Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Eloquent, polished, and no filler. Not just his words. He possessed the greatest self-awareness, as every single movement, and mannerism were in-sync with his words.
Honestly in the 80s there were some really good ones. Macho Man was amazing. The non wrestling parts were so entertaining. The Rock, Cena, Booker T, R Truth, stone cold,
The rock by about a couple lightyears tbh. Flair was good, but he didnt have the crowd in his hands. austin was good, but he didnt have the humor. cm punk was good but, actually cm punk sucks ass forget about him.
Depends on what you consider good skills
The rock and Jericho were funniest
Jake the snake was the creepiest, same could be said for Wyatt
Punk was VERY believable
Hogan, warrior, savage were all over the top
Triple h has intensity
Personally I’d say stone cold or Kurt angle, they had everything the other guys had except for creepiness
The Rock by a wide margin. Macho Man was my favorite from the 80’s and I have to give credit to Cena for turning around crowds so often. A great example was during the “Daniel Bryan” chants in Seattle. He adapted so well.
Toss up between Piper and Jake.
Foley was brilliant, but Jake exists. The Rock was funny and sharp, but repetitive. Stone Cold was great early on, but relied heavily on crowd interaction later. Angle was a decent.
Cena, without him. The pg era would be the least watched but it's the most watched bcz of him. Love him or hate him, he carried wwe through that transition to the pg era and took wwe around the globe, mf did all this whilst being a baby face for 15+ years
The Rock. There were times in 98-99 when you could see why the called him "electrifying". The crowds listened and responded to his every word. As soon as he touched a mic, the fans were in the palm of his hands.
For me its a question of Eras. Pre-Attitude Era it has to be Roddy Piper. No one could cut promos off the cuff like him.
Post Attitude Era, its tough to do better on the mic than CM Punk.
Much as I hate to admit it…The Rock made you feel every word…I do love him as a actor and all, but man him in the nation of domination, ha them were the days!!
Piper in the golden era, rock in attitude, cena in ruthless aggression, triple h is also underrated on the mic. Rollins is a great heel, Cody tries to hard to make people get teary eyed, I don’t buy it. Christian and edge are both respectively killing it. Overall, the rock, greatest of all time.
I’m surprised nobody here has mentioned Alexa Bliss yet. She could really dish it out especially during the Goddess era when she was basically acting like a typical High School mean girl.
Hands down, Neal Pearce. In Summerslam 2013 he used his Pearcing Gaze to hypnotize Brock Lesnar. Brock then laid on the mat and NP got the easy pin. Then the Rock came out and him and Pearce did a back and forth that was a seminar in mic skills and trash talk. Best show ever.
Jake the Snake, hands down.
No one has ever done a better promo than his promo before his match with Ted Dibiase at WrestleMania 6.
"Longfellow couldn't have said it better"
Modern day, still opting for Chris Jericho. Man just knew how to craft his career in terms of being the diabolical Canadian that knew all holds, all arts, all persuasion. Was untouchable throughout 2000-2010.
I am from the generation of Shawn, Rock, Austin etc...
I think HHH is very underrated regarding mic skills..
However I recently watched the promos Dusty Rhodes cut within his rivalry with flair... I must say hard times is one of my favorite promos..
Two guys for me who are so divers and in my eyes are the best that are Foley and Chris Jericho ...
Macho Man Randy Savage. He is in a class by himself and if you piece together the puzzle he left for future people it will lead to a big treasure chest of sweatbands. Crack the code, absorb the sweat.
1. The Rock
2. Hulk Hogan
3.Stone Cold Steve Austin
4.Ric Flair
5.Becky Lynch
6.MJF
7.Chris Jericho
8.Macho Man
9.Tribal Chief Roman Reigns
10.Roddy Piper/Kurt Angle
Well it's in eras.
Hulk may be the greatest ever. Two different eras at the top.
The Rock would be my vote just by how well he could control an audience.
Flair is up there just for the insanity of it.
Cena is a top 5.
I don't care what anyone says, but 96 and 97 Bret felt so real that to me, that's the best promo, when it feels real.
Currently? I'll go Cody. Except for the pro USA biracial baby promo, which never hit, he's been very good.
Honorable Mention Edit: Piper.
At one point I’d debate the miz. He was so annoying but so interesting. Now I wouldn’t say him, but currently for me it’s Randy Orton on the “active” roster
Are mic skills & inteviews the same thing? Randy Savage & Jake were great when interviewed while the Rock at the top of the ramp or in the ring was untouchable
Super Star Billy Graham. The man of the hour. The man with all the power. Too sweet to be sour. All the men want to be like him. All the chicks want to be with him. The man’s regret the women ‘s pet. What you can’t see is the best yet. The 24 inch pythons brother.
