wrestler that can have a crowd love him one minute and the next minute hate him. His Shawn Michaels feud was one of the best feuds i have seen in the long time, and the Legends feud he had was another best cause the fans got to see Ricky Steamboat do some of his old moves.

I wouldn't go far to say that Chris is just like Flair, i would say he is sorta like Rowdy Roddy Piper in his hey day with just those feuds and his early stuff, but when he started teaming with Big Show i started to lose some respect for him and then when he lost the tag belts he started acting like a spoiled brat that didn't get what they want okay the Jericho that was feuding with Michaels wouldn't have given a shit about that and would have went after the world title now hes nothing like he once was.

As for the next Jericho i would have to say THE MIZ cuz he is the second best heel on the mike, he has the potential to do some great stuff, i would like to see him step up and go into the main event seen but that most likely won't happen as long as younger guys are blowing triple H in the bathroom, the best guys on the card will always be on the bottom of the pole, while the young guys like Sheamus will always be in the main event scene.

 

[Captainwrestling123]

In my opinion, i believe that R-Truth will be the next great mic worker. he is just like Cena back when he was a rapper, and while he doesn't "spell them funky fresh rhymes", he still does the same thing that "Road Dogg" Jesse James did and he ended up with a pretty good career. All R-Truth needs to do is find the right partner and we got us the next Road Dogg.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Sorry, but Killings is nowhere near the level of Miz, and I don't even think Cena will be able to touch Miz IF he keeps this up for the next 6 months. BUT, I have a feeling that the E might start to limit Miz. If he becomes too interesting, he might endanger main eventers. According to Kennedy/Anderson, he cut a rather good promo, and when he went backstage, Vinnie walked up to him. He said that Ken needed to tone it down. Could be BS, but whatever.

Now that I think Miz has shed the Reality Show branding that plagued him for so long, he's going to shine in 2010. It really WILL be his year. He will only continue to progress on the mic, IF he's allowed to. I really hope when Rocky guest hosts they go at it.

 

[SickJames]

it is CM Punk because he's close as it gets to Jericho without being Jericho. He's like a jeri-mini-cho

He does almost the same thing but in a different way that really does make sense for his gimmick and takes something good and makes it disliked by the way he delivers it, preachy, arrogantly and as if he is better because of it

Anyway I disagree with John Cena.

Forget him being labelled the top guy right now, let's be real. John Cena was at his best in 2003, late 2002-2005 he was at his best. His freestyles were his best promos
check them out on youtube


That Cena had better mic skills than the Cena today who's promos suck usually, are highly repetitive and dull (reptitive can be good like a catchphrase if it's good though)

but John Cena has changed for the worse so no for him unless he goes back to the gimmick that made him

 

[mister_b1LL]

The next Chris Jericho? CM Punk, bar none. Despite what people have been saying about how Punk's saving segments have been boring, CM Punk's promos in my opinion are quite possibly the most entertaining part of every SmackDown taping. Punk is great with his words and really gets under people's skin (save for those sickophants who cheer as soon as they hear the word "alcohol"). What's even better is that like Jericho, Punk takes the exact same promo every week and puts a spin on it to keep it different and fresh.

The Miz is almost at that level as well. He is probably the only part of RAW I actually watch when I'm on YouTube. His stuff is always entertaining and regularly comes up with something different to bring to the table, save for his "Really's" and his "I'm AWESOME!!!" line. That whole thing about making Jon Heder "The Flame" was funny and was in fact kind of a curveball for me. It's stuff like that that keeps him great on the mic.

Chris Jericho will always entertain me until the day he retires. Here's hoping that wrestling promos will never...EEEEVER...BE THE SAME...AGAIN-NA!!!

 

[reynoldsraider]

I think the next Jericho is THE MIZ. He has the best cocky attitude when he is on the mic and even when hes not. THE MIZ is no doubt the next Jericho!!!

