Best of the 90's - Promos

[IrishCanadian25]

Ok, all, listen up. This week's installment of "The Best of the 90's" looks at the aspect of wrestling that really captures our attention, imagination, and emotion - the promo.

For our purposes, a promo is listed as any verbal exchange, albeit interview, monolouge, etc, that advances a) a personality, b) a match, c) a feud, or d) a situation / storyline.

As a reminder for some of our rookie posters, if you make a selection and decide to post it, or if you select "other" and want to post your vote, please explain your point of view and avoid spamming. Nothing I hate more than people getting tagged for infractions on my threads.

Check out the voting choices, and go to town. I'm looking forward to a spirited debate.

 

[Hardinhoff]

The best promo by far is the Shane Douglas one. You can't honestly say that the words coming out of his mouth during that promo just made your jaw drop. I've never listened to a promo that not only made you despise (sp.?) someone but at the same time realize "Hey, this person just took an entire company on his back and created a revolution in professional wrestling." When he threw down that title, I thought he was going to get jumped or something. Absolutely classic.

 

[Wall_of_Jericho]

Hulk Hogan telling the fans where to stick it. Symbolically one of the greatest moments in wrestling history. It was the promo which turned wrestling on its head and ushered in a new era of bad ass attitude. Away from the squeaky clean image for the kiddies.

Come on, it was Hulk Hogan, the ultimate good guy who for years and years was firmly on the fans side and then he swerves on us all. I was 10 years old when this happened, I was (and still am) a Hulkamaniac and I swear to God I actually cried when Hulk Hogan turned heel. I thought it was all a joke and prayed my hero would turn good guy again.

Looking back on it now its one of the smartest moves ever made in wrestling and watching that interview again, it still reeks of awesomeness.

Oh.... but could someone have told Hogan the correct name of the new faction...

"WHAT YA GONNA DO... WHEN THE NEW WORLD..... ORGANISATION DESTROYS YOU BRUTHA!?"

 

[FlairFan2003]

There were definatey a few classics in the 90's...some of the most memorable included The Rock when he went swerved everyone and was revealed as the "Corporate Champion" after defeating Mick Foley, who everyone assumed was destined to be the chosen "corporation" champ in 1998...Hogan's heel turn which was totally unexpected, played beautifully, and instantly made the NWO angle the biggest thing in wrestling...Flair's return to Monday Nitro after a long abscence due to his legal problems with Eric Bischoff (the last Monday Nitro with original programming to beat Raw in the ratings, although the two shows were very close for the next six plus months)...The birth of Austin 316 at the King Of The Ring...

There were a lot of good promos but those ones stand out not only for entertainment value but for importance. Flair had a lot of great promos during the Monday Nitro era, particularly circa 1996 when he had catered meals with champagne at ring side for his matches (courtesy of Randy Savage's credit cards according to story). His fiery "he'll have to kill me to stop me fropm killing him" promo on Hollywood Hogan after the Souled Out 99 PPV was another classic. Shawn Michaels and DX really pushed the envelope in their promoson a regular basis.

 

[stinkbot2001]

"thats why i kicked your leg out from under your leg" - owen hart

what was better in the 90s than bret vs owen? nothing thats what. and thats the quote that started it all.

 

[Lee]

Vince McMahon - "Bret Screwed Bret"

Wow what a promo, VInce looks genuine in this interview, I dunno if he's acting or genuine about wanting to sort it with Bret. WOW. Really breaks Kayfabe

Degeneration X - "The Crock and The Nation of Domination"

A rather funny promo, hilarious!

Hulk Hogan - "You Fans can Stick it, Brother"

The biggest face EVER turns the biggest heel with that one line, my goodness the fans were pissed.


Shane Douglas - "The Birth of Extreme"

I'm going to be honest here, I've never seen this promo and can't find it either.


Bret Hart - "I Will Not Fight my Brother Owen"

I can still picture this in my mind, the intensity behind this is incredible.


Steve Austin - "Austin 3:16 Says I Just Whipped Your Ass"

Marked the start of the attitude area, symbolically huge!

Degeneration X - "The Invasion of WCW"

This is what DX are known for and was a huge thing for the Monday night wars

The Rock - "God Speaks to Billy Gunn"

But GOD my name's Billy...

It doesn't matter what your name is...a funny promo but didn't symbolise anything.

The Rock and Chris Jericho - "Y2J's Debut / KY Jelly Plan"

And so in the dying months of the 90s we have the greatest promo of all time, what a way to bring in Y2J, two of the best on the mic arguing at it...brilliant!

 

[Shadowmancer]

I would have to go with Other, Mick Foley's Anti-Hardcore Promos are awesome so are the ones he delivered during KotDM tournament. I have supplied links in My wrestler of the Week thread.It is hard to have a list of the best promos of the 90's and leave off Mick Foley?

