What's The Purpose Of Mic Skills?

[123NewChamp]

Hello Everyone. I was thinking about this thread for awhile, and it's funny to me as I was thinking about this because it's an issue but not the point. And PLEASE don't take this the wrong way. But, the Question is:

What's The Purpose Of Mic Skills?

It trips me out, we all watch WWE every Monday and Friday Night, and the Pay Per View, and we do threads on a wrestler and the main thing that comes up is Mic Skills. It's WWE. World "WRESTLING" Entertainment. Notice the key action Verb is wrestling. The sport is wrestling.

But people say the key componets to character is charisma. I agree with that. But whenever it comes down to who's the better wrestler between The Miz and Bret Hart, it's the Miz because he has better Mic Skills. But the point of the matter is this. I'm a firm beleiver of this one thing and one thing only, either you can wrestle or you can't.

Before the entertainment era really took over. You didn't have to be good on the Mic or have good charisma to be champion. Look at Diesel, Ultimate Warrior, and Bret Hart. Diesel and Warrior them guys didn't have mic skills, but had charisma. But Bret had no Mic Skills nor charisma, and he was a 5 time WWE Champion. And nowadays we have or had wrestlers who could not wrestle but had good mic skills. Such as Batista, Edge, The Miz, and John Cena. (Need I say More?)

But the thing is we got great wrestlers who deserves the strap or more reigns than what they been getting. I'm glad CM Punk is getting his dues. But although he's in the Doghouse, John Morrison deserves a run with the title. And even before Air Boom Kofi Kingston deserves a shot too. So does Dolph Ziggler. And although this person don't deserves the WWE Championship strap just yet, Tyson Kidd deserves some respect as a wrestler as well as Jack Swagger.

So why are guys that cannot wrestle have been wasting 15 minutes of my tv time cutting promos? Why we see four 5 minute matches and a hour and 40 minutes worth of promo's within a 2 hour period? I thought I was watching Wrestling.When somebody ask who's the better wrestler or who will win between such and such, they average everything out and this person is over this person because of Mic Skills? We got wrestlers who got more than their share, and yeah they have charisma but like I said either they can wrestle or they can't. They can talk a good game, but can they wrestle? So folks, what is actually the true purpose of mic skills? How does it help with their wrestling technique?

And again don't take offense to this. I need a clear understanding.

 

[GI Cake]

Mic skills are important for establishing and building up a feud between wrestlers. Know why Rock was so loved and admired in the ring? Because using his charisma and his mic skills, he managed to get the entire WWE to want to see him whip some candy ass. Or when The Rock went heel, and became the "Corporate" Champion. Nobody would have cared if Rock gave some half-assed promo every week he would not be able to garner any heat.

But that's the past, lets look at current workers in the WWE right now that can't break out and become stars because of their limited mic skills. Tyson Kidd is hands down one of the best overall wrestlers in the WWE. He can work any facet of the game when need be and will never make a mistake in the ring. His Ring work is amazing, know what is holding him back? He has the personalty of a dead salmon and works the mic like a 3rd grader in the spelling bee.

And let's not forget John Morrison, John Morrison went from being in a amazing tag-team with The Miz and being able to garner heat by simply removing his shirt and giving a corny one-liner and the crowd wanted to see the California beach bum pummeled into the ground. Don't take my word for it, here is a youtube video.

[youtube]V8scRGSyFIM[/youtube]


Nothing Morrison has done on the mic now has been able to match what he did on the Dirt Sheet. Maybe except his program he worked with Drew Mcintyre to help bring him up into the Mid-Card. Morrison was on the edge of becoming a Main-Eventer. He had the Ring-Work, the look, the charisma, had everything he needed but he spent more time talking in the backstage and not talking on the mic and now he is in the dog house in the WWE with a chance of being "Future Endeavored."

 

[conici]

lets hold up the stupid train Ok mic skills mean alot its how the wrestler promotes himself its how they build up the title matches and incase you didnt know its WWE not world wrestling entertainment anymore mic skills mean alot and did i see you say the edge can't wrestle????? Blasphemy and mic skills have held many superstars back i.e Morrison mind you that ****e had something to do with it and many more

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

They are especially important when half your roster CAN'T wrestle. Also, you hit on the key "issue" already: it's an entertainment industry. You're not gonna draw mainstream fans and attention by technical wrestling all the time. I wish that weren't true, but it's pretty much a proven fact. You need guys like John Cena and the Miz to go out there and do all the PR, interviews, commercials, stupid movies, and late-night talk shows to put over the product.