 

[prodigyrko]

I agree with Jericho obviously being the best. I think next in line would have to be either Punk or Miz. I dont think anyone else is even close. Punks "savior" promos have been some of the best and most entertaining things in quite some time. As far as Miz, that promo he cut a few weeks back was insane. He's steadily improving every week and has actually become the main reason I watch Raw. I seen another poster say Miz reminds him of a young Jericho and thats something I've been thinking alot recently. It was good to see Im not the only one who sees it.

 

[UFOcalling]

Totally agree with the fact that Jericho is the best mic worker right now. He's so over as a heel, it's ridiculous. He is, by far, the best in the world at what he does.

CM Punk has been getting fantastic heat lately as well, ever since "screwing" Hardy for the belt. I loved the way he transitioned to heel as well...by stating that nobody cared when he took the belt from Edge the year before, etc. I loved that the heel turn was so gradual, and subtle (in it's own way). I do believe that Punk will only get better with time, and he would definitely be my pick for the second best mic worker. The Miz does get third though, as his promos are only getting better as well.

This is a bit off-topic, but did anyone else get a kick out of Jericho protesting at Raw events stating he was a conspiracy victim? I IMMEDIATELY thought of his old (similar) angle with WCW, where they would show him in public holding cheaply made signs that read "conspiracy victim" high over his head, with an arrow pointing directly down to him. When I heard Jericho talking about conspiracies against him not being able to compete on Raw, I thought maybe we were about to get a dose of the old WCW Jericho heel...you remember, the over-the-top HILARIOUS Jericho as a heel. Speaking only of the Jerichoholics and how WCW (or the WWE, in this case) is conspiring against him. The minute I heard the word "conspiracy" come out of his mouth I was hoping for it.

 

[Trill Co$by]

I always thought that William Regal was a great mic worker... In fact, it got to a point where I turned to ECW just to see Regal on the mic.

As for the newer guys, I'd say CM Punk. Seems popular, but I don't care... Punk is just a blessing on the mic and there's nothing that he does without bringing fresh material to the table.

 

[edgehead13]

I gotta agree with a lot of people that the Miz is very similar to a young Jericho. Someone else who has impressed me recently is MVP, due mostly to his feud with Miz. The segment between the two of them on raw a couple weeks ago was fucking epic. It was such an intense, passionate exchange, and it was obvious he was speaking from the heart.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

No one will be a good mic worker because WWE makes it impossible to work the mic. Promos are scripted the whole way, so there isn't really any "working" going on. It's just guys saying pretty much exactly what they are told to say.

In short, there will not be a next best mic worker unless wwe loosens its promo standards.

 

[InterestingDrug]

Jericho is by far the best on the mic. Has been for several years. He's always better on the mic as a heel, than as a face. He can draw heat like no other, just by using complex words and adding them to the word 'parasites'. Great great mic guy.

I think CM Punk's mic work has come a long way. During his first run as world champ, I kinda scratched my head when I first heard his mic work. Why put the strap on someone that's not very good on the mic? He's found a rhythm now that he's a heel. His mic work is 1000 times better than it was during his first title run. He's come into his own.

Miz has improved vastly over the past few months. He's a potential huge star on the rise. He has a way to get the crowd to turn like no other wrestler I've seen in a long time. I've said this before.. he reminds me of a young Jericho. He has the ability to get the crowd to hate him real easily. WWE best not screw Miz up by turing him to a crowd favorite. I think Miz has surpassed Morrison on the mic for sure.

This thread is about the next generation on the mic, but I wanted to mention Edge and Christian. They are getting long in the tooth, but they can still cut good promos.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Jericho is definitely the best out of the whole roster right now on the mic. Out of the newer guys the next great mic worker is probably going to be CM Punk because his promos ever since Night of Champions have been epic. He's able to get the crowd angry at him and he feeds off their reactions to add more to his heel promos, at first I thought that it was giving the straightedge lifestyle a bad name, but it really isn't, it's just Punk being really good at getting heel heat. He even took it one step further recently with his intervention segments for his Straightedge Society. Punk's the next great mic worker, and The Miz is a close second.

