Wrestling Forum banner

SCSA mic skills

12K views 57 replies 38 participants last post by  StoneRockSvgTaker 
#1 ·
Does anyone else find that he's overrated for his mic skills? The guy usually just said stupid typical hard-ass strong 'bully' type things that would get the crowd rowdy. I don't really find that to be great 'mic skills'.
 
#40 ·
haha, thats okay to say hes overrated, his time is through and his career speaks for itself. personally, very few can match him and there was a reason he was one of the biggest stars of all time. oh he says ass in every promo. name me the wrestler who doesnt repeat himself. they all do that. its called style and you dont change it up every other promo, you give the people what they like.
 
#41 ·
Austin gets put as no. 1 on the list and this thread happens... not to say that im shocked.

Austin and The Rock are my two favorite promo guys of all time, with Flair and Foley right behind him. Jericho is another one as well. I thought Savage and Jake Roberts were other great guys. None of those guys are overrated at all IMO. I thought Piper was overrated sometimes. I think his mic work in 1984-1987 was great, but after that, it all paled in comparison to me where the other guys listed have always been on
 
#42 ·
SCSA mic skills are not overated at all, he was one of the best of all time on the mic and a big reason why he blew up the wrestling world in 97/98.

When he talked, people listened because he wsa so realistic. He said he'd beat anyone's ass and you believed because he backed it up in the ring.

Whether or not he's number one is irrelevant. Most people have the top few right any way in Austin/Rock/Flair/Piper etc.

Personally I'd have Flair as the best. I'll take a crazy Flair promo over anything else most times.
 
#43 · (Edited)
Lets get real here people....Steve Austin was good, you can love him or hate him, the guy was good....

But greatest of all time in the WWF? A complete farce.

Jake Roberts, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Roddy Piper, Billy Graham all better......the real top five.

(BTW i still don't get how Lawler is not on the list, it makes the whole thing a farce to me).

Austin, Top ten maybe? Overated probably, but he is top 20 for sure.
 
#44 · (Edited)
is debatable Austin either on top 3 ahead of those legends or not but in term of mic work Austin carried Bret/Austin fued and the whole damn Company on his shoulders with neck injuries, you can made someone like Austin character-charisma but you need to be great on mic...after his neck injury his in ring suck and mostly on MIC cutting promos week in and week out making money for WWF. if you say Austin overrated...you fucking out of your mind...

remember Jericho Conspiracy angle in WCW? he fucking carried the whole fued and the Cruiserweight, Jericho is simlar to AUstin on mic cutting promos/segment week in and week out... for those who haven't seen Jericho work in WCW and forgot so here it is and plus this whole Conspiracy angle is Jericho work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoVrkiejOIQ

if you look at it great mic worker like Austin usually they write their own shit...
 
#46 ·
Austin's mic skills didn't just put him over. It freaking save WWF from bankruptcy. Nuff said.

I wish people could be more substantial when they're hating on somebody instead of just generalising something and leave it at that. I could say why guys like Flair, Piper, Graham, Rhodes, Roberts, or Lawler were overrated on the mic in just 1 sentence too you know.

Mic skills is just not about the content of your material, it's how you deliver it as well. And Austin excelled at BOTH.

Only guy who could hold a candle and better him was Rock and no one else.
 
#47 ·
Way, way overrated. The Rock was a true talent on the mic, and yet they rank Austin over him on that list.

Austin is also the cause of that stupid "what" chant that refuses to die more than a decade later.
 
#50 ·
Austin never used catchphrase's in every promo? Give me a break. 'Give me a hell yeah' 'That's the bottom line....'

Hell, his promos at the latter end of his time in WWE were all about 'WHAT?'. Whole promos were all about him saying WHAT?

"I went for a beer, WHAT?" "I said a beer, WHAT?" I said a beer, WHAT?" The crowd would chant along.
 
#51 ·
Wow. Such a brisk debate...this is what I come here for. But I'm kind of confused about what we are discussing. I will address the things I can ascertain from looking at every page.

Point 1 (the actual topic):
I believe SCSA is overrated on the mic. I don't think he's bad or anything its just that Austin did typical wrestling promos. Later in his career he began to do humorous thing and all that but for the most part I was never blown away by a Steve Austin promo. I would say he's easily top 10 promo guys but not top 5 and definitely not the GOAT.

Point 2 (catchphrases and Rock comparisons):
Austin & Rock had two different styles. Austin was more intense and aggressive while Rock was more comedic. They both are good mic workers but neither are the BEST.

As far as catchphrases are concerned, they can be useful but some people rely on them. Rock promos have no substance w/o catchphrases. Ric Flair had catch phrases but Flair's promos have a ton of substance, Piper had ZERO catchphrases and was an awesome mic worker. Catchphrases automatically don't mean good mic worker.

