20 Best Talkers In Wrestling History

5. Steve Austin 

F**k the what chant, though.

Steve Austin is low-key one of the funniest promos of all time. The dude’s comic timing and the ability to pop a crowd is insane, but that’s probably not the reason that people herald stone cold as one of the all-time greats.

It’s because he was quite simply, very cool, all the time. He commanded the room, the strut, the head tilt, from the moment 3:16 was born at King of the Ring, to the bottom line and all the hell yeahs in between, Austin’s a master of crowdwork.

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4. CM Punk 

You can dispute a lot of reasons that CM Punk used to proclaim himself the best in the world, but one thing you can’t is that he’s one of the best mic workers ever.

When you can drop a promo that single-handedly sparks the most interest in wrestling that there’s been in years, when one promo escapes the WWE echo chamber and starts bringing lapsed fans BACK.

When you can hang with the rock in a promo and still walk away with a split decision, that’s a once in a lifetime talent, no arguments.

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3. Ric Flair 

Talk about wonderful free-wheeling nonsense.

On paper, Ric Flair really should be a good promo. He screams incoherently like a man with sunstroke chasing kids off his lawn, but he also just has that incalculable charisma, it’s borderline alien.

He’s just so there, so right there and meaning every single thing that he says with total, if overpowering, emotion that you can’t help but get excited when Ric Flair talks.

And way back at the start we mentioned that episode of Nitro where the nature boy returned. Watch Flair’s promo from that segment. It’s a world-beater. Fire me. I’m already fired.

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2. Paul Heyman 

A good promo is designed to sell you something. Even indirectly it’s designed to sell you a match, a story, a concept, a place in time that you need to be.

Paul Heyman is the greatest salesman in wrestling history, and the fact that he has been for over 20 years, and maintained consistent quality, it’s miracle work.

Whether selling Brock Lesnar, selling Roman Reigns, selling the dangerous alliance, or being part of the all-time great WWE commentary team of Heyman and JR, how can one man be so good for so long?

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1. The Rock

Yeah. Obvious almost to the point of anti-climax, but he is. He is, isn’t he?

A man so good at trash talk that he’s killed pushes dead, sorry about that Billy Gunn, and the man who’s launched a thousand disparaging catchphrases.

You know those promos that wrestlers do directly before a match, when they’re hopped up on adrenaline and ready to go? The Rock is the greatest person at those promos that has ever lived. He called Goldberg a whisker-biscuit bald-headed bitch, so yeah. He’s number 1.

End of.

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• best promo
• Promos
• The Rock
• wwe

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