The best promo of all time????

[jeffrey9800]

Don't hit the reply button to say I'm full of shit right away.

I've seen a lot of great wrestling promo's, but there was always 2 that stood out for me.... well now 3

In no order

1- CM Punk's first pipebomb/contract signing with Vince (Ice cream bars)
2- The Rock's after Austin left http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKMT2zHdmbw
3- Paul Heyman AND Brock Lesnar yesterday.

So in a nutshell here's why

1- It changed the way we approached wrestling, it was now ok on TV for te wrestlers and for the fans to talk about "real backstage" bs. It shook things up and opened te door for a lot of stories these past three years. Now on TV they say : "Daniel Bryan won't be the champ because THE AUTHORITY don't let him" but before CM Punk's pipebomb it would've been : "DB can't win because he's weaker than (X) opponent" In retrospect, i'm not so sure it was a good thing but te promos were awesome.

2- The Rock made every promo look easy back then, but this one I was impressed, he had the facility and te perfect pitch like he always had, but he wasn't telling La Renaissance to shove their flags up their asses: He was telling a full locker room to get the F out if they didn't want to be there the night after Stone Cold left and everybody wanted to see him. There was no change in his delivery even with the amount of pressure and the importance that promo had. After that, no one was canting for Stone Cold who was a mega star. People were pissed at him for letting them down, that promo was KEY for te weeks to come, the fans could now concentrate on the product and not on the fact that SCSA was not there. It also allowed Vince to let Austin rot a few months so it told te other guys : " Shut your egos down cause if I can do my show without Austin, I can do it witout you "

3- Yesterday was better in my opinion than the last 2 I mentionned for a lot of reasons but here are a few :

- In a very intense social media era, fans were pumped to shit on the product if he wasn't there
- The pressure on Heyman and Lesnar to deliver that promo perfectly was HUGE!!! Heyman had to be very careful in his choice of words and his interaction with the public
- The transition (And please go watch it again cause it's my main point) between talking about CM Punk and bring the subject to the Undertaker vs Lesnar was brilliant, absolute genius, I even thaught :"When did he stopped talking about Punk?!" Heyman didn't say much, but he set the table for his message: the match he had to promote, in the hometown of one of his best friends, he had to blast him a bit, entering to his music, sitting in the middle like he does, while te crowd chanted is name.. he just let them chant until it stopped.... my god I could go on and on
- Lesnar's delivery was absolute gold, I don't remember hearing a great Lesnar promo, ever, (Well except his bud ligt stuff in UFC lol) but last night he delivered under a ton of pressure like if he was known for that.

Just a quick note, I don't include the comedy sketches as promo, so Y2J and Rock blasting Step was awesome but would never be in the top 3 promo's ever,

Also my memory sucks, so I might have forgotten some awesome promos that I didn't mention, I apologize for that. I'm just saying that those 3 are MY unforgettable promos, I'm well aware that it's debatable,

Thanks for reading!

 

[InaneAffliction]

One of my favorites and probably an underrated one was Heyman's promo on the go home Smackdown before the final WCW vs WWF match to determine who would "lose their jobs"

He ripped Vince for making wrestler a dirty word, says that he made Tazz a horrible color commentator, etc. While it was more work than shoot, it still got your attention and was a fitting go home to the PPV

 

[jones.ben1977]

nothing specific but I really enjoyed Jake Roberts promos, especially during his feud with Andre. The way how he didn't have to yell and scream just the cold look and tone was so great.

 

[PingPongBundy]

Oh man, there are just so many great ones that it's hard to pick a favorite. Two that definitely stand out for me have already been mentioned, those being the Hogan promo and the Paul Heyman one right before the 2001 Survivor Series. Another one that stands out for me was Ric Flair's worked-shoot promo with Vince McMahon, right before their match at the 2002 Royal Rumble. Cena also gave one that I loved. It was a backstage promo and it must have been right before a Cyber Sunday. Todd Grisham was interviewing him backstage and there was going to be a match between Cena and an opponent that the fans could vote on. Well he ends up going crazy in the promo and screaming at the top of his lungs. I can't find it on YouTube otherwise I'd post the link here. He does this without trying too hard and I still remember it even though it had to be close to ten years ago. Of course, who could forget Eric Bischoff's return. He went on a rant and it was made memorable that Bischoff working for Vince was something that had never been envisioned before this night. The only thing that could have made this better was if they hadn't blown it and shown him arriving before he came out. It would have made for an incredible crowd reaction had they not known it was coming.

 

[BigThunder]

Dusty's "Hard times" and Foley's "Cane Dewey" are classics. And yes, Jake's promos were the best heel promos ever. And Punk is the best promo of modern times. The subsequent contract signing with Cena is easily the best of its kind, and his "boxing with God" promo is the best thing to involve the Rock since his return.

