Best Promo man?

Mr.Nice Guy

I've seen this question on another forum and I don't recall it being asked on here before.

I think there have been some good promos on Raw of late through Foley and Heyman but who is the greatest of all time with promos?

I think some of Jim Cornette's promos have been fantastic and same goes for Ric Flair but for me it's a toss up between Austin and Rock. For me Rock just about edges it between the two based on his promos around 99/2000 which were in my opinion the funniest of all time.

Who do you think is the greatest of all time for promos though?

Fozzy

Roddy Piper

Mick Foley for me. His ECW anti-hardcore interviews during his Tommy Dreamer feud are the best I've ever seen. I won't bother goin on about all the great ones he's done, too many

I thought Rock's promos when he came back as a heel before fighting Austin at WM the last time were the best he'd ever done, some of the best ever. I really looked forward to seein him for the first time!

Other guys I'd give a mention not on the poll would be CM Punk (classic commentator too!), Raven, Jake the Snake, Freddie Blassie, Eddie Guerrero, HHH (the amount of talking the guy's done, he doesn't sound like he's repeating himself too often) and Terry Funk

Flair had some classic lines back in the day. I never liked Piper that much, he never seems to know what he's trying to say

the sunbabe wan

Stone Cold Steve Austin

the rock and jericho:D

gimmick

Everyone in your list is the best really, except swap Hogan for Jericho.

Im not going to vote, as it believe it would be splitting hairs, but for me, the best promos I have ever seen were, in no particular order

1. Heyman blasting Vince McMahon just before Survivor Series 2001. It was a promo filled with emotion, and bordered on blind hatred. Heymans point was how Vince killed ECW by swallowing its talent pool. Brilliant.

2. Ric Flairs return to Nitro in 1999 or 2000. The Horsemen were in the ring and Arn Anderson introduced Flair who came out to a huge pop and ovation. His promo then - how the man didnt drop dead of a heart attack amazes me. This is an extra on the Monday Night War DVD, and the DVD is worth getting for that promo alone.

3. Piper on Pipers pit in 2003 cutting a promo at Vince about how he is a failure....that the only reason he got anywhere is due to his father, and every venture he tried himself failed (XFL?). Again, very passionate stuff. Funnily enough piper was released within a few weeks of this.

I havent included Heymans at ONS last year as i felt it was contrived and crap.

Another great promo man was Cyrus The Virus in ECW. the heat he took from the crowd was spectacular.

Vince135792003

Roddy Piper

I think one person excluded from the list that should be in there is Vince McMahon. Jake the Snake is another good one to mention too. As is Bobby Hennan.

But I'll go with Mick Foley although again, you can make an argument for almost everyone on that list.

I think the thing with Piper was/is that he's hit and miss. Somedays theres no one better. Other days he'd just come off as a rambling fool. But on Piper, he was released in 2003 after he appeared on a HBO investigation show on drugs in wrestling.

Firewalkwithme

Roddy Piper

Why is The Ultimate Warrior not listed?

chopperbyrne

Other

I voted for Piper because I used to love his promos, but seriously, best of all time is Ted Di Biase and the best currently in WWE is JBL by a Texas mile!!!

Edit: Jesse Ventura should get a mention also.

Vince135792003

Roddy Piper

chopperbyrne wrote:

I voted for Piper because I used to love his promos, but seriously, best of all time is Ted Di Biase and the best currently in WWE is JBL by a Texas mile!!!

Edit: Jesse Ventura should get a mention also.

I think Ted Di Biase was really good. But I think he was just a little step below the likes of Foley, Flair and even Piper.

chopperbyrne

Other

I think the reason I regard Di Biase's promos in such high regard is because of how over his gimmick was.

Piper, Hogan, Flair, HHH, Foley, Rock, Austin etc, etc. can cut a promo as a heel and part of the crowd will still cheer for them.

The Million Dollar Man was just absolutely hated. The heat he got from the crowds is what makes his promos great.

It's the same reason why JBL is so good now.