Here's the hypocrisy:
Rock gets a lot of credit for his catchphrases (OMG TEH ROCK IZ DE GREATEEST!!! DA MILIONZ!!!!) Rock does most corny comedy ("hermie", "thong wearing fatty") and people swear that he's the greatest ever. Austin's promos weren't that much better or worse depending on the promo. Antics got both guys over not necessarily promo skills.

People got a kick out of Austin driving random vehicles in the arena to antagonize McMahon. When Austin got on the mic it was basic stuff + cursing & catchphrase (and that's the bottom laaaaaaaane). Austin didn't really say stupid things like Rocky but sometimes he seemed to say nothing at all.

On the flip side are we going to say Miz is a great mic worker? He has catchphrases that people say along with him ("really?" & "awesome") but to these same people he sucks, he's all catchphrases, etc but the same people they love (Rock for instance) were the same way.

Cena catches a lot of wreck for his corny jokes, but Rocky had corny jokes too. Could you imagine Cena getting away with saying "hermie"? No way, people would have a conniption if he did that. ("OMGZZ CEAN IS TURRRIBLE!!! WHAT'Z A HERRMIE?!11").

One dimensional mic work doesn't make you the best. Rock is a great mic worker (top 5) because he's entertaining but as far as what he actually says he's not top 5. His delivery is excellent, his intensity is top notch so that increases his stock but what he says, the substance is not there. The same can be said for Austin.

Guys today attempt/have to do more on the mic than either Rock or Austin ever did. Guys today have to be actors and go by scripts (even though Rock had scripts) but Austin nor Rock ever tried to emote with fans like Cena or Punk do today (and I will argue they can't). We don't really know what they can do because of all the parameters & barriers placed on them.

In my opinion guys like Hennig, Roberts, Savage & even Piper did more in 45 seconds of mic time (during their day) than Rock did in 10 mins, than Triple H could do in 30, they are truly great mic workers, however people like putting them behind catchphrase HEAVY (wrestlers can have catchphrases but Flair, Rock are what I would call "catchphrase heavy") guys.

I like the differing styles of promos. I don't want guys pretending to be Chris Jericho or anyone else when they aren't, I want guys to be themselves, whether they have a lot of catchphrases or not.
 
#56 · (Edited)
Point 2 (catchphrases and Rock comparisons):
Austin & Rock had two different styles. Austin was more intense and aggressive while Rock was more comedic. They both are good mic workers but neither are the BEST.

As far as catchphrases are concerned, they can be useful but some people rely on them. Rock promos have no substance w/o catchphrases. Ric Flair had catch phrases but Flair's promos have a ton of substance, Piper had ZERO catchphrases and was an awesome mic worker. Catchphrases automatically don't mean good mic worker.

Here's the hypocrisy:
Rock gets a lot of credit for his catchphrases (OMG TEH ROCK IZ DE GREATEEST!!! DA MILIONZ!!!!) Rock does most corny comedy ("hermie", "thong wearing fatty") and people swear that he's the greatest ever. Austin's promos weren't that much better or worse depending on the promo. Antics got both guys over not necessarily promo skills.
I'd say Rock gets shitted on for having catchphrases. Its his biggest mic criticism. Unless you are a Rock mark people are usually running Rock down for not being good because he uses them. And yes, Rock's promo actually do have substance without the use of a catchphrase. Once again, the promo he cut before facing Austin at Mania XIX is solid proof of that.
 
#53 ·
I personally think he's one of the best on the mic ever. He was never better than The Rock, but in my opinion he's just behind him in terms of mic work.
 
#54 ·
I break promos down by a few things. As far as crowd participation, the beginning, a concise ending, how captivating the promo is/entertaining it is, the actual body of the promo, etc.....

Austin, to me, was the best ever at doing this. I don't know how just last year he was one of the greatest, now AFTER the list comes out, he's overrated on here. But, look at his promos from ECW, even some of his WCW promos in the Hollywood Blonds, and then his first TWO years in WWF(1996-1997). His promos are excellent, I've never seen a bad Austin promo ever. His promos have always been in the actual context of his feud, mixed with his Southern drawl, his "Texas vocabulary", his natural charisma, his desire to push the envelope, the fact that 98 % of his promos were unscripted up until about 2002(when they started scripting everyone's promos... that still mostly stands now too) which is one of the reasons why Austin walked out I believe on top of everything else.

I know when people say guys like Flair and Piper are better than Austin, and if we're talking being around longer, sure lol... Flair is the only guy(Savage and Jake Roberts are right there too) who can hang with Austin and Rock on the mic from the "older eras". I never really saw the huge deal about Piper after 1988. Piper's character and mic skills has always been exactly the same IMO, while guys like Rock and Austin both went through character changes and refreshed their promos, etc.... But thats just MY OPINION.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top