*sigh* Screw the anti-IWC trolls. I miss Punk.

My absolute favorite? Brian Pillman's prayer rally on RAW for Bret after his kayfabe knee injury to Bret. Owen's whiny implorations always put me on the floor. But I suspect I'm the only one who remembers that one, and it's really not a great promo, just entertaining.

Edit: Here it is, in fabulous blurro-vision:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02bXqJUAxHQ

 

[PingPongBundy]

My absolute favorite? Brian Pillman's prayer rally on RAW for Bret after his kayfabe knee injury to Bret. Owen's whiny implorations always put me on the floor. But I suspect I'm the only one who remembers that one, and it's really not a great promo, just entertaining.

This was so long ago, I wish I could remember it. I'll look it up. You did remind me of another one, though. At the 1994 Royal Rumble, Owen's scathing remarks about how Bret just had to tag him and that he was too selfish was pure genius. It was his first real, true heel moment. He played the whiny, spoiled brat little brother role so perfectly here.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Hogan's heel turn at Bash of The Beach 96, back then though numerous main event wrestlers such as Brett Hart, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Lex Luger, etc had all had multiple heel face turns, Hogan's character was so established, so Iconic, just the very idea of a Hogan Heel Turn was unfathomable, the one untouchable character in wrestling. When he turned, it was one of the last truly surprising moments in wrestling. Hogan's accompanying promo, which played into the narrative of who Hogan was behind the scenes in real life, quickly became one of the most iconic moments in wrestling history. Through Hogan's long career, this stands as his best promo all time.

Ric Flair's Return, Sept 98: When Eric Bischoff tried to fire Flair, wrestling fans suddenly got a very real look at the dysfunction plaguing WCW. In the following months fans carried signs and started chants in arenas of "Free Flair" and "We Want Flair", there were rumors that Vince McMahon would put him on Raw (those plans were scrapped last second due to worries about Flair's contract status and if WCW could sue, important since WWE was already suing WCW over portraying Hall & Nash as WWE employees during the initial Invasion Angle), fans organized boycotts of WCW sponsors, listing corporate names and contact info on websites and even hi jacked People Magazine's Most Beautiful Person poll, pushing Flair to 2nd place in the voting. The litigation between Flair & Bischoff was covered in the main stream press, including reports that Flair had spent over two million dollars in legal fees. His subsuquent return after a nearly 7 month abscence dominated the entire episode of Nitro, taking up the last half hour of the show, hi lighted by Flair's emotional, tear filled promo to a standing ovation, an interview that addressed several real life, behind the scenes events between Flair, his family, & Bischoff. The tears turned to anger as more of the real life anger between the two was discussed. Eventually Bischoff interupted, only to be shouted down as Flair lead the crowd in chants of "Abuse of power". Very rarely in wrestling do the performers have a chance to break character and address the behind the scenes drama that dictates what goes on screen. Vince McMahon had done it in his "Brett screwed Brett" promo addressing the Montreal Screw Job, but nothing before or since used real life and produced the kind of drama and intensity on screen as Flair's "Abuse of power" promo, totally breaking down the wall between real life and fake wrestling like nothing before it. Without the massive response to "Abuse of power" there may never had been a CM Punk Pipebomb.

 

[Thejock83]

Best promo of all time? King of the Ring 1996. That's right, 15 minutes before THAT promo was one that blew it and all others out of the water:

"..take a good look. I'M THE BRIGHTEST STAR TO SET FOOT ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH! WHILE YOU CROWN A KING OF THE RING, a leader of a new revolution ascends to his throne..I'M GONNA RAPE, PILLAGE AND PLUNDER THIS ENTIRE FEDERATION!"

The genius of Brian Pillman. It also has the bonus of a mini Hollywood Blondes reunion as he and Austin passed each other in the aisle way.

 

[PedigreeTHE619Chokeslam]

One of my favorites that just came to my head was Cena talking about his I quit match against Orton. I'm almost positive it was vs Orton in 2009, I've been looking for it on YouTube and can't find it. I'm not the biggest Cena fan, was more of a fan back then but from what I can remember the promo was absolutely excellent, very great delivery.

Can anyone try and find it if they know which one I'm talking about. Been looking for a little while now...

 

[Creepy Old Man]

Brock's wimpy girl voice always lets him down, but his promo Monday was pretty good. It wasn't The Rock, but it wasn't Jeff Hardy either.

I always liked the one where Bret Hart "snapped" on Vince in 1997. Gritty, incendiary stuff from a guy who is always pilloried as a boring stick man.

 

[JerichoHolic00]

I'm not the biggest Punk fan but his promo face to face with The Rock before the Rumble, the "your arms are just too short to box with god" one. I'd put that promo up there with anything. Flairs after the Rumble 92 is great as well.