But we're talking on-air mic skills, which I think translates into the previously mentioned activities. If you want to look at it from a career standpoint, you better have good mic skills or you're not getting very far in today's industry. The WWE is constantly looking for a face to a product, not just a good wrestler. Daniel Bryan is fantastic in the ring, but you never see him main eventing PPV's because his face doesn't translate into dollar signs. It's an ever-changing industry. When Bret Hart got huge he happened to be wrestling in an age where yes, WRESTLING mattered. Ratings were huge no matter what they did, so they could push technical stars and not worry so much about the face-time with advertising companies.

Not all era's focus on mic skills, and not all focus on in-ring ability. The Golden Age was all about charisma and doing things people had never seen. The 90's was all about tearing each other open and leaving bloody messes everywhere. The Attitude Era was ALL about the promo, and the drama of the moment. Only good mic workers got over then... The post-AE was all about great matches and good performers, who also had charisma. Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, etc etc.

It's always changing. Right now it's more about being a larger than life character that can draw heat or face pops in the most basic of sense. Trying to get over with kids is harder than you think... In 10 years who knows what it'll take to get over. What's truly amazing is the guys who have transformed to fit the business over generations. Guys like Triple H, Flair, and even Chris Jericho have changed to fit the product and done incredibly well for themselves. It's not ALL about mic ability.

 

[Theo Mays]

How aren't mic skills important? By talking it allows us to connect with the superstars. You can only get so far on wrestling skill in today's industry. Sure you bolded the WRESTLING part, but what about the ENTERTAINMENT part? Through talking it allows us to see how a superstar feels and connects with the audience from a different perspective. If a guy can work the mic, he can work the audience. Look at some of the greatest of all time? Hogan, Flair, Savage, Cena, Austin, Rock, Piper, the list goes on and on. Those guys can work the mic like nobodies business. The purpose of mic skills is to get the superstars over on another level. You can get by on your in ring skills, but in the modern industry of wrestling microphone work is just as important as wrestling skill.

 

[keehlnate]

I believe you emphasized the wrong word. The 'entertainment' is more important here than the world 'wrestling' itself. And a superstar should have the ring-skills and the mic-skills to be a much entertaining guy. This is not REAL wrestling. It doesn't matter if you can't do 'actual' wrestling, as long as your moves are 'stellar' and will drive the crowd crazy. (People's elbow is a classic example).

So back to mic skills. Mic skills gives character to a superstar. Mic skills gives them personality. Mic skills creates storylines and Mic skills adds a drama to feuds. Overall, Mic skills are essential for WWE to become entertaining.

 

[KoC417]

I will resist on ripping you a new one to answer your question.
Firstly who says Diesel and Bret weren't good on the mic? Have you ever listened to Pre-Concussion/Pre-WCW Bret? When he turned heel he could do a lot on the mic! And not to mention he could destroy people in the ring via technical wrestling abilities. And Diesel had a lot of Charisma and he didn't NEED to speak.

What is the purpose of mic skills? How are they important!?...
wait..did you just openly say you think the MIZ is a better wrestler than Bret Hart? Yeah this thread should be closed immediately and you should be sent to wrestling purgatory for that one...

Pre-entertainment era (as you dubbed it) if a wrestler couldn't talk he was given a manager to help along the way. For example: The Ringmaster. Austin had yet to develop his..unique mic work so he was given Ted Dibiase as a mouth piece. Austin could wrestle and Dibiase gave him the verbal skills.

You NEED mic skills. It has ZERO to do with wrestling "technique". They are 2 different categories. But IMO you NEED mic skills otherwise you are doomed unless you are lucky enough to either get a gimmick that requires little-no speaking (Goldberg at the start, Sting with his crow gimmick etc etc) , you get put in a tag team with someone who CAN speak while you develop your abilities or you get put with a manager who can speak FOR you. Without mic skills you are doomed.

The Miz didn't exactly have good mic work for a while. At one point the camera actually caught a glimpse of JR assisting Miz at the announce table writing down something for him to say for the people on live television.