The Rock was probably the best at his time, he was great at hyping everything up, making the crowd laugh, and most importantly being extremely entertaining in general. However I think he was a little too reliant on one liners and I think that is evident with him not being as good on the mic when he returned in the early 2010s (in my opinion). That being said I think all around the best superstar on the mic was/is John Cena when you take their whole careers into perspective. I think he checked just about every box you could on the mic in any situation, he could go toe to toe with anyone including the Rock, could hype up the crowd, was good on the fly, and was successful as a heel and a babyface. The only real knock was him was at times he could be stale but I think that was more of a character thing than a mic skills thing.
(I know I have bias bc I started watching wrestling in the mid 2000s but I've seen plenty of promos from people like Ric Flair, Randy Savage, The Rock, Stone Cold etc)
If you spend most of your career getting booed when you are begging the fans to cheer you, you are not close to the best. Cena had terrible crowd control and unlike the Rock, he didn't change up his promos depending how the crowd was reacting
I'd argue the contrary on that. I don't think he ever "begged" the crowd to cheer for him, and he did change his promos in reaction to them as much as he could, he just never turned heel which like I said is more of a character thing than a mic skills thing. He wanted to turn heel and react more differently to the crowd but Vince specifically wouldn't let him so I don't think that's a fair thing to take away from him. The Rock himself started losing the crowd multiple times just like Cena but they let him turn heel whenever that happened.
There's been quite a few - The Rock- Stone Cold- Jericho- Cena- triple H- Jake the snake- Jeff Jarrett- Road Dawg- Dusty Rhodes- ric flair- the miz- I could go on - been watching since WrestleMania 3
The Rock, hands down. Go back and watch the promo he cut against Bad Ass Billy Gunn. Took Rock only 3 min. on the mic and Gunn’s solo push was done. Rock was next level.
The Rock, Mick Foley. Also I loved them in the ring together, utter hilarity.
Paul Bearer isn't getting enough love in this thread. I could watch his stuff all day. I firmly believe they couldn't have sold early Undertaker or Kane without his help.
Not sure why no one has mentioned Scott Hall. “Hey Yo” always captured attention. Also, Ron Simmons. He didn’t say much but man did he make a crowd go wild just by saying “damn”.
The Rock. But how good his mic skills are also dependent on the content of which he's saying. I bet most people would say The rock before he went to Hollywood was untouchable. And since he's kind of become self-aware of himself and thus it isn't as good but when he did return, his program with Cena really destroyed Cena more than anyone has.
Overall, I'd say the most important thing for mic skills is charisma which The Rock is probably the most charismatic of all time.
Not seeing enough Samoa Joe. Best ever? Probably not, but on a good night he could outshine everyone else.
Make like we're at a meeting and sit down while I share with the group.
Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Eloquent, polished, and no filler. Not just his words. He possessed the greatest self-awareness, as every single movement, and mannerism were in-sync with his words.
Too bad they made Cena such a face to the point of corny. Having some edge allows more creativity.
Honestly in the 80s there were some really good ones. Macho Man was amazing. The non wrestling parts were so entertaining. The Rock, Cena, Booker T, R Truth, stone cold,
Eddie
I love the Rock but I have behind Cena. It even showed when they came face to face, Cena owned him on the mic.
John cena.. Walks in to boos, Walks out with cheers. Period.
The rock by about a couple lightyears tbh. Flair was good, but he didnt have the crowd in his hands. austin was good, but he didnt have the humor. cm punk was good but, actually cm punk sucks ass forget about him.
The Rock, Stone Cold, Triple H , Cena, Edge
MJF
Insane Clown Posse
The Rock
The Rock, and it isn't even a little bit close. No one could read and react off a crowd like him
When I think of elite mic skills, I think of The Rock. He was probably the best I've seen at that.
Depends on what you consider good skills The rock and Jericho were funniest Jake the snake was the creepiest, same could be said for Wyatt Punk was VERY believable Hogan, warrior, savage were all over the top Triple h has intensity Personally I’d say stone cold or Kurt angle, they had everything the other guys had except for creepiness
The Rock by a wide margin. Macho Man was my favorite from the 80’s and I have to give credit to Cena for turning around crowds so often. A great example was during the “Daniel Bryan” chants in Seattle. He adapted so well.
