Promos are a dying art
 

Back in the day it seemed like there were so many good promos: Cream of the Crop, Hard times, Muck of Avarice, anything from Ric Flair, and Austin's King of the Ring promo, in the last decade i can think of maybe 2 decent promos that actually struck a nerve. The Pipebomb of course and AJ Lee running down the divas division and there seems to be some commonality there. Today it seems like nothing is noteworthy. Nothing is memorable. It all seems so forced and generic. Maybe im looking at the childhood memories with rose colored glasses or maybe its because ive been drinking all afternoon but rasslin today seems to have lost the art of the promo.

Except for Miniak....CHW 4 Life!!

Its not nostalgia

There hasn't been a memorable promo since 2011.

And before that? Shit, couldn't tell ya.

Promos are scripted (at least in WWE). Can't get authenticity that way.

I liked Daniel Bryan's retirement and unretirement promos...... but again, those were "drawing on reality" and pretty much just "legit talking"

Mark Henry's fake retirement promo from 2013 was a very memorable one.

Yeah that was good. But I think it's memorable more so bc he swerved everyone, especially Super Cena

Promos are dead. They are "presentation skills" now, and are about filling time during a variety show.

Seems like the only person allowed/able to cut a decent promo is Paul Heyman

you can see everyone trying to remember their lines now. It blows.

You can actually see the gears turning.

DBry, Heyman, Elias and KO are really the only guys today who can cut promos and seem absolutely genuine.

Joe is the best promo right now. He's verging on top level promo's right now.

Oh yeah, Joe too! I forgot about Joe!

Sadly, he'll go over Daniel Bryan tonight--then nobody else and they'll act like they gave him a big push and he did nothing with it.

Depends on what you consider a promo. For example, Miz on Talking Smack was incredible, although technically it was an interview segment, but since then he has had great promos. He is at the top of the list.

He is so over fucking rated lol. But that promo on talking smack was great.

Cena, Jericho, Miz, and Orton have the best promos because they're the least scripted. Guys like KO, Joe, and Rollins seem to get by but are not given stupid lines. Agree that its pretty obvious at times that the talent are trying to remember lines.

Ortons are so bland. None of them are memorable.

He wouldn't stand out in another era but compared to today's promos, he's great. And yeah, the Talking Smack promo was phenomenal. Just made me long for the days when guys a) weren't scripted to death and b) actually had something of substance to promo about.

The lack of good stories also does not lend to good promos.

Cena/Jericho/Miz/Joe/Owens/Heyman are all good talkers and technically give "good promos", but they aren't "memorable promos" because they are usually just in dumb stories that you aren't so invested in that it becomes a "moment".

WHEN A WRESTLING COMPANY GETS COMPLACENT, BEGINS SCRIPTING PROMOS AND TAKES THE ABILITY TO SHOW PERSONALITY OUT OF THE WRESTLERS' HANDS AND PUTS IT INTO THE HANDS OF WRITERS WHO TREAT EVERYONE AS THE SAME PAINT-BY-NUMBERS CHARACTER...

THAT'S HARD TIMES! THAT'S HARD TIMES!

But isn't that exactly why he would have stood out in an unscripted era? Based on the example of his unscripted Talking Smack segment, he clearly has the ability.

Well the question then becomes is his unscripted work better than those of years gone by...and no. No it isnt.

Miz is great when compared to his peers of today. He would've been an entertaining midcard level talent when competing with the talent from around 1999-2003 though. Shows how far things have unfortunately fallen in terms of quality.

Just basing promo skills, Miz was far better than most of the top guys from that era. Rock, Austin, Angle, and Foley were better. But top level guys who got world title runs in that era include Taker, Big Show, Booker T, HHH, Shawn Michaels, and Goldberg, and Miz is a better promo then they were during that era.

And that is not even counting the guys who got lots of title shots without winning it during that era like Kane, Ken Shamrock, or RVD, or the guys WWE tried to push as too guys that didn't pan out like Rikishi or Billy Gunn. Miz beats all of them in promo skills hands down.