 

[SD619]

Mic skills are important to carry a feud forward. Two guys fighting 3-4 matches in a row just because they managed to beat each other is not really entertaining. There needs to be some reason for the audience to be involved in the matches. Ultimately, in all wrestling promotions, it boils down to entertaining the audience.

Also, why are mic skills and charisma considered more important than in-ring ability? Consider the simple example of CM Punk and Tyson Kidd. Both of them are almost equal in wrestling ability. But CM Punk is at the top of the roster because he can entertain more than Kidd. That is the reason he is being given more opportunities that Kidd.

 

[GameOver]

It is a person to person basis, but they are in the business of "Entertainment" not beating the shit out of each other for 1 reason

one needs Mic Skills to get the people engaged in them and care for what they are doing either good or bad. To tell expand fueds, let people know what you are about and top of the list Cheap Heat/Pops. If you can't work the mic (and thusly work the crowd which is what they are in the business for) people turn off or just plain don't care.

Obviously there are some excemptions when someone has more of other areas to compensate for there lack of mic skills. Bret Hart was not great on the mic but he more then made up for it with 5 star matches and being just plain cool.

use an example, Steve Blackman "Lethal Weapon" had no charisma whatsoever (pretty much a martial arts robot) even though he was great in ring so noone cared, soon as he started getting some mic work and worked with Al Snow (Head Cheese) he became a likeable character and drew a response.

on the flipside bad mic work can turn people against you regardless of how great you might be as an in ring performer. an example of that would be AJ Styles, he's phenomenal in ring but as a talker he sucks and atleast for me he bores the shit out of me when he talks.

and then you have the out of this world mic work, and the prime example of that is The Ultimate Warrior, was hard to tell what in the hell he was talking about, but you couldn't not listen lol technically he was useless but he was so weird it was entertaining.

there you have it.

You need Mic Work to engage the crowd and get them interested in you and your work
and to "Entertain"

Mic skills are important to carry a feud forward. Two guys fighting 3-4 matches in a row just because they managed to beat each other is not really entertaining. There needs to be some reason for the audience to be involved in the matches. Ultimately, in all wrestling promotions, it boils down to entertaining the audience.

Also, why are mic skills and charisma considered more important than in-ring ability? Consider the simple example of CM Punk and Tyson Kidd. Both of them are almost equal in wrestling ability. But CM Punk is at the top of the roster because he can entertain more than Kidd. That is the reason he is being given more opportunities that Kidd.

Tyson Kidd and Even Bourne will NEVER be given a main event slot anyway, they are just way too small.

 

[FlairFan2003]

mic skills and charisma are WAY more important than in ring ability. Your interviews are how you sell your match and how you generate interest with fans. A great character who entertains on the mic will always do better than a great in ring performer who cant cut a great promo. Chris Benoit, great in ring performer, very limited on the mic, limited lack luster character, not a huge draw. Hogan and Cena relatively average in ring skills, charismatic characters, memorable promos, great drawing superstars. If you cant sell a match with your promos no one will watch. Remember that great match on Nitro Brett Hart vs Van Hammer ? Maybe not because w/out any good interviews promoting a feud America changed channels in mass during that tilt. They missed a great match, one of Hart's best, but fans didnt care. Fact is, if you cant sell me on your promos Im not spending my money buying your match.

 

[123NewChamp]

I will resist on ripping you a new one to answer your question.
Firstly who says Diesel and Bret weren't good on the mic? Have you ever listened to Pre-Concussion/Pre-WCW Bret? When he turned heel he could do a lot on the mic! And not to mention he could destroy people in the ring via technical wrestling abilities. And Diesel had a lot of Charisma and he didn't NEED to speak.

What is the purpose of mic skills? How are they important!?...
wait..did you just openly say you think the MIZ is a better wrestler than Bret Hart? Yeah this thread should be closed immediately and you should be sent to wrestling purgatory for that one...

Pre-entertainment era (as you dubbed it) if a wrestler couldn't talk he was given a manager to help along the way. For example: The Ringmaster. Austin had yet to develop his..unique mic work so he was given Ted Dibiase as a mouth piece. Austin could wrestle and Dibiase gave him the verbal skills.

You NEED mic skills. It has ZERO to do with wrestling "technique". They are 2 different categories. But IMO you NEED mic skills otherwise you are doomed unless you are lucky enough to either get a gimmick that requires little-no speaking (Goldberg at the start, Sting with his crow gimmick etc etc) , you get put in a tag team with someone who CAN speak while you develop your abilities or you get put with a manager who can speak FOR you. Without mic skills you are doomed.

The Miz didn't exactly have good mic work for a while. At one point the camera actually caught a glimpse of JR assisting Miz at the announce table writing down something for him to say for the people on live television.

As far as the Miz and Bret Hart is conerned. I was exaggerating. Cause everybody knows Bret was and still is 10x the better wrestler than Miz. I basically said that some people on these comparison threads for example will put miz over as the better wrestler because he has better mic skills. That's all. So I basically used them two as an example. I should've said "for example." My bad if I mislead you or anyone on the thread.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

The purpose is for a wrestler to sell his/her gimmick and get over with the fans. Without the use of mics or promos, there would be no reason for gimmicks. WWE would basically be just like college or olympic wrestling.

Look at guys like Stone Cold and The Rock. Both were amazing on the mic but not great in the ring. Yet, they're considered two of the all-time greats. Why? Because of their mic skills and how they sold their gimmicks.

Stone Cold's beer drinking anti-hero persona would never work without mic skills.

It's how we relate, and decide whether to love or hate these wrestlers.

 

[berlinbrawler]

WRESTLING may be the action verb, but it's the ENTERTAINMENT part that really sells the tickets, even if most people probably don't care to admit that.
Great wrestling skills only get you so far. Once upon a time, when most wrestlers where just huge fat guys or immobile muscleheads, someone with great technical skills could stand out. Todays's fans, however, have seen more than their share of great technical wrestlers. The market is oversaturated with great technical skills. Being able to perform a moonsault is no longer a ticket to stardom. It's much more important to be able to "tell a story", both in the ring and on the mic.

Speaking for myself, after more than 20 years of watching this stuff I must admit I'm also more interested in the soap aspects of the show than the matches themselves (with the occasional exception). It used to be different, but my days as a wrestling purist have long since passed. Otherwise I would watch Ring of Honor instead. I leave that to the true hardcores (who have long since given up any hope of EVER bedding a girl).

 

[LoudClearVoice]

Otherwise I would watch Ring of Honor instead. I leave that to the true hardcores (who have long since given up any hope of EVER bedding a girl).

That really is the truth. WWE is not meant for diehard technical wrestling fans. It is meant for fans who can appreciate a character, storylines, and gimmicks, and for Little Jimmies. It's meant to be entertainment.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Mic skills are just as important as in ring skill, if not more. Someone could be better at submissions than Bret Hart, a more insane flyer than Jimmy Snuka, and more built than the Ultimate Warrior, but if he can't work a promo then fans might struggle to find a reason to show him support in a match. Generally the better someone is at promos, the more support they get because they give the fans a reason to care. You need the right tools in order to succeed in wrestling and one of those is mic skills.

 

[#hamler]

Mic skills is an overrated concept. It's way more important to connect with the crowd and being able to talk good doesn't mean shit. Guys like Batista, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy and a few others weren't known for their ability to talk but flourished well in the WWE without them. I hate how a wrestler is rated on their mic skills rater then charisma they show and the vibe they give off. Are mic skills important; no. However, you need to connect with the crowd in some way if you do not talk well. Plenty of guys have gone far in the WWE without having great mic skills.

 

[LorenzoVargas1977]

Yeah, promo skills are very important to not only advance a storyline,but to advance a career as well.A good promo will get you noticed,but as Punk has shown,an excellent one can skyrocket your career.Some guys get by with being great in ring performers but most tend to be overlooked by creative,future endeavoured,and then forgotten.I will say this though,a lot of guys that the smarks accuse of being "horrible at the mic "(Bret Hart,Benoit,ect)where actually not bad at all when it came to getting interest in their matches via promos IMO

 

[123NewChamp]

Mic skills is an overrated concept. It's way more important to connect with the crowd and being able to talk good doesn't mean shit. Guys like Batista, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy and a few others weren't known for their ability to talk but flourished well in the WWE without them. I hate how a wrestler is rated on their mic skills rater then charisma they show and the vibe they give off. Are mic skills important; no. However, you need to connect with the crowd in some way if you do not talk well. Plenty of guys have gone far in the WWE without having great mic skills.