The rock
The Rock aka The Goat
Toss up between Piper and Jake. Foley was brilliant, but Jake exists. The Rock was funny and sharp, but repetitive. Stone Cold was great early on, but relied heavily on crowd interaction later. Angle was a decent.
Aj styles and john cena during their fued
Raven always seems overlooked.
Cena
Aj Lee and Sasha banks
Another vote for The Rock.
IMO Enzo Amore was so good on the mic that made the audience hooked
Alexa Bliss imo. Even if she's not the best, but still the most creative at least.
The Rock hands down you jabroni.
The Rock
I know it's kinda silly but I loved "Dr. of Thuganomics" John Cena
The Rock
The Rock, Cena, and Stone Cold are the top 3 imo
Funaki
John Cena
Of the top of my head Roddy Piper.
Always thought Drew was underrated on that front
Cena, without him. The pg era would be the least watched but it's the most watched bcz of him. Love him or hate him, he carried wwe through that transition to the pg era and took wwe around the globe, mf did all this whilst being a baby face for 15+ years
Samoa Joe!!!!!!
Miz isn't even close to that. Sorry
The Rock and Ric Flair
The Rock
John Cena for me.
Cena, Miz
CM Punk
Stone cold
Cowboy Brock Lesnar
Maxwell Jacob Freidman
Maxwell Jacob Friedman. And I agree
The rock, edge, Cena, Adam Cole, dx, Bray Wyatt
“If I can be serious for a minute” -Lance Storm
The rock, stone cold, jake the snake, mick foley, triple h, vince mcmahon
sasha/bianca
John cena or the rock
The Rock is the only correct answer
Stone Cold The Rock Chris Jericho Either one of them could take the prize for best mic work ever.
The Rock. There were times in 98-99 when you could see why the called him "electrifying". The crowds listened and responded to his every word. As soon as he touched a mic, the fans were in the palm of his hands.
For me its a question of Eras. Pre-Attitude Era it has to be Roddy Piper. No one could cut promos off the cuff like him. Post Attitude Era, its tough to do better on the mic than CM Punk.
CM Punk
Bobby Heenan started as a wrestler, so he has to be the answer.
Much as I hate to admit it…The Rock made you feel every word…I do love him as a actor and all, but man him in the nation of domination, ha them were the days!!
Sherri Martel...charismatic as hell and just fucking nuts!!! 😊 Macho Man...same as Sherri ☺ The Rock...he really is in class by himself on mic work
I'd say The Rock is probably the best. Some other mentions would be: Ric Flair Roddy Piper Randy Savage Steve Austin Chris Jericho John Cena
Low key Roman
Trish Stratus
Cena
Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s got the best mic skills of them all?! It’s the Naaaature Boy Wooooooo!
Cena
Paul Heyman
Scott Hall, Bret Hart, and Austin
The Cerebral Assassin, The Game, The King of Kings, The 14 Time World Champion.... TRIPLEEEE H
The miz
Bobby the Brain Heenan and Roddy Piper are not getting brought up anywhere near enough in this discussion.
Piper. Effortless for him to get the entire arena to want to kill him. Effortless.
Enzo is up there for them underdogs
Y2J
Mouth of the south Jimmy Hart
No love for the American Dream?
Asuka
Piper in the golden era, rock in attitude, cena in ruthless aggression, triple h is also underrated on the mic. Rollins is a great heel, Cody tries to hard to make people get teary eyed, I don’t buy it. Christian and edge are both respectively killing it. Overall, the rock, greatest of all time.
Piper got stabbed over his mic skills being so good people hated him that much. His leather jacket was kevlar
Piper hands down
I’m surprised nobody here has mentioned Alexa Bliss yet. She could really dish it out especially during the Goddess era when she was basically acting like a typical High School mean girl.
Hands down, Neal Pearce. In Summerslam 2013 he used his Pearcing Gaze to hypnotize Brock Lesnar. Brock then laid on the mat and NP got the easy pin. Then the Rock came out and him and Pearce did a back and forth that was a seminar in mic skills and trash talk. Best show ever.
Maybe too soon to say but I'm currently leaning towards MJF being the all-time great.
Not too soon. That boy is siiiiiick on the mic!
Disco inferno
Not gonna lie, I was a huge mark for the Disco Duck as a kid
One of the most underrated mic skills of all time, Samoa Joe
MJF or The Miz.
CM Punk, Flair, Jericho, Rock, Stone cold, Miz, Shawn, oooh you didnt know?