Terry

Jim Cornette

flair. i've never seen him cut a bad promo.
jericho, from the first tiime i saw him in wcw, i knew he was gonna be big.
both edge and christian have a similar way of working the mic and i think it works well for both of them.
for those of you who say that JBL is good, i put this to you. don't you think it's just cheap heat? anyone can go into a ring and bad mouth a recently deceased wrestler or say mexicans are lazy scum. don't get me wrong, i think he does it well, but it's just cheap heat.

chopperbyrne

Other

JBL has been great on the mic for a long time now. His promos with Farooq in the APA proved how entertaining he could be and that is why they gave him the strap.

seanironmaiden

Stone Cold Steve Austin

The Rock definately but Jericho should definately be on there. He was great when he first appeared in WWE. and I loved when The Rock did his first promo with Jericho. The New Age Outlaws were pretty good on the mic also, and hHh in the early DX days

jongore

JBL

Heyman for me, either as a face or a heel he does a consistently brilliant promos, rock and austin were good but their promos had a tendency to repeat, Heyman is fresh everytime and is very effective and getting a crowd to hate him or love him

EdgarAllenPoo

Hulk Hogan

Jim Cornette,Jake Roberts or Paul Heyman.

castagnoli

Roddy Piper

GDM wrote:

Jim Cornette,Jake Roberts or Paul Heyman.

Amen

Fozzy

Roddy Piper

julep wrote:

for those of you who say that JBL is good, i put this to you. don't you think it's just cheap heat? anyone can go into a ring and bad mouth a recently deceased wrestler or say mexicans are lazy scum. don't get me wrong, i think he does it well, but it's just cheap heat.

I think JBL is very good on the mic, but I'd agree with you about the cheap heat. I haven't enjoyed his promos since before Eddie died, which is sad to say. There was a point when I really hated him and didn't enjoy anything he did, but it all changed in a few weeks. At the SD show in the Point early last year (I think it was), he gave an absolutely brilliant promo! He looked like he was wasted, but it was excellent all the same. He can just get you to hate him so much. Although he was so good at it that I liked him. Same with Rock at the time I mentioned earlier

J.R.HARTLEY

Jericho, then the rock, micahels is also very good on the mic, and angle is better than some guys up there at cutting a promo, rmember his "i earened it" promo about the "You Suck" chants to the Worlds greatest Tag Team, or his HBK Promo "sexy Kurt"

el rabitos

heel shawn michaels, by a country mile.

he could stand in the ring reading the phone book and make it sound compelling

Terry

Jim Cornette

el rabitos wrote:

heel shawn michaels, by a country mile.

he could stand in the ring reading the phone book and make it sound compelling

i don't agree with your politics, but you talk a good game.
hbk kicks ass.

HorseRadish

Cartoon_Head wrote:

Why is The Ultimate Warrior not listed?

Too true! I mean....who could follow THIS? :

"In my final meeting with Gods from the heavens above , as they spoke to me with the power of the Ultimate Warrior and told me Action Stage Left , Action Stage Right , there is no place to run,all the fuses in the exit signs have been burned out!" (growl snarl snarl)

chopperbyrne

Other

HorseRadish wrote:

Too true! I mean....who could follow THIS? :

"In my final meeting with Gods from the heavens above , as they spoke to me with the power of the Ultimate Warrior and told me Action Stage Left , Action Stage Right , there is no place to run,all the fuses in the exit signs have been burned out!" (growl snarl snarl)

Jimmy Snuka used to come up with some tripe like that all the time!

Priceless stuff!

gimmick

I particularly liked his promo on the first ECW on SCI-FI

line stolen from some magazine

Prufrock

Roddy Piper

Vince McMahon deserves a mention here. His promo before he faced Hogan at Wrestlemania was good. I'm talking about the one where he lists the reasons why he hates Hogan. Really good.

Foley wins it for me though. There was a Foley promo on Terry Funk on youtube a while back that was just fantastic.

Minto

Ric Flair

I can't believe people are not voting for Austin, he could literally stand in the ring, tell people what he ate for lunch and they would go crazy! What can be better than that? Austin had hundreds more great promos, like the time he entered himself in the 2003 Royal Rumble (the night after the 2002 Rumble) that was another great one!