 

[IrishCanadian25]

It is hard to have a list of the best promos of the 90's and leave off Mick Foley?

Hard, yes. Impossible, no. But I 100% understand the need to have a Foley promo. I don't know if I'd put a FOley promo other than the "Mr. Socko" with McMahon in the hospital, but if I were to list the 9 greatest promo cutters of all time, Foley would make the top-5 for his entire body of work. Also, when he thought The ock threw his book away - great stuff.

 

[Shadowmancer]

[youtube]RnqXgmBgn0U[/youtube]

This is what I am talking about when I am saying that these are some of the best series of Promos that I have ever seen. Then you also have the ones with Raven about Tommy Dreamer. Those are just great, better than these Promos by far.

 

[RVDgurl]

Shadowmancer stole my ECW thunder on this one! lol. He hit the nail right on the head. Hands down the best series of promos from the '90s goes to Mick Foley. As Cactus Jack he cut some of the most breath taking promos I have ever heard. He launched a verbal attack on the ECW fans and the hardcore wrestling style that he helped make famous. Shadow has the most popular on posted above, so if you haven't watched it, do it now.

 

[evdogg311]

So many good choices here.. I had to go with Austin 3:16 because, let's face it, it skyrocketed the ratings and put wrestling back on the map.

Bret Screwed Bret and and Shane's Extreme speech definitely came in close second, for reasons I already listed.

 

[SuperXero]

This list is somewhat biased as you leave off several great promos from WCW's history. Luckily though, you included perhaps the most important one. Hogan's speech, as a result of his heel turn set the stage for all those other great promos. if Hogan turning his back on all his fans set the stage for the smash mouth, in your face style that wrestling still presents to this day. Every great promo that occurred afterwards has Hogan and Erich Bischoff to thank for changing the industry in such a way that such behavior is what wrestling is all about.

 

[WhatCripplesTheLegend?]

The most influencial promo of the 90's, without doubt, and I'll take on anyone with this opinion goes to.....John Tenta rebuking his Dungeon of Doom gimmicks (as a shark, an avalanche, etc.) and reminding us, the viewers, that he was a man....a four hundred and fifty pound man. If John Tenta hadn't the stroke to stand up to poor booking, he never would have thrived to move and forth and claim his spot in the most influencial stable of our time...portraying Golga in the Oddities.

But seriously due to the WWE's continued predominance in the wrestling market to this day, my vote has to go for Austin 3:16 (i.e. the anti-Hogan) and equally DX on a tank invading Nitro. These were the spinal chord factors of the WWE's conquest of Ted Turners billion dollar slamboree.

Then again maybe it was anything Paul Heyman and ECW did considering both WCW and WWF raped, pillaged, and plundered their talent with the money Heyman didn't have. It's like a destitute in a poker game with an aristocrat, the beggars got ingenuity and four aces but the rich man's just going to keep raising until he folds.

 

[cobain]

considering both WCW and WWF raped, pillaged, and plundered their talent with the money Heyman didn't have..

refernce to one of the best promo men in the business Brian Pillman?

I think it had to have been the Austin 3:16 promo.
If the story behind it is true then it wasn't scrpited, it was a shoot promo that had long lasting effects and brought the Attitude era into full force.
It established steve austin as a top guy and led the way for promos to be a bigger part of the business.

 

[salopstick]

as a flair mark i liked this one. i remember it goes something like this

monsoon - whats that, thats not the champs belt
heenan - comparing this belt to hogans is like comparing ice cream to manure. the holder of this belt is under contract to another organisation at the moment but may be soon coming to the wwf, this man has made numerous challenges, unanswered to hogan. so lets compare hulk hogan to rick flair.

considering challenge was the b show to superstars this was huge what a shame the wwf completely ruined the opportunity

 

[IrishCanadian25]

This list is somewhat biased as you leave off several great promos from WCW's history.

Newbie, I don't practice bias against promos. There is no way you can sit there typing away and telling me that the 9 promos I chose (and yes, I am limited to nine on a poll if I want to include an "other" category) are not among the most significant in wrestling history. The only promo I would add is the reunion of the Four Horsemen when Bischoff came down to berate Flair.

And OH-MY-GOD Hogan's turn didn't pave the way for smash mouth promos, it paved the way for top faces going heel. Promos evolved on their own, and no one person nor one event totally changed the landscape. If anyone from the 80's and early 90's had a massive influence on cutting promos, it was Randy Savage, not Hogan.

We done here? Good.

 

[KyleCobra]

whats with all the smark-on-smark hatred these days....

all of those were good choices, but if i had to choose one under the ''other'' category, it would be..