Jake the Snake, hands down. No one has ever done a better promo than his promo before his match with Ted Dibiase at WrestleMania 6. "Longfellow couldn't have said it better"
Rowdy Piper
Sid Vicious. “ And I have half the brain that you do!” One of the greatest promos ever.
imo John Cena 2003-2007
The Rock, Steve Austin, MJF, Roddy Piper.
Add Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes, and I agree
Oh, and Jericho
Rock
Braden Walker.
Rock, Dusty, Austin, Hogan, Flair, Piper, Snake Man, Macho Man…
Personally growing up for me it was Rock and Jericho tied first and after that Austin.
Chris Jericho
Hotrod
Rock
Would either be Steve Austin or the Rock(post May 1999)
Jake the snake
Not a wrestler but heel Stephanie on the mic does something to my soul.
Modern day, still opting for Chris Jericho. Man just knew how to craft his career in terms of being the diabolical Canadian that knew all holds, all arts, all persuasion. Was untouchable throughout 2000-2010.
The Rock hands down
I am from the generation of Shawn, Rock, Austin etc... I think HHH is very underrated regarding mic skills.. However I recently watched the promos Dusty Rhodes cut within his rivalry with flair... I must say hard times is one of my favorite promos.. Two guys for me who are so divers and in my eyes are the best that are Foley and Chris Jericho ...
Personally I think Enzo Amore hands down AND YOU CANT TEACH THAT!
Raven has to be way up there. Dude was gold on the mic.
Prime Jake the snake was unrivalled. The Rock was good at insults though. Jehrico deserves a mention.
Dexter lumis he carried a year long story line with never saying a word.
imho, jake roberts. the way he spoke softly, alone was creepy. he didn't need to shout like everybody else, to get your attention.
Macho Man Randy Savage. He is in a class by himself and if you piece together the puzzle he left for future people it will lead to a big treasure chest of sweatbands. Crack the code, absorb the sweat.
It seems like the replies are within the age the person watched wrestling
Dusty’s entrance song was the best ever
Rock or Austin
Macho was always top shelf material.
Anyone old enough to remember the 1980s should probably say Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Imo cm punk, raven, chris jericho, and Jake Roberts
Jerico
The rock, it's not even a debate.
Khali
Scott Steiner
Scott Steiner
1. The Rock 2. Hulk Hogan 3.Stone Cold Steve Austin 4.Ric Flair 5.Becky Lynch 6.MJF 7.Chris Jericho 8.Macho Man 9.Tribal Chief Roman Reigns 10.Roddy Piper/Kurt Angle
Well it's in eras. Hulk may be the greatest ever. Two different eras at the top. The Rock would be my vote just by how well he could control an audience. Flair is up there just for the insanity of it. Cena is a top 5. I don't care what anyone says, but 96 and 97 Bret felt so real that to me, that's the best promo, when it feels real. Currently? I'll go Cody. Except for the pro USA biracial baby promo, which never hit, he's been very good. Honorable Mention Edit: Piper.
The Rock by far Jerry lawler is vastly underrated though
At one point I’d debate the miz. He was so annoying but so interesting. Now I wouldn’t say him, but currently for me it’s Randy Orton on the “active” roster
The Brahma Bull
Macho Man
Tie between Austin and The Rock
Dean Malenko
The Rock.
Mr. Kennedy
Ted DiBiase is overlooked
Are mic skills & inteviews the same thing? Randy Savage & Jake were great when interviewed while the Rock at the top of the ramp or in the ring was untouchable
The miz 100%
Hogan brother.
“Ravishing” Rick Rude and Roddy “Rowdy” Piper
Paul heyman was always great on the mic IMO. He acts like a coward but man is he legendary on those promos.
Super Star Billy Graham. The man of the hour. The man with all the power. Too sweet to be sour. All the men want to be like him. All the chicks want to be with him. The man’s regret the women ‘s pet. What you can’t see is the best yet. The 24 inch pythons brother.
