The Best Promo Man Ever!

[TheMostElectrifyingMan]

After much research (YouTube!) I have determined that my favorite wrestler is also the greatest promo man ever! That's right the Macho Man Randy Savage! His Ricky Steamboat promos were awesome. His proposal to Miss Elizabeth is the most memorable event to ever happen in WWF/E history. The man was nuts and the camera loved it. NO ONE was better! The only other person I would mention would be the Rock but Savage was better. Ooooooooh Yeah! Any Debate?

 

[CRUSH316]

Randy Savage was a great promo man...Theres others I'd mention like The Rock, Ric Flair, Austin, HBK(especially mid 90's), Jericho, and ofcourse Triple H.I also feel theres young guys who, in time, could be up there with the likes of Savage, Flair, Rock, HHH, etc. Like Ken Kennedy, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Edge, Carlito, and John Cena(his wrestling skills need improvement but the Intensity of his Promos are what makes them good..Its when he tries to be funny that his promos trail off..He's naturally funny if you've seen him in other wwe functions like press conferences, specials, etc.That just never seems to transfer to Raw)..But Randy Savage would definately be in the Top 10-15 on any list of Top promo men of all time. Asfar as Greatest?We could debate all day on that and never agree...My personal two favorites are Triple H and The Rock..Triple H had the intensity as both heel and face but could incorporate comedy aswell..Rock's best mic work comes as a heel but his face comedy is great aswell...Triple H's strong point is his Seriousness but he's able to be Comedic aswell..The Rock's strong point is Comedy but he has the ability to be serious aswell.

 

[YIPPIE KI YAY!]

The rock hands down i think is the greatest promo man and randy orton doesnt do a bad job either if u think about it

 

[RVDgurl]

My, my, my..... People, please break out some old ECW shit and watch any promo cut by Shane Douglas, Raven and the Dudley Boyz because they were all pure genious. I'd also give credit to Cactus Jack, Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, James Mitchell (if we're counting managers), Chris Jericho, The Rock and Edge- these guys cuts some good promos, too.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

There's a reason The Rock has been so successful in Hollywood. He's got the most charisma I've ever seen in a wrestler ever. I was'nt a fan of his promo's (he relied on catchphrases to much) but there's no mistaking his personality. Notibale mention's have to go to Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman and Jericho.

 

[Kasey]

Some of my favorite promo men of all time would include Jake Roberts (his character was and still is unparalleled), Randy Savage (for sheer insanity and the fact you can pick his voice and mannerisms out of a thousand other guys), and Jim Neidhart. The strength of the Hart Foundation was definitely the combination of the wrestling styles and crisp execution, but Neidhart was amazing on the mic and was far and away the craziest promo man at times. I still remember SummerSlam 1990 when they cut a post match promo after defeating Demolition for the belts, and their promo was with The Road Warriors. Throughout the promo, Hawk stood behind Anvil and actually kept stroking his beard. Anytime I watch that I almost piss my pants from laughing so hard.

 

[Kasey]

^For shoot promos, Shane is probably tops on my list. I always felt a tingle in my tummy whenever he called out "Dick" Flair. I also enjoyed when he referred to WWF as "cartoonland."

 

[Jonny B]

I'd probably have to go with Foley, he always delivers fantastic Promo's, and some of the Anti-Hardcore ECW Promo's are possibly my all time favorate Promo's ever.

 

[Kasey]

I'd probably have to go with Foley, he always delivers fantastic Promo's, and some of the Anti-Hardcore ECW Promo's are possibly my all time favorate Promo's ever.

Definitely solid choices, Jonny. Foley without constraints is a very awesome thing to behold on the mic and in the ring. I really enjoyed reading his first book and seeing his views on all of that era. Fun stuff and a book I breezed through in two days.

 

[Kasey]

I really don't understand how The Rock isn't a unanimous(sp) decision.. Have we forgotten about the most electrifying man in sports entertainment? The guy was more then solid on the mic, he was gold.. No matter what stage of his carear he was in, whether it was NOA, Rocky Maivia, The Rock, whatever.. The man delivered...

Pure gold.

Dwayne is definitely a top contender, just remember everybody has their favorites. Although one of my favorite bits came during an episode of Heat back in the late '90s when Rock was doing color commentary of all things. He was the first person on a wrestling show to use the immortal sentence: "The Rock couldn't give two pieces of damn about that." Pieces! Of damn! Genius.