Jim Ross interviewing Makind...this just sticks out in my mind as one of the most memorable ever...showing people who may not have seen any Cactus promos that Foley can cut with the best of em.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Ok, so, 5 days up and only two votes for "Bret Screwed Bret," one of which was my vote! I am now going to explain the reasons why this Vince McMahon classic is among the best ever, let alone the 90's.

The Montreal Screwjob was, and is to this day nearly a decade later, the single most controversial moments in professional wrestling history. It was disturbing when it all came out, and to this day everyone has different versions of what happened.

Many fans believed that Bret Hart leaving WWE for WCW and the ensuing fan hatred for Vince McMahon would cripple WWE. I was among those people. But from what I have seen posted on these boards the last few months, there are two generally accepted facts:

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin launched the turn-around for WWE to beat WCW, and

2. No great face can exist without a great heel to counter them.

Well, Austin's great heel antagonist was "Mr. McMahon," and that character simply DID NOT EXIST before the "Bret Screwed Bret" promo. That few moments in that interview started the wheels turning, and led to the very definition of "The Attitude Era."

Somebody also mentioned that the "Bret Screwed Bret" prom was so Raw and honest, it literally broke Kayfabe. Outside of ECW and Indies, that did not happen very often. Kayfabe was a constant. It was Vince who broke it down there. And the result was one of the most polarizing characters in wrestling history.

Prove me wrong...

 

[ChaseDavis]

Bret not only helped create the Mr. McMahon character but his wrestlemania 13 match with Austin helped catapult Austin into what we all remember him for today. These are things that Hart did that not a lot of other wrestlers can take credit for. He helped make superstars.

I don't think this promo is the best ever but a favorite of mine was the Bret Hart promo in WcW against Goldberg where he got speared and revealed the steel plate he was wearing under his shirt....I marked out big when that happened.

 

[underworlderZer0]

Hey, guys.... what about Brian Pillman? Seriously, the Austin "Home Invasion" deserves to be on the list, don't you think?

The Loose Cannon was 20 years ahead of his time, and could have been the biggest thing in sports entertainment history had he not gotten into that car accident.

Pillman was working smarks before there were smarks. Part of me still wants to believe he faked his death as his greatest work, but sadly that's just denial.

 

[Heartthrob81]

While we're on the OTHER category, I too have to throw a vote in for Brian Pillman. Anyone else remember the night Joey Styles kicked off an ECW TV taping, and the lights went out? When the came back on, Brian Pillman was standing in the ring and subsequently threatened to...and I quote, "Yank out my Johnson...and PISS ALL OVER THIS HELLHOLE!!!"

The Shane Douglas promo turning NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling into what would be the legacy of Extreme Championship Wrestling was great too, but I stick with Pillman on this one.

 

[mozza]

I would have to go with Other, Mick Foley's Anti-Hardcore Promos are awesome so are the ones he delivered during KotDM tournament. I have supplied links in My wrestler of the Week thread.It is hard to have a list of the best promos of the 90's and leave off Mick Foley?

I 100% agree the intensity of those promos were fantastic
while foleys wrestling ability was poor his promos throughout his career were fantastic as good as ric flair or jake roberts promos

 

[Heartthrob81]

Jake Roberts' WrestleMania VI promo to Ted DiBiase was classic, talking about the irony of how appropriate is it that "the money you grovel for...is your very own..." Good stuff

 

[Evan Snow-Wolf]

I think a lot of the listed promos were overhyped.

Austin 3:16 was just a win over a wrestler on his way out. It was the birth of a catchphrase, but it wasn't as big a deal in my mind as a lot of others.

Hogan is just... bleh. I don't want to talk about him.

I love DX, but I don't pick "Best Promo" over humor value, which takes out the DX promos and a lot of Rock promos.

For stirring up a match, I'd have to go with the infamous Dude Love interview with Mankind, who himself called out Cactus Jack to face Hunter Herst Helmsley in the street fight match.

 

[bigshot316]

While we're on the OTHER category, I too have to throw a vote in for Brian Pillman. Anyone else remember the night Joey Styles kicked off an ECW TV taping, and the lights went out? When the came back on, Brian Pillman was standing in the ring and subsequently threatened to...and I quote, "Yank out my Johnson...and PISS ALL OVER THIS HELLHOLE!!!"

The Shane Douglas promo turning NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling into what would be the legacy of Extreme Championship Wrestling was great too, but I stick with Pillman on this one.

Dude I just watched this on youtube yesterday. They just don't make 'em like that any more!
Todays wrestlers should watch that footage of how to cut an intense, entertaining, exciting provocative promo, with or without the cussing!!
Love it!