If you think the miz is good enough take any of their spots im legit flabbergasted

Agree. Miz has gotten more comfortable on the mic throughout the years but his promo skills stands out more because majority of the roster is either flat out terrible or given nothing to really work with for scripted promos.

Some that are usually terrible end up being better showing off their skills and charisma in fun or less scripted environments like with the Mixed Match Challenge series or in Youtube/Twitter videos.

Lol no, that's why I started off saying "just promo skills". Promo skills wise yes, ill take Miz over those guys during that era of their careers.

Joe's gonna kill you.

How you gonna forget about Joe.

Thank you! The Talking Smack promo was a promo, but it's not an all-time great. It was great, but stuff like that should be the norm. People just aren't used to promos anymore, so when they heard him talk like he didn't have a script, they were like "Whoa!" And he's been riding it ever since. It makes me wonder just what would happen if good wrestlers were allowed to cut promos, haha.

I dunno, dude. You're normally on the money, but remember when Goldberg came in and obliterated everyone on the mic because no one sounds great anymore? I'm not saying those guys were known for being great promos, but compared to today? Everyone at least seemed to grasp the idea of a promo. Miz would have been like Disco Inferno. Billy Gunn could probably come back and talk more convincingly than most of the roster and people would be like "Wtf? Why is Billy Gunn the best talker?"

Actually, I am curious to see how Jeff Hardy would do in the current climate. Or Shelton Benjamin. Well, I just heard Shelton talk a few weeks ago, and it was pretty dire (sorry, Shelty -- I still love ya), but Jeff legitimately doesn't give a fuck, and I think he could be extremely entertaining in a confident "here's a dude with actual charisma" kind of way.

Right, but that was 2016 Goldberg, I was strictly talking about the 1999-2003 era that BigCrippy stated. Just like 1996-1997 Shawn Michaels was a better promo than Miz.

My whole point is Miz could have held his own at anytime, sure he wouldn't be a top guy cause it takes more than just great promos, but as per the topic of this thread, Miz is one of the few left that still keeps the true art form of cutting a good Promo alive.

I get what you're saying. I just think he gets to cut them here. I don't know if he would have even gotten a look from the company. I think 2016 Goldberg shows just how lost the promo art is that bad promos from yesteryear are pretty damn good today, haha.

FYI Noid I saw a recent Jeff Hardy promo and it was as awful as he's ever been

Oh. That's a shame. :(

I think if they just let guys be themselves and just gave them the old bullet points, sure some would fail, but the ones who can do it would make the product so much better.

I think that is the problem though, WWE doesn't want guys they didn't pick getting over, as evident by them going out of there way to bury guys that do far too often.

I also think a guy like Roman would be better off just being himself then badly reciting some crap somebody else wrote for him. I think back to one of the first network specials they did, it was a panel hosted by Austin for WWE 2k15 roster reveal before Summerslam. Roman was just up there being himself and he came across as cool, witty, and believable. Fast forward a few months and Vince is ghostwriting his promos with loony toons quotes, and it's been an uphill battle since.

Lol exactly. Miz is one of the few that can. Goldberg killed it when he came back, and you could tell he was just being him and speaking his own words built around bullet points. Miz didn't suddenly get better at promos after Talking Smack. He got to be off script on that show, and based on how great that was, he was allowed to be off script more from that point on.

WWE is such a weird place. Vince saw that, saw the buzz it created, and rewarded Miz by featuring him again since vs him just being another guy filling a spot.

But that doesn't mean Vince wants to open it up to everybody. If you go off script and don't hit a grand slam, you are more likely to get jobbed out as punishment than get elevated.

Miz had the balls to take a chance, the skills to deliver, and the ability to follow up with strong work since.

Most of the roster couldn't do all three, but that doesn't diminish Miz's ability, it's just sad so few guys have that ability in today's landscape.