 

[Sheltonguy]

If we're talking all time it'd be hard to not include Rick Flair, well I got some bad news I'm not including Flair, but with that being said here's my three in no particular order

1. Cm punk pipe bomb
2. Paul heyman shoot on Vince about stealing from ECW, making wrestling a dirty word, ect.
Randy Savave cream of the crop promo, I seen it the other day on the WWE Network and its probably one of my favorites ever

 

[TM Punk]

"He's so strong. He's so powerful, but so FOOLISH! Foulish to think he could walk into the pit. You think you're something? You ain't nothing. You're a piece of flesh. When I look at my opponent standing across from me, I say that's my dinner. That's my meal. That's my meal ticket. Everyone in the world wants that belt, but im the only one that can take it! What would you do if you were driving down the highway and you saw a mack truck swerve over the double line straight for you? Yeah, most people would move. But some people would face it head on to see if they can live through it! How big were your arms after I left you lying, 24? Yeah, 24 cold. Man. Cold."

I didnt do it justice, because I was going off memory. This was a promo Jake Roberts cut on Hulk Hogan. You can find it on YouTube if you search "Jake Roberts Hulk Hogan promo". It was for a house show headlined by roberts vs hogan sometime in the 80's. Who knows how many people saw this promo, or how many years it went unwatched before YouTube was a thing. But you can tell how much this promo meant to him. Ive watched other promos of his, but this one is my favorite. This promo had fire. He was full throttle. It didnt matter to him that no one was going to see this but the people of winnepeg. This was his chance to show his skill against hulk hogan. He did.

 

[Herbnat]

I think the best two promos of all time belong to paul. The first one being at the original ecw one night stand ppv when he gave his promo in the center of the ring talking to bischoff and everyone else in the balcony. The other promo would be on the tnn network when he yelled at the network to kick them off and revealed how they where courting the wwe at the time.

 

[enviousdominous]

You want pipe-bombs? There was a man who was dropping pipe-bombs on the mic every time a promoter was brave enough to give him one. A man who I put up there as my number one most entertaining manager of all time.

James E Cornette:

[YOUTUBE]1K4i1l22jCw[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]J6kNcoM1qOQ[/YOUTUBE]

I haven't seen a Jim Cornette promo that registers as mediocre or below average. Maybe I've only seen his best work, but the man has been gold everytime I've seen him. There's also the fact that his commentaries about the business are pretty damn poignant and are worth checking out.

I'd be remiss if I didn't include this gem, the original pipe-bomb:

[YOUTUBE]njzm6_LSdDw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[enviousdominous]

I vividly remember this as being the first time I ever saw a performer go beyond the common creative boundaries of a promo and actually give an honest unscripted shoot. I realize that I'm contradicting my description of an earlier posted video, because for me THIS is the original pipe-bomb.

Jeff Jarrett returns to Raw, and nobody is spared:

[YOUTUBE]xMYkenMzS94[/YOUTUBE]

 

[WWFan79]

Hulk Hogan promos he did at Wrestlemania.

Against Andre at Wrestlemania 3 with Vince holding the Mic, WM 5 against Savage, WM 4, WM 6. That is old school promo, telling a story which is to be concluded in a match.

The promos nowadays are just all over the place, and rarely advance a match and reasoning behind it. Nor does it conclude. It's just one big self-promo after another, either complaining about something and resulting in wrestlers leaving, disappearing, etc. The 'storylines' rarely finish in a satisfactory or conclusive matter.

All the Bret-Hart Austin promos during 1996-97 were just amazing. As well as almost any Austin Rock promos leading up to their WM matches. At the end of the day, it was about 2 guys wanting it so bad to get that 3 count. Simple as that.

The Rock's early promos during the Nation of Domination days when he was the cool, cocky guy, pre-yelling guy was gold.

 

[thebarber]

One of my favorites and probably an underrated one was Heyman's promo on the go home Smackdown before the final WCW vs WWF match to determine who would "lose their jobs"

He ripped Vince for making wrestler a dirty word, says that he made Tazz a horrible color commentator, etc. While it was more work than shoot, it still got your attention and was a fitting go home to the PPV

Agree, this promo from the masterful Paul Heyamn was epic, still at a time when behind the scenes references were at a bare minimum.
Punks pipebomb was good, for this time, but nothing on some of the greatest promos in history. Some of Snake Roberts promos in 1991 after turning heel at Summerslam 1991 were epic, his tirades toiwards Randy Savage were plain evil.
Hulk Hogan infamous 1996 promo at Bash at the Beach changed the entire face of pro wrestling in North America.

 

[rge2010]

A few I have enjoyed over the years for various reasons...