Hamlertainment. You hit the nail on the head. Out of everyone you got the picture and came close to what I was talking about. U right, Mic skills are overrated and some superstars have flourished without them. And wrestlers seemed to be more rated on their mic skills than other componets. Im not agreeing with you just because, your answer were more different than the rest, but what you are saying is the truth. There's more ways to connect with your audience then just doing 15 minute promos.

 

[DirtyD79]

Mic skills are important because you need to be able to get the audience on your side if you're a face or against you if you're a heel. A large part of the way you do it is through the stuff you say and how you say it during promos and interviews. I mean if a guy is supposed to be Grim McSlam Eater of Planets, Damner of Souls, Kicker of Puppies and he sounds like Steve Urkel nobody is gonna take him seriously. This was why we had managers, for wrestlers who would kill their gimmick the very second they open their mouth.

 

[TheGamea]

Hello Everyone. I was thinking about this thread for awhile, and it's funny to me as I was thinking about this because it's an issue but not the point. And PLEASE don't take this the wrong way. But, the Question is:

What's The Purpose Of Mic Skills?

It trips me out, we all watch WWE every Monday and Friday Night, and the Pay Per View, and we do threads on a wrestler and the main thing that comes up is Mic Skills. It's WWE. World "WRESTLING" Entertainment. Notice the key action Verb is wrestling. The sport is wrestling.

But people say the key componets to character is charisma. I agree with that. But whenever it comes down to who's the better wrestler between The Miz and Bret Hart, it's the Miz because he has better Mic Skills. But the point of the matter is this. I'm a firm beleiver of this one thing and one thing only, either you can wrestle or you can't.

Before the entertainment era really took over. You didn't have to be good on the Mic or have good charisma to be champion. Look at Diesel, Ultimate Warrior, and Bret Hart. Diesel and Warrior them guys didn't have mic skills, but had charisma. But Bret had no Mic Skills nor charisma, and he was a 5 time WWE Champion. And nowadays we have or had wrestlers who could not wrestle but had good mic skills. Such as Batista, Edge, The Miz, and John Cena. (Need I say More?)

But the thing is we got great wrestlers who deserves the strap or more reigns than what they been getting. I'm glad CM Punk is getting his dues. But although he's in the Doghouse, John Morrison deserves a run with the title. And even before Air Boom Kofi Kingston deserves a shot too. So does Dolph Ziggler. And although this person don't deserves the WWE Championship strap just yet, Tyson Kidd deserves some respect as a wrestler as well as Jack Swagger.

So why are guys that cannot wrestle have been wasting 15 minutes of my tv time cutting promos? Why we see four 5 minute matches and a hour and 40 minutes worth of promo's within a 2 hour period? I thought I was watching Wrestling.When somebody ask who's the better wrestler or who will win between such and such, they average everything out and this person is over this person because of Mic Skills? We got wrestlers who got more than their share, and yeah they have charisma but like I said either they can wrestle or they can't. They can talk a good game, but can they wrestle? So folks, what is actually the true purpose of mic skills? How does it help with their wrestling technique?

And again don't take offense to this. I need a clear understanding.

you think Batista was good on the mic??? really...really, I man he got better from the evolution days but he still sounds like a trained chimp, but I digress...
and the thing about old school mic skills is different from today’s mic skills, back in the 80's there was a lot of the show starting and some superstar moans and talks for the first 15 min of the broadcast until sumone shuts him up, when WWF used to come on Saturday morning after cartoon, people would wrestle, announcers would talk, if you had a beef you would talk to mean gene backstage and air your beef (maybe you get into a pre fight beef maybe it's would wait till the pay per view) and to be honest THAT SH*T was great I LOVE it when I see backstage shoot instead of in ring bulls***, I think we need more backstage shoot I think it make feud better and last longer and the thing was no one EVER has a reason to call you out back in the day except you had a title and they wanted it now most stars to have a reason to start a feud…

ok I sort of got off track but t he point is that WWE has changed, there is more face time in the wwe and being that we have to see about 45 minutes of “mindless” ima fu** you up conveniently at the next pay per view, we normally like to be able to understand the superstar.
You ever heard John Morrison, Alicia Fox or Evan Bourne talk it feels like they’re reading off a tele prompter and yes Wrestling is the second word of the company ENTERTAINMENT is the last and that’s what puts asses in the seats.

 

[TheGamea]

Obviously there are some excemptions when someone has more of other areas to compensate for there lack of mic skills. Bret Hart was not great on the mic but he more then made up for it with 5 star matches and being just plain cool.
on the flipside bad mic work can turn people against you regardless of how great you might be as an in ring performer. an example of that would be AJ Styles, he's phenomenal in ring but as a talker he sucks and atleast for me he bores the shit out of me when he talks.
and then you have the out of this world mic work, and the prime example of that is The Ultimate Warrior, was hard to tell what in the hell he was talking about, but you couldn't not listen lol technically he was useless but he was so weird it was entertaining.

Why does everyone think Bret was/is horrible on the mic, yes NOW he sucks but as I said google one of those bret backstage shoots they where freakin awesome and yeah his coolness played into it

on the flipside bad mic work can turn people against you regardless of how great you might be as an in ring performer. an example of that would be AJ Styles, he's phenomenal in ring but as a talker he sucks and atleast for me he bores the shit out of me when he talks.
and then you have the out of this world mic work, and the prime example of that is The Ultimate Warrior, was hard to tell what in the hell he was talking about, but you couldn't not listen lol technically he was useless but he was so weird it was entertaining.

For some odd reason I think AJ is better mic wise as a face, I don’t think he does well as a heel, and it seems a trained seal can pull off a good heel, but not AJ, maybe its just me…

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

It trips me out, we all watch WWE every Monday and Friday Night, and the Pay Per View, and we do threads on a wrestler and the main thing that comes up is Mic Skills. It's WWE. World "WRESTLING" Entertainment. Notice the key action Verb is wrestling. The sport is wrestling.

The "sport" is not exactly wrestling, it's pro wrestling and the main aim of pro wrestling is to entertain the audience that is watching it. The main aim of a pro wrestler is to entertain the audience. The main aim of a real wrestler is to win matches. In a scenario in which entertaining the audience forms a core part of your job, mic skills will always play an important part.

But people say the key componets to character is charisma. I agree with that. But whenever it comes down to who's the better wrestler between The Miz and Bret Hart, it's the Miz because he has better Mic Skills. But the point of the matter is this. I'm a firm beleiver of this one thing and one thing only, either you can wrestle or you can't.

That's not true. Bret Hart was a better pro wrestler than The Miz. He was a bigger and more consistent draw than Miz. Miz may have better mic skills than Bret but Bret had better connection with the audience mostly because he portrayed a hardworking everyday type of guy whom a lot of people could relate with. The word that you mention here, charisma, it's all about your ability to connect with the audience and Bret did have more of that than Miz. Mic Skills, if I may add, are only a part of how you exude your charisma.

Before the entertainment era really took over. You didn't have to be good on the Mic or have good charisma to be champion. Look at Diesel, Ultimate Warrior, and Bret Hart. Diesel and Warrior them guys didn't have mic skills, but had charisma. But Bret had no Mic Skills nor charisma, and he was a 5 time WWE Champion. And nowadays we have or had wrestlers who could not wrestle but had good mic skills. Such as Batista, Edge, The Miz, and John Cena. (Need I say More?)

Diesel and Ultimate Warrior both had a great look. Nash had good mic skills but we got to see more of it when he went to WCW. They both had a great connection with the crowd which proves that they had charisma, just like Bret Hart.

As for the wrestlers of this era that you mentioned I can say with certainty that Edge and Cena at least are very good wrestlers. Batista was hit and miss and that largely had to do with the fact that he did not love wrestling too much and was especially demotivated when he faced off agains big names. Miz is young and is showing potential but needs to improve.

But the thing is we got great wrestlers who deserves the strap or more reigns than what they been getting. I'm glad CM Punk is getting his dues. But although he's in the Doghouse, John Morrison deserves a run with the title. And even before Air Boom Kofi Kingston deserves a shot too. So does Dolph Ziggler. And although this person don't deserves the WWE Championship strap just yet, Tyson Kidd deserves some respect as a wrestler as well as Jack Swagger.

