When you really sit and think about it, this is a difficult list to criticize and say how you'd improve it, mainly because 25 just isn't a good enough number to list all of the great mic men (and women) in the history of the WWE or professional wrestling. Sure they missed out on a lot of great workers on the mic (Eddie Guerrero, Arn Anderson, Jim Cornette, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Sensational Sherri, Nick Bockwinkel, Jerry Lawler, Raven, Shane Douglas, Curt Hennig, etc.), but when you think about it, all of the 25 guys on the list deserve to be there. The only two I kind of question are Santino Marella and the Miz, but if they increased the list to 50, I'd have no problem at all with them being there.
The problem for me is that I'm of the mindset that few wrestlers of the current era even compare to pretty much everyone from the past on the mic. And that's not the idea that "wrestling sucks now, it was way better in the Attitude Era" or anything silly like that. It's that most wrestlers on the mic, with a few exceptions are mostly just reciting scripts, which to me kills the artform of promo cutting. It's much better when wrestlers are speaking their minds and from their hearts and really getting into and feeling their character. In the old days, up until the last 7-8 years that's how it was. And if a wrestler couldn't cut a promo, they put him with someone that could, either a manager or a tag team partner that made up for the guy's lack of mic skills (The Hart Foundation comes to mind here). Now, guys are mostly reading scripts and it just doesn't feel as genuine or creative.
I mean most of the lower-to mid card guys from the 80's and even early 90's had better promos than most of the main event guys today IMO. So while guys like Santino Marella and The Miz are good on the mic, it's hard for me to put them over the Million Dollar Man, Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, the Legion of Doom, or Arn Anderson.
As far as who's on the list, Santino and the Miz are probably the only ones I would definitely take off. The ones I would possibly take off would be Ted Dibiase, Rick Rude, JBL, Captain Lou Albano, and Jesse Ventura. And in their place, I would possibly put Arn Anderson, Nick Bockwinkel, Kurt Angle, Jim Cornette (actually I would put him on there, in place of Lou Albano), and maybe Shawn Michaels.
Again the thing is, it really isn't a shame to not be in the top 25, because there's so many great ones, 25 isn't enough.
As for should Stone Cold have been No.1? I don't agree with that. If I were to make a top 5/10, I think it would look something like this.....
1. Ric Flair
2. The Rock
3. Rowdy Roddy Piper
4. Stone Cold Steve Austin
5. Jake "the Snake" Roberts
6. Mick Foley
7. Macho Man Randy Savage
8. Chris Jericho
9. Dusty Rhodes
10. Jim Cornette
I'll admit that the Rock was more entertaining on the mic than Ric Flair and had funnier catchphrases, and could also ad-lib better, but I think Ric Flair really set the standard for promo work in pro wrestling and was more focused and to the point. Also the Rock had the tendancy to bury his opponents, which while often entertaining, really isn't a good thing to do. So I give the edge to Ric Flair and because he also had so many iconic catchphrases as well. Even today he cuts better promos than 98% of everyone in pro wrestling.
So with Flair and the Rock being the top two, the next up are Piper and Stone Cold with Jake the Snake not far behind. Roddy Piper is the best ad-libber in wrestling history and really set the standard for the "motormouth" style of cutting a wrestling promo. Stone Cold was darned good as well and highly entertaining, and also had numerous catchphrases. But he wasn't quite as creative as Roddy Piper.
Jake the Snake I put at No. 5 because he pioneered the calculating, chilling, downright scary style of promo cutting, that few since have been able to emulate (Undertaker and Raven are probably the ones that have come the closest). Most of your scary type of pro wrestling promos were from lunatic, savage like wrestlers (Mad Dog Vachon, the Wild Samoans, etc.), Jake was like a regular normal guy that you saw walking in the park, but was actually sadistic and crazy. That's what was even more scary about him.
Mick Foley was quite possibly the most diverse promo cutter and maybe the most passionate promo cutter of all-time (along with Ric Flair). Foley also tried to have really deep, philosphical style of promos which was a territory few had went before him or since. But he also could do the crazy, sadistic type of promos as Cactus Jack, then with the early version of Mankind. And he could also do down right hilarious comedic promos with Stone Cold and the Rock, as Mankind, Dude Love, or as just Mick Foley.
Actually add Randy Savage to the most passionate promo cutters with Flair and Foley. Savage had a great and unique voice for wrestling and was as entertaining as anyone ever on the mic.
Chris Jericho is also multi-faceted when it comes to promos. He can be your obnoxios, witty, sarcastic jerk (as either a heel or a babyface), he has had plenty of great catchphrases, and he can also be a cold, calculating, sociopathic heel as he's done in his later run.
It's kind of a shame at how so many people on this thread have undervalued the mic skills of Dusty Rhodes who is definitely one of the best ever on the mic. He had genuine, passionate promos that were at times hilarious (mainly do to his voice), but also quite deep and serious (his "Hard Times" promo speaks to this). Dusty Rhodes along with Roddy Piper and Ric Flair really elevated the art of promo-cutting during the 1980's.
And finally I list someone that no one has yet mentioned and that is Jim Cornette. Other than probably Roddy Piper there is no one in the history of pro wrestling that is better at utlilizing the "motormouth" style of promo cutting than Jim Cornette. He's got a great annoying voice that makes him easily hated (kind of like Paul Heyman), he knew how to get the guys he was managing over (as well as his opponents), he was hilarious, and he could also do really good shoot promos (watch his groundbreaking and amazing shoots that he did on Monday Night Raw in 1997 and 1998 to see what I mean). Jim Cornette is highly underrated, and I would dare say he is the best manager on the mic in history (though Bobby Heenan and Paul Heyman come close with Captain Lou not far behind).
After the top 10 (adding about 20 or 30 more) I would keep CM Punk, Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Superstar Billy Graham (while his promos seem tame today, he really was groundbreaking and revolutionary for his time), Mr. McMahon, Edge, Triple H, JBL, Ted Dibiase, Rick Rude, and Jesse Ventura. And then I'd also include Shawn Michaels, Raven, Kurt Angle, the Undertaker, William Regal, Eddie Guerrero, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Jerry Lawler, Curt Hennig, Rick Martel (highly underrated), the Road Warriors, Scott Steiner, Booker T, Goldust, Christian, and the Big Show. As far as managers, in addition to Cornette, Albano, Heyman, and Heenan, I'd also add spots for Jimmy Hart (another great motormouth), Sensational Sherri, and Gary Hart.
I'd also add some old-school wrestlers who were good on the mic for their era. Most of the wrestlers from the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's didn't have near as elaborate and long promos as wrestlers in the 1980's and beyond, but many were more realistic and better at selling the fan to come see the match. Guys like Buddy Rogers, Killer Kowalski, Freddie Blassie, Terry Funk, and especially Nick Bockwinkel. After all Chris Jericho's promo style of the last 4-5 years has basically been a great, well done Nick Bockwinkel impersonation.
All of the names mentioned above would make for a pretty darned good "50 Greatest On the Mic in Wrestling" type of list.