 

[dmacizdman]

yeah i agree with the sentiments of the people who voted the miz. i don't care that he was a product of the real world. he isn't a slouch and has been the best he can be on the mic and in the ring.

i remember the first time i saw him was in a match with benoit. i was actually pleasantly surprised at how good he was. and this was before hooking up with morrison.

if the story about vince telling kennedy to tone it down is true, then it's ridiculous. the more main eventers the better. remember when savage had the IC title? there were times where he was bigger than hogan and it didn't hurt anything.

 

[WhyTravisFelt]

I think I have to go with Punk. I absolutely hated him as a face, (shameless alcoholic as I am, I had a hard time understanding why I should root for a straight-edge). Now that he's a heel there's something more real about him. Before when he was like "I'm straight-edge, but you don't have to be," I couldn't buy it. That doesn't any of the straight-edge people I know. Whether it's really just an act or if he really thinks he's better than us because he doesn't do anything harder than Pepsi, he's thoroughly convincing as the preachy jerk.

The Miz has a way to go, but I enjoy him on the mic as well. They need to give him something better to do. They washed over the Cena feud (kind of like Goldberg/Jericho if you think about it) and now he's kind of in Limbo.

 

[SwimminInIndy]

Miz is the best mic-worker in my opinion. He is entertaining, and is turning into the guy that people love to hate. I think he will eventually either formally turn face, or start getting cheers as a heel and thus turning face.

It won't be long until the thousands say "awesome", instead of awful.

 

[Theo Mays]

I was watching last weeks SD and when Punk's promo came around I found myself yet again saying "this kids promos keep getting better each week". So Punk would be my choice. His character is believable and that makes the mic work that much better.

The Miz is another great choice. The guy has been a shining star on Raw and he just keeps improving. He has great charisma, a catchphrase, and can work the crowd. These two guys are really the future talkers of the E.

 

[Mr_Anderson]

I think you guys are underestinmating guys like Christian, Morrison, or even Abraham Washington. I mean have you guys seen The Abraham Washington show? solid mic worker that can get some big heat from the crowd. I love how that applause comes up on the titantron hilarious.

 

[near_expert22]

"I'd rather you people hate for who I am than have you love me for who I'm not!!!!".....If MIZ had said that about any other main eventer I might have said that that would be the line of this year to this point,if it isn't number one already.He's the only reason to watch RAW right now.When he's not on I'm not even watching the program.Everything else seems lack-luster.

I would have to say that THE MIZ is the 2nd best ONLY to Jericho.He is stepping it up and seems to get better and better every week.The promo he did from a few weeks back when he was backstage then walked to the ring was AWESOME.He accomplished what 99% of the entire wwe can't do....keep the attention of the audience for an ENTIRE promo.If it weren't for MVP coming out it would have been perfect.When he came out he drained the promo of its energy.It clearly showed Miz to be the best on RAW if not the nest in WWE.

I believe with his mic work that the sky is the limit for MIZ.If he continues to up the ante on the mic and improve like he has in the ring,he will be WWE champ by yearr's end.All WWE needs to do is capitalize on his growing popularity by giving him more space with his promos,a high-profile feud (preferably w/ Cena where he actually wins and doesn't look like a push over like their last encounter),and the right airtime,and they have got a new main-eventer on their hands.As long as they don't DROP THE BALL,we as WWE fans should be in for a treat as we are in THE MIZ ERA.

 

[CKguy217]

Christ Jericho does repeat himself a lot. I don't watch wrestling every week, but when I do, and he's talking, he usually refers to the fans as "parasites", and "hypocrites".

I think The Miz, is nipping at Jericho's heals for the number 1 mic worker. He can make the fans hate him, and I think his wrestling skills are great.