CM Punk is getting his dues because of his mic skills. He was a good wrestler but without his epic shoot he would have never been given the accolades that he is currently getting. John Morrison is a terrible wrestler who has no idea of what ring psychology is and I'm glad that he is getting what he deserves. Kofi is a bit better than Morrison in terms of wrestling but not a whole lot better and certainly not good enough to be a champion. Dolph is good and is rightfully getting a push. I wager that if he improves his mic skills a bit, he can be a champion in a year. Tyson and Swagger need to improve their game a lot more before they can be even considered for discussion.

So what does all this prove? Firstly that most wrestlers do get what they deserve, nothing more and certainly nothing less. And secondly you need a well rounded game to succeed in this business.

So why are guys that cannot wrestle have been wasting 15 minutes of my tv time cutting promos? Why we see four 5 minute matches and a hour and 40 minutes worth of promo's within a 2 hour period? I thought I was watching Wrestling.When somebody ask who's the better wrestler or who will win between such and such, they average everything out and this person is over this person because of Mic Skills? We got wrestlers who got more than their share, and yeah they have charisma but like I said either they can wrestle or they can't. They can talk a good game, but can they wrestle? So folks, what is actually the true purpose of mic skills? How does it help with their wrestling technique?

And again don't take offense to this. I need a clear understanding.

Like I stated earlier, in pro wrestling, you need to connect with your audience. Mic skills help you do that. You need to explain to the audience why you want to fight someone and why you are in a wrestling ring at all. An audience connects with a well developed character in a story, not an unknown guy who does some cool stunts. Pro wrestling is essentially a medium for telling a story. You can tell a part of the story in the ring but in order to get the complete story you will need mic skills as well. That is why they are important.

As for why this comes up when you compare wrestlers, well good pro wrestlers are those who draw well. To draw well you need to connect with the crowd. To connect with the crowd most wrestlers need mic skills(there have been a handful of exceptions.) I guess by now you get my point.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

The truth is wrestling skills aren't nearly as important as they used to be. Wrestlers just have to be passable in the ring and not be overly boring when they wrestle, wrestling DOESN'T sell anymore, individuals who are in wrestling and feuds/storylines do.

Now I am a big fan of a technically sound match but your casual fan does not give 2 shits about watching a technically sound match and the wrestling itself only appeals to a small portion of the audience. Your average casual fan doesn't appreciate a match like Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit and that's the truth.

What a casual fan appreciates is an over the top character they can get behind and in this sense Mic skills are essential to a person getting over with the crowd as well as other things such as charisma. Mic skills help greatly into selling the crowd on a wrestler as an individual as well as selling the crowd on any feud/storyline said wrestler takes apart in. When wrestler A and wrestler B are having a feud they need people to get emotionally invested and actually care about why they are fighting, if they are wrestling for the sake of wrestling then people don't care, simple as that.

Even if a wrestler has no charisma if his mic skills are good enough he can make the audience actually give a shit about what he's doing because promo's and mic skills are the biggest component into driving a storyline.

Take the biggest storyline of the last 15 years for example Austin vs. McMahon.

This feud went on for a year and a half and outside of a handful of stunners and beatings they only had 3 matches in that year in a half (1 in april '98, St. Valentines day massacre and KOTR 99). The feud was driven mostly by promo's and mic work (and seeing Austin do something crazy such as filling his car with cement or giving McMahon and Rock a beer batch) and not the wrestling itself. The matches itself were the PAYOFF, but it was the promos, skits and MIC work that made people buy the matches.

That's the way to look at it, in a feud that actually makes money or a wrestler who makes money, the wrestling match itself is the payoff but the build up to that match is what makes people buy the match and one of the biggest components to a buildup is Mic work, as well as events that lead up to that match (like wrestler A screwing wrestler B out of a title match or something) but even after that event you need to keep driving it through mic work, give a reason why wrestler A screwed wrestler B and not just for the shit of it, if you don't give a reason for wrestler A screwing wrestler B then the whole thing falls apart and there is nothing intriguing about the storyline.

 

[shuckyducky]

I love how you stress WRESTLING when wrestling is totally associated with old school style promos and characters. Pro Wrestling is primarily about the stories and back and forth between wrestlers, and outcomes of matches more important than the matches themselves.

 

[FlairFan2003]

wrestling has ALWAYS been storyline driven, that is not new, its been like that since it debuted on TV in the 50s. Certainly a really entertaining match helps but if you cant talk you cant interest an audience in watching your match in the 1st place.