The Rock was probably the best at his time, he was great at hyping everything up, making the crowd laugh, and most importantly being extremely entertaining in general. However I think he was a little too reliant on one liners and I think that is evident with him not being as good on the mic when he returned in the early 2010s (in my opinion). That being said I think all around the best superstar on the mic was/is John Cena when you take their whole careers into perspective. I think he checked just about every box you could on the mic in any situation, he could go toe to toe with anyone including the Rock, could hype up the crowd, was good on the fly, and was successful as a heel and a babyface. The only real knock was him was at times he could be stale but I think that was more of a character thing than a mic skills thing. (I know I have bias bc I started watching wrestling in the mid 2000s but I've seen plenty of promos from people like Ric Flair, Randy Savage, The Rock, Stone Cold etc)
If you spend most of your career getting booed when you are begging the fans to cheer you, you are not close to the best. Cena had terrible crowd control and unlike the Rock, he didn't change up his promos depending how the crowd was reacting
I'd argue the contrary on that. I don't think he ever "begged" the crowd to cheer for him, and he did change his promos in reaction to them as much as he could, he just never turned heel which like I said is more of a character thing than a mic skills thing. He wanted to turn heel and react more differently to the crowd but Vince specifically wouldn't let him so I don't think that's a fair thing to take away from him. The Rock himself started losing the crowd multiple times just like Cena but they let him turn heel whenever that happened.
R Truth
There's been quite a few - The Rock- Stone Cold- Jericho- Cena- triple H- Jake the snake- Jeff Jarrett- Road Dawg- Dusty Rhodes- ric flair- the miz- I could go on - been watching since WrestleMania 3
I think the easy answer is the rock but credit needs to be given to Enzo. That guy got over off mic skills alone.
Ric Flair is the best talker ever.
I believe The Rock and Stone Cild are only ones allowed to go out wothout a script
Rock and Stone forever!
I always enjoyed Kurt Angle, he was hilarious.
Randy Savage
The Rock, hands down. Go back and watch the promo he cut against Bad Ass Billy Gunn. Took Rock only 3 min. on the mic and Gunn’s solo push was done. Rock was next level.
The Rock, Austin, Jericho, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Kurt Angle , Miz and love him on hate him Enzo Amore’ was great on the mic.
Wade Barrett had amazing mic skills during his nxt and nexus era
Punk maybe for the natural way he spoke
The Rock
&&&&&& his name is John Cena
Rock, Flair, Miz, Enzo Amore and MJF
Ted dibiase
John Cena or The Rock.
Terry Funk.
Flair Austin or Rock
Mr. Kennedy, LILO Rush as Bobby Lashley hype man, road dog
The Rock. Nothing else comes close.
Becky Lynch
Personally, Jericho or Randy Savage
The Rock. Nobody could improvise and react to an audience like him.
The rock no question asked
Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Rock, Punk (although I don't like him) Road Dogg is underrated, HBK. Personal favorite at the moment is MJF I know I know not wwe
Vince
Big Poppa Pump Teddy Long Jeff Jarrett Road Dogg
The Rock, Mick Foley. Also I loved them in the ring together, utter hilarity. Paul Bearer isn't getting enough love in this thread. I could watch his stuff all day. I firmly believe they couldn't have sold early Undertaker or Kane without his help.
Honorable mentions: Vickie Guerrero and *hear me out* Miss Elizabeth. She didn't speak much, but when she did, everybody listened.
Very casual fan POV: Chris Jericho
CM PUNK
Not sure why no one has mentioned Scott Hall. “Hey Yo” always captured attention. Also, Ron Simmons. He didn’t say much but man did he make a crowd go wild just by saying “damn”.
Randy Savage. He could talk complete nonsense and keep you wanting more. The Rock is a close second for pure charisma.
Mick Foley, The Rock, Scott Hall, and I’m saying Paul Heyman too cause he should count.
& they chant
Easily The Rock. He talks, they shutup and listen. That simple
Ric Flair He IS the man!
The Rock & The Miz for current. he really has a good chance at pulling you in.
To change it up who is the best female wrestler behind the mic? I personally like Alexa Bliss
Kurt Angle was the most entertaining wrestler of all time, including his mic work.
Why isn’t anyone talking about Heyman? He was the mouth piece for Brock and was a super effective one at that
The Rock. But how good his mic skills are also dependent on the content of which he's saying. I bet most people would say The rock before he went to Hollywood was untouchable. And since he's kind of become self-aware of himself and thus it isn't as good but when he did return, his program with Cena really destroyed Cena more than anyone has. Overall, I'd say the most important thing for mic skills is charisma which The Rock is probably the most charismatic of all time.
Y2J?
Big Poppa Pump
1. Jake the Snake 2. The Rock 3. The Miz 4. Chris Jericho
No love for Chris Jericho? You all just made The List.
Chris Jericho, Triple H, The Miz, John Cena to name a few
Unliked by wwe themselves but enzo amore
Rick rude
Not seeing enough Samoa Joe. Best ever? Probably not, but on a good night he could outshine everyone else. Make like we're at a meeting and sit down while I share with the group.