Paul Heymans worked shoot on Vince back in 2001

The Rock shooting on Austin and the locker room in 2002

The Rock in his first concert in 2003

Shawn Michaels absolutely owning Montreal in 2005

I am pretty sure John Cena cut a great passionate promo about WWE a few years which was sounded out by Paul Heyman as one of the bets ever. Cant remember the year though.

 

[Kris Benwa]

You guys took a lot of the good ones. I'll add to the John Cena list and say his promo on The Rock the RAW before WM28. I could feel he was speaking with conviction and from the heart, the delivery was powerful, just a great promo all around which I will transition to another recent promo I liked. I believe it was on old school but it was before WM 29 for sure it was The Rock and Cena talking and it's the one where "The Rock says you think you can beat me, but I know I can beat you."

One of my personal favorites and one that I feel is very underrated is Kane talking about why he attacked the Undertaker in 2010. When he was the WHC it was around 9 minutes of a very intriguing story that added to Kane's story. The lighting, videos, and sound effects add a ton to the promo also. I'll try to include the video for anyone who wants to watch.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[/YOUTUBE]

 

[JohnJohnson]

Some of my favorites are always Mick Foley Promos. I can't post links because my work computer blockes YouTube. But I really liked "I gave you Cactus Jack". It was basically about him giving the fans what they wanted, and then putting on one hell of a brutal match, and all the fans just chanted for Austin, who wasn't even in the match. A promo like that would really fit now as well with all the CM Punk chants.

Another one I liked is the one he did on Edge before he was going to face Taker in a Hell in a Cell match. I don't recall exactly what he said but it was something along the lines of Edge needing to bring back the same Edge that put him through the flaming table. He said that if he brought the current white tuxedo wearing Edge, the luffa sponge bathing Edge, the teater totter Edge, (some more insults), The Undertaker would tear him apart. The passion and emotion and perfect timing and pitch made it awesome.

I also loved the promo he did on CM Punk during his last title reign. Punk had been coming out every week telling us his name, that he's the best and then how many days he was champ(somehow this was considered gold) and then Foley basically says something like "Do you want to be a statistic, or do you want to be a legend!". Of course Foley makes it very dramatic.

Another great one of his was a backstage promo where he seriously went off on The Rock, when he gave him a copy of his book and later found it in a trash can. The emotion was great and looked very convincing.

 

[Mongoose McQueen]

I don't think there honestly is one, there have been so many great promo's over the years. For me one of my favorite promo's was John Cena's promo on The Rock where he talked about how he was going to beat The Rock and how The Rock was no longer the same Rock that he was before he left for Hollywood. I also enjoyed Cena's rap promo in Cleveland to build up to the first Rock vs Cena match.

Notable mentions-even though I am not a fan of his, CM Punk's pipe bomb promo has to get a mention.

 

[$Mr. 100%]

Wow so many promos come 2 mind. Some of my favorites that haven't mentioned. Hogan joining nwo and his promo da following nite on nitro. That 2 me totally sold him being nwo coming out n all black w/even his beard dyed black. Austins promo n ecw b4 mikey whipwreck and sandmans ladder match when Austin sat atop da ladder. Of course Austin 3:16. Hhh and foleys promo b4 street fight n early 99 i believe. "they call him cactus jack." And last but not least arn Anderson promo when da 4 horsemen initially were named

 

[$Mr. 100%]

Almost 4got shane Douglas throwing down nwa title. "and rick steamboat. And they can all kiss my ass! Cuz i refuse 2 represent that died r.i.p 7 yrs ago!" classic. Also when flair turned on sting and recreated horsemen. "u can't jump on flying Brian! U can't jump in arm! And u can only breathe if da horsemen allow u 2!" very underrated

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

Wow, there's a lot to chose from but the first one you have to mention is the Austin 3:16 promo. That was so iconic and really gave birth to one of the biggest stars in wrestling history. Then you have Mick Foley's "Cane Dewey" promo from ECW, which is another classic. CM Punk's "pipebomb" promo from 2011 also comes to mind, and while it wasn't as significant as say Austin 3:16, it was still a memorable moment that took CM Punk to the next level. Those are some of the more obvious choices.

One of my personal favorites is the "hard times" promo by Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes vs. Flair was the perfect feud, it was wrestling's embodiment of class warfare, and that promo by Rhodes put the feud over perfectly.
[YOUTUBE]M4MmynUrze8[/YOUTUBE]

Somebody else mentioned the "cream of the crop" promo by Randy Savage, and it deserves another mention here, because it's definitely one of my favorites as well.
[YOUTUBE]8C4lK41SX-Q[/YOUTUBE]

The last video I want to leave you with is actually a mash-up of three of the greatest promos of all time. Brought to you by the Ultimate Warrior, Lex Luger and the hack owner of CZW, John Zandig.
[YOUTUBE]vj6c7VuErLw[/YOUTUBE]

JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESUS