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Best talker to debut post 2001

  • John Cena

    Votes: 16 7.4%
  • Randy Orton

    Votes: 5 2.3%
  • Batista

    Votes: 2 0.9%
  • Muhammad Hassan/Daivari

    Votes: 3 1.4%
  • Mr Kennedy

    Votes: 3 1.4%
  • MVP

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • CM Punk

    Votes: 142 65.7%
  • Wade Barrett

    Votes: 2 0.9%
  • Titus O'Neal

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Damien Sandow

    Votes: 6 2.8%
  • The Miz

    Votes: 9 4.2%
  • Dean Ambrose

    Votes: 7 3.2%
  • Bray Wyatt

    Votes: 14 6.5%
  • Sami Zayn

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Bo Dallas

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Enzo Amore

    Votes: 3 1.4%
  • Kevin Steen

    Votes: 2 0.9%

Best post-Attitude Era talker

9K views 122 replies 91 participants last post by  Nickolas 
#1 ·
In polls asking the best mic man, the answer is usually skewed towards Austin/Rock/Vince, so who is the best promo man post 2001.
 
#83 ·
The Miz

He started out as a joke, a jobber, a jackass, a jabroni who couldn't even deliver one line properly as the host of Diva Search.

Fast forward to 2010: He was THE HEAT MAGNET. The biggest heel who was truly getting heel heat without breaking kayfabe or 4th wall. He was over thanks to his amazing mic work. People LOVED to hate him. It's a shame how Cena buried him later, but I cheered for The Miz for his win over Cena at WM27
 
#86 · (Edited)
CM Punk by such a big Margin. The dude was phenomenal on the microphone. One of the best of all time.

BUT, when all is said and done though, Ambrose in 10-15 years will be looked as one of the best mic workers of all time. He's in the same position CM Punk was in 2008, and people COMPLETELY shitted on Punk at that point. Ambrose at one point will turn heel, people will realize how much of a GOD this guy is on the microphone, and then the guy will turn back baby face(because he's too good and the crowd refuses to boo him) and at that point he will hit his peak.
 
#93 ·
The popular opinion is CM Punk, but I actually believe that Muhammad Hassan was the most gifted mic worker the company had since Rock left for Hollywood. This guy was one of the few in the company who actually thrived on the "What?" chants, instead of fighting against them.

He was given a gimmick that could have easily failed, yet his natural charisma and ability to get on people's nerves, combined with that amazing entrance music, made him stand out as a major player.

Just watch this promo.



Here you have Hassan, an ardent hater of America, manage to brilliantly turn the Canadian crowd against him in a completely natural way. It wasn't forced, like offending the local sports team. He took an issue he had with America and somehow twisted it to blame Canada. The writing was very clever, but Hassan's delivery is what makes it work so well. Give this material to anyone else and it wouldn't be as effective.
 
#116 · (Edited)
man, thanks for sharing that video. it was a bloody tip-top pitch-perfect promo. from hassan drawing an arena full of genuine heat to jericho playing the cocky-funny face to davairi spewing his foreign arabic when he was in the camel clutch when they were double teaming him and retreating like cowardly heels when benoit rushed out... this is what I fucking fell in love with. this is what wrestling should be like. if raw today was like this, I would be tuning in every fucking week... how the hell did WWE deteriorated to the garbage that it is today...?
 
#47 ·
Bray is STUPID fucking good on the microphone.

The problem is his promos are very well thought out, and require thought to process. The casual fan won't take the time though;they respond better to things they instantly recognize, like a cuss word/slur or witty/sarcastic line.

Because of this, the only people that truly appreciate Bray's mic work are those that put in the time.

Its something he might deal with eventually;let people in with accessibility, and then ease into the complicated stuff as the promos go on.

For now though, I voted CM Punk. He killed it whether he was shitting on Jeff Hardy's drug issues, playing the role of leader of the SES, fighting against the corporate bullshit, etc etc

I remember his promo during the beginning of the 2010 Royal Rumble when he was leader of the Straight Edge Society and he was eliminating EVERYONE, that shit was wild, hahaha
 
#41 ·
It's shocking how few great mic workers there have been that debuted after 2001.

I'd go with John Cena. Put aside any hate for his corny ass gimmick and look at it objectively. The guy have shown that he's well capable of being funny as he was in his Thuganomics gimmick and even occasionally in the past decade since becoming the top guy, he's had some funny moments on the mic, specially before going PG and saying stupid shit like "son of a beesting" or "baloney fudge mustard". And of course we all know when he's being serious, he can cut a hell of a promo like the ones back when he feuded with Punk in 2011 and last summer when he talked about defending the belts against Brock at SS. He has a decent range of variety and can do different types pretty well.

Punk is excellent at making it look like he believes every word he says but that's really where he excels and he's not as good otherwise. For instance, he tried comedy when he went vanilla face after the 2011 summer and his promos started to get pretty cringeworthy.
 
#48 ·
Punk promo style is like Paul heyman and Roddy Piper, he's just the best at making it look dramatic and realistic, his words are epic and powerful.

Punk will never be as good as The Rock at doing juvenile jokes , as well The Rock will never touch him at being a serious promo worker. Although Punks charismatic personality can make it work as a funny guy, just look at his Q&A session on UFC, he's not The Rock, but he's still pretty good.

He's far for being onedimensional on the mic.
 
#58 ·
CM Punk.

He's had more good-to-iconic promos since he arrived in the WWE than anybody in the company has had since Rock/Austin. Heck, even his 'devil himself' promo in ROH is better than a lot of the non-CM Punk promos we've had in WWE since he joined.

As many have stated, Punk was really good at making you care and getting yourself invested in what he was doing - and the reason we cared is why people moan and say 'we made him a millionaire and he left us', when the fact is Punk made you care enough to make him a millionaire. Superb promo guy.
 
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#63 ·
This is real subjective for those saying "Punk by a landslide". Personally, I don't care for Punk's shock value, smart ass promos that get big pops off of breaking the sacred fourth wall as the puppets dance along with him, which is why I far prefer Punk's holier than though true heel SES work. I prefer the story winding into the major point style of Funk/Foley/Wyatt, but while Bray is technically very amazing in regards to changing inflection, pause timing (see that debut live promo for that), or really getting into the character, Bray simply hasn't had the chance to show the versatility and hence ability to cut different styled promos, and hence I can't pick him.

It may be cheating, but I'd have to go with JBL. Yes, Justin Hawk and later just Bradshaw debuted in the mid 90s, but the JBL character was so far different from what Bradshaw had done as the rough texan, that it might as well be counted as a whole different person and unlike Hollywood Rock or Rated R Superstar Edge, there werent' any traces of the old Bradshaw to play off of. Outside of Hassan, JBL was arguable with Honest Man Jericho the last true heel that seemed to have zero redeemable qualities or fanfare. Whereas in certain cities Punk was revered and Jericho had some bases, JBL was a heat seeking missle ranging from the Garden to Hammerstein . JBL could get heat off of straight facts and lower his voice, he could shout at the top of his lungs and get massive heat for over ten minutes straight. In terms of making people want to kick his ass, I think JBL at his freshest point might actually give even Punk a run for his money ala being the catayst for Cena being really over his first title chase. . Heck, that ability made an extremely corny feud with HBK actually work with the audience. JBL could go a broadway promo and produce some of his best work ala "In His Own Words"or the transformation promo, or he could give some real effective shorter promos.

Most people dont think about this, but JBL was a hell of a switch hitter in terms of serious quotables and some pretty damn funny, quick witted quips. From "In His Own Words" alone, you got "You can knock me on my ass but I will come back and I will be successful. Come Hell, come high water. Take your best shot, America. John Bradshaw Layfield is right here and I won't back up from anybody. And if you don't like it, you can go to Hell!" as well as "everybody loves free speech until you use it", his quote about destroying himself if it desroys Eddie

In terms of comedy, you got quotes like his quip at ONS when fans chanted you suck dick and he said "I see no women out here but you people chant about male organ now tell me who's the fruit booty!" or "you people get on your internet and share your porn sitees with your buddies and say "we're hardcore". In his own words had "you people are sick because in high school I was the one shoving your ass in lockers and stealing your girlfriend as the successful captain of the football team and not a damn thing haschanged!". Of course, you could keep rolling through the Cena feud and those advertimisements/promos, kicking the illegals out of the border or that beer drinking contest.

JBL as a wrestler on the the stick was as complete of a package on the mike Heyman or Jericho aside post AE as there has been outside of playing a babyface role or winding stories.
 
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