Promo working

[Dwayne_Jason]

So, I've been thinking about this long and hard and I always wondered:

Okay so it CAN'T be PG, I mean PG is what gave rise to the most marketable star in the B'ness (Hogan).

Why the suckiness of the Promos these days? I'm not gonna reference the Rock because he just taught every wrestler how to do a promo...

Morrison's ready but he can't do a promo to save his life.
Kingston's over but he is never given a stick so his character can't improve
Del Rio and Sheamus are okay but not the greatest
Orton sucks

So this means the only main event players who can do a promo ad-libbed and be comfortably are...Punk, Cena and to an extent Barrett.

So why are promos so bad? I mean it's simply enough. If you can take your shirt off and perform in front of thousands you SHOULD be able to talk.

Now I don't know if its a script or if they're given a run-down or what not but I have a simple way of working a promo.

These guys can talk right? Well, just let 'em talk. No script, no tight chokehold on what to say. The writers should give them a general overview and tell them not to go beyond PG and let 'em loose on the mic.

I've seen Morrison interviews he's actually pretty funny. So is Kofi and to an extent Orton (but his character's great so he barely needs the stick) I'm not saying go Vince Russo on them but make them write their own scrips, their own lines. Let them take the character in a direction they like. I mean c'mon, it's not like they DON'T KNOW how to talk. They can talk, just don't put a damn choke hold on their speaking abilities. I think that's the problem with bad promos these days


What do you think is a good strategy of promo working and how can you improve your fav. star working a promo?

Discuss this shit

 

[swayscobain]

I think they should have the wrestlers be taught by actors how to bring their character out.

I mean it's hard to do in the pg era. Back in the Hogan pg era it was easier because imagination was explored with characters to mke them larger than life. And most of the time it was Hogan, flair, and Macho Man putting over opponents on the stick.

Nowadays only cena and miz are given the green light on raw seeing as sheamus was only good on the stick with morrison and santino as targets. On sd edge and Alberto, maybe Kane he's hit and miss, and Vickie are always given the green light. I'll even throw in Cody who actually has more character depth and skill and personality, than all the younger stars combined.

But the common theme for all of them is wwe allows them to develop their characters on a nightly basis. They put their opponents over all the time on the mic and their worth listening too. They aren't boring they are attention grabbers that makes u hate them or love them, but makes you think twice about doubting them. Thts what all good promo wrestlers do. They make you eat up everything their saying, play on your emotions and then make you buy the product their selling.

 

[LegendKiller716]

The problems with promos is that there are no characters. The only gimmicks in WWE are Undertaker and Cody Rhodes.

If you don't have a character, you don't know what your supposed to do. They need to have a clear character in their mind before they can expand on it.

Look at Jericho, when he returned everything he did fell flat. He got big pops because he returned, but he got real stale, real quick. He turned heel and invented a character and just like that he was the best in the game at that time.

If WWE stars can think up characters they want to portray all promos would be better.

 

[Jason Scene]

It comes natural.

If I send you out on a podium in-front of 20,000 people, you'll shit your pants and stutter every word like you got Parkinsons disease. It isn't an easy thing to cut a promo, something a lot of people have learned.

The great people in the industry who cut the best promos either have one of two things...

1) Emotion
2) Charisma

Whenever Ric Flair cuts a promo he sounds emotional, he makes you believe this is what he means. In the NWA, Flair would rant for ever about him being the best, and as he said on his DVD it was because he truly believed he was the best. Mick Foley always seems to have a thing of talking from the heart, whenever he does a promo he always makes it seem like this is what he genuinely thinks. Its all the tone of emotion on his voice. The realism.

A few weeks back The Miz did a great promo, he showed emotion. He started screaming and raving how he was "the best" and how the fans sounds like ducks when they chanted 'What?'

Then you got charisma. Guys with charisma are guys like The Rock, The Miz, Christian, Chris Jericho, the old Randy Orton. They have that thing which doesn't make you believe that they're are speaking from the heart but instead they entertain.