 

[TheMostElectrifyingMan]

Jackson 5, I didn't forget about The Most Electrfying Man, play on words there, I just think that Savage was better. Foley was also good when Macho Man was out of his mind.

 

[DubB]

Rik Matrix, someone you all might know here in the next year, as he's slated to start in OVW soon. Give him a mike, you'll be laughin your ass off!

 

[dd22wwefan1]

I saw one person mention him, so I'm going to be the second.

You can't forget "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. He may have very well been the greatest improvisor of all-time on the mic. Even up there with the Rock. Watch some of Piper's promos on the Piper's Pit shows or just on any interview segments in general, he was gifted.

Ric Flair shouldn't be forgotten about either. I've been recently watching some of his NWA promos from the mid 80's on WWE 24/7, and I had forgotten how great he is on the mic. Flair was amazing.

I think Mick Foley had some of the most intelligent and deepest promos of all-time. I don't think too many wrestlers touched upon the level of thinking that Foley approached. Especially on his anti-Hardcore promos in ECW in the mid 90's. Those were some pretty deep promos for professional wrestling.

Steve Austin was also a helluva promo man. Even in WCW in the early 90's he was pretty good. And as he got to the WWF, he was on fire on the mic. And he stayed that way for the rest of his career.

Nothing more needs to be said about the Rock.

If you want to go for more older wrestlers, two to definitely keep in mind are Dusty Rhodes and "Superstar" Billy Graham. Those guys were magic on the mic. And another guy I've seen more stuff of lately that has really impressed me was The Grand Wizard. I think he was one of the best ever on the mic when it comes to managers. He could do some pretty hilarious promos, when he was being interviewed by Vince McMahon way back in the day.

I've also always highly enjoyed the promos of Sgt. Slaughter. The thing with him was that he didn't really have to cut a brilliant, well thought-out promo to get you. All he had to do was open his mouth and his voice instantly got your attention.

Jake Roberts was a God on the mic. From a psychological standpoint, there probably was no one better, both on the mic and in the ring for that matter.

Shane Douglas of course did some great promos. He was probably one of the best ever in ECW along with Foley and Raven of course.

I think Chris Benoit is really underrated on the mic. He doesn't cut promos often, but some of the best I've seen have been from Chris. Some of his promos about being "The Crippler" in ECW were amazing. And his promos during his feud with the Rock in 2000 were some great stuff.

Bret Hart isn't really thought of much as a promo guy, but I think some of the best promos ever, or at least amongst my favorite were his anti-American promos in 1997. I think Bret was finally becoming one of the best guys on the mic in the whole WWF/E by the time he departed. It was a real shame in many aspects.

Undertaker is also really good.

I'll stop there haha. Oh wait. The best ever? I'm gonna go with Ric Flair as #1. The Rock is very, and I mean VERY, close at #2.

Peace.

 

[Agrex]

Edge is by far the most charismatic superstar in WWE currently. Every time he cut a promo I would stop what I was doing and listen. His gimmick is interesting and that also helps his promos, but overall he is great on the mic.

Now when it comes down to the greatest one ever I would go with Hulk Hogan. This man draws so much attention in his promos it's unsurpassable. If his in-ring work was as good as his promos he would have been better then Bret Hart.

 

[TheGreatMurphy]

The Best on the mic has got to be The Rock, he was charismatic, entertaining and well thought during his promos see the undertaker fued from 98 as an example.

 

[mattsonr]

I can't pick the best, but I've always liked Jericho.

I mean, the guy made his debut on Raw, interupting the Rock, and not losing any ground with their promo. So to stay toe to toe with the Rock means a lot.

 

[weird86]

The best ever I'm gonna have to go with Jericho, or Edge. They both were such great faces and esp heels, but even at the top of the game when they were heels people would still laugh, and pay attention and liked them, because the fans knew they were trying hard for the fans. Currently I'm going to have to go with MVP I swear he gets better and better every week, and if SD looses him (a little rumor he's going to ecw which would be LAME), there only going to have Edge who can talk on the mic, but they should have both men considering there the top 2 Mic talkers now (Jericho too but he'll prob be on raw)

 

[Snake]

No mentions for Latino Heat? I think he was potentialy one of the best there ever has been, loved the lying cheating and stealing gimmick promos from a few years ago.

As far as others go, the Rock was very, very good. Triple H works well as a face (esp. with HBK) or a heel, similarly with Edge, who is a genius.

My favorite wrestler at the moment, Smackdowns Most Valuable Player, is also handy on the mic, hope he can get a push over the next 2 years.

 

[32gijoe]

"unfortunately deano i am the man of 1004 holds" was an instant classic. and put a relatively underated jericho on the map. and how about hbk's barber shop promo with "me being captain of the rockers" the problem with both of these guys is that they are so good in the ring you overlook how good their promos actully are. when shawn interviewed the cardboard cutout of diesel though he cemented himself with flair and dusty and the rowdy one the top 5 mic guys ever

 

[jcutter]

Here is a classic Macho Man promo from 1987.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx4GjIPTEvU

As insane and incoherent as this promo may seem, it is a clear example of how wrestling from the 80's will always outshine what we have now. Even though it is only 3 minutes, it gets the character over! He makes you believe that he's insane, and that he believes that he is the best. I would rather have quick bits like this, than 15 minutes of "I am the game............................................................................... because I am the game...............................................................................................................don't you know that I am the game"

 

[Guy]

In terms of shooting I think the Iron Sheik wins. The man is hilarious. I was eating pasta the other day and saw one of his youtube shoots and spit up the pasta. I haven't spat anything out of pure laughter in a while. "Nikolai is a jew" Classic!

In the shooting department New Jack also wins. Watch Forever Hardcore and you'll see the pure comedy.

In kayfabe the promos Taz (his intensity), The Dudleys (their natural habit of being dicks), Christian ('nuff said), Cactus Jack and Mankind (The Mick Foley character on the mic is boring. These two gimmicks bring in some passion and some psychotic feel into promos.)

Honorable mentions: Raven, Randy Savage, Triple H, Paul Heyman, Tommy Dreamer's old ECW stuff, and Edge.

 

[greer44644]

in my opinion it would have to be a toss up between rock ,y2j , and hbk... the rock was always pure charsima and thats what led to a succesfull in ring career and movie career .... y2j learned from all the proms him and the rock did together but latley it has not been quiet as good hopefully it will get better .. and hbk with his dx promos and his promos with hogan are the classic ones lol

 

[Freedom 35]

in my opinion it would have to be a toss up between rock ,y2j , and hbk... the rock was always pure charsima and thats what led to a succesfull in ring career and movie career .... y2j learned from all the proms him and the rock did together but latley it has not been quiet as good hopefully it will get better .. and hbk with his dx promos and his promos with hogan are the classic ones lol

these to me were solid choices but not outstanding choices

honestly I think the Rock was a good performer but Ive never been impressed by his promo work, to me hes too over the top and his promos IMO seemed too childish to take very seriously.

Jericho Is IMO only entertaining to me as a heel seeing as his non heel promos tend to bore me to death.

and for HBK while all his promos are god theyre arent at all outstanding, just solid. its like a Randy Orton match its gonna be good but wont blow you away.

my personal favorite curreent promo guys would be Edge and Christian Edge for the reason that he draws tremendous heat and always blows me away with his promos and has great timing on the mic, and for Christian this man is pure genius with a mic in his hand he puts so much time and dedication into his work and it really pays off, he has tremendous charisma and never cuts a bad promo hes probably the best current promo man in wrestling.

 

[blackhart07]

I think The Rock is years ahead of anyone. He had such pure charisma. A true legend on the mic. No matter if he was a heel of face always made for good televison.

Like some one said before go watch some old stuff of Taz in ECW, he just came of as a crazy killer. It was gold though i remember one he did hyping the match he did at Heatwave 1998 vs Bam Bam.

Cactus Jack was good to. He gave some good stuff in ECW the whole "anit-Hardcore" stuff was real good.

Shawn Michaels are also real good. As much as i hate Shawn you cant take away from his stuff on the mic. The DX stuff was classic.

For shoots i like Paul Heyman- The shoot at ECW ONS 05 was great "Hide your wives its Edge" One guy that always tells it like it is.

Im surprised no one has mentioned Jim Cornette for shoots. He would always have the shoot segments on RAW where he would rip into wcw specifically The NWO and Hogan.

 

[IAmDoogie]

I'll acknowledge blackhart07 and say Jim Cornette. His shoot on the business as a whole was amazing. He didn't limit himself to tearing down WCW and the nWo. He also took shots at HBK, basically calling him a whiny little child that cries in a corner when he doesn't get his way. He ripped Bret a new one..."If Bret Hart had been screwed as much as he says he has, he would have struck oil by now." Then goes on to give credit where its due..to the real greats, Flair, Taker, Austin and so on. I'm not sure of the date (i wanna say the 27th), but the late 10/1997 Cornette shoot on RAW was the best shoot i have ever seen.