Todays guys are building. To me, Wade Barrett is dull on the microphone. Dolph Ziggler dull on the microphone. Ted DiBiase dull on the microphone. John Morrison, Otunga and Kofi Kingston are all dull on the microphone. They show no charisma or emotion.

Cody Rhodes has charisma. Alex Riley actually has charisma. Bryan Danielson can show emotion.

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It doesn't seem to be as natural these days, but it was never really great in any era. It was just that the charismatic guys were always given the microphone, e.g. The Rock, Austin, DX, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, Vince McMahon.

But It'll either come to them or it won't, the more set they get and the more confident they get the better the promos will become.

 

[jontabs]

The problems with promos is that there are no characters. The only gimmicks in WWE are Undertaker and Cody Rhodes.

If you don't have a character, you don't know what your supposed to do. They need to have a clear character in their mind before they can expand on it.

Look at Jericho, when he returned everything he did fell flat. He got big pops because he returned, but he got real stale, real quick. He turned heel and invented a character and just like that he was the best in the game at that time.

If WWE stars can think up characters they want to portray all promos would be better.

Couldn't agree more. That's why there are no more catchphrases or memorable promos, because there are no more true gimmicks. I've been saying it so many times on these boards. Take Randy Orton. Some people are adamant that his gimmick is "The Viper". I really don't think so. If it really was, then at least incorporate it in his promos when he cuts one.

I think if the wrestlers of today get more clear cut, UNIQUE gimmicks, promo quality will improve instead of everyone sounding the same each and every time.

 

[Lionheart]

Cutting a promo is an art form unto itself. How does one learn it? To hear Chris Jericho tell it, it's studying the greats night after night. Jericho would sit in the production truck and watch the masters of the game.

In today's WWE, writers develop what they want the wrestlers to say ahead of time and provide them with their script. In doing this, everyone sounds the same. Therefore, no one stands out.

If you don't believe me, Just watch the Rock from last week. His promo made everything being done on WWE's programming look shoddy. Also, remember the promo that Roddy Piper did before John Cena guest refereed the main event between Wade Barrett and Randy Orton? In 10 minutes, Roddy made that match more important then the majority of the main events of that year.

Simply allowing someone to learn and cultivate who they are in character and then allowing them to deliver in that character would go a long way in the betterment of promo quality in today's WWE.

 

[CrayzChris]

I think something we are all forgetting, is that most times, during the previous PG (Hogan) era, not only did we have Managers like Bobby Heenan & Jimmy Hart - but we also had Mean Gene.

Mean Gene helped everyone get through promos. He asked questions, he led them to where they needed to go.

That's part of the problem. There's a lot of young guys on the roster. Most of these guys have not yet discovered their characters. It's hard to cut a promo, when you don't know who you are.

I don't get why everyone says John Morrison can't cut a promo. When has he REALLY gotten the opportunity? His dirt sheet stuff with the Miz was funny. He has no problem talking on his DVD, and he was just fine when he was champ in ECW an debuted the John Morrison character. The problem is, he hasn't found "FACE" John Morrison yet.

Any idiot can be a bad guy. How much effort does it really take to come out, say you're better than all the losers in the audience, and run down the local sports teams.

Being a "good guy" these days is way harder than it was in the past. People don't just like you because you're fighting a "bad guy"...people don't like you unless you earn their respect. Guys like Austin, the Rock, and Mick Foley have raised the bar SO HIGH in terms of "good guy" promos. We have to understand that the Rock and Austin are special cases. You can't teach what they were able to do.

Besides, if you watched Austin in WCW, you didn't even know he was capable of cutting a decent promo. It wasn't until the WWE gave him the opportunity to talk, that we really got to see what he can do.

I'm sure there's plenty of intelligent guys and girls in the WWE who are more than capable of cutting a great promo. Maybe not at the level of the Rock or Austin, but good enough. They just need some help discovering who their character is, and they need to be booked in a solid storyline. You need something to talk about, you can't just get on the mic and ramble.

That's the fault of the creative team, IMO - Not the fault of the talent themselves.