Times when mic skill difference was very noticeable

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Inspired by The Rock and Roman Reigns having night and day differences on the mic, what other promos highlighted a gap in skill?

One example I think of is an X-Pac promo in 1998. He comes out to call out Shawn Michaels for betraying DX and starts out loud, brash, and ready for a fight.

Shawn comes out calm, cool, collected and yet the flamboyant Shawn Michaels he always is. I'll let the video speak

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoQ74rECpHk&ab_channel=lWrestleAlone

Its crazy too because the crowd is firmly behind Pac to start the promo but as he and Shawn go back and forth, Shawn basically depantses him in front of the crowd and follows it with an atomic wedgie leaving Pac looking like a total idiot while the fans cheer Shawn leaving to HIS music.

Any other examples?

[drougfree]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=36cLMYMrOTk

[thecrusherwi]

I can't think of any specific examples, but Mean Gene Okerlund, both in the mid 80s and in the late 90s in WCW, would have these rather long backstage interview segments on the syndicated shows with various talents. The way Gene would keep some of these very lost guys in line and keep digging until they said something interesting is just amazing to watch. Mean Gene was so good at what he did. Not even just for wrestling - for sports broadcasting in general. Dude probably could've been anchoring The NFL Today if he wanted to.

['Foretold' Joker]

Mar 19, 2024 8:08:57 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

I can't think of any specific examples, but Mean Gene Okerlund, both in the mid 80s and in the late 90s in WCW, would have these rather long backstage interview segments on the syndicated shows with various talents. The way Gene would keep some of these very lost guys in line and keep digging until they said something interesting is just amazing to watch. Mean Gene was so good at what he did. Not even just for wrestling - for sports broadcasting in general. Dude probably could've been anchoring The NFL Today if he wanted to.

He was so good almost under-rated at helping these guys stay afloat when it came to these promo segments.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

One I always remember is Dusty Rhodes and Randy Orton during the Legend Killer days. It wasn’t Orton’s fault, but it was clearly one of the best and most natural talkers in the history of wrestling and a guy who was just starting to get serious promo time reciting a script from memory.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

The shoot promo-off between Cena and Poochie-era Roman where Cena may as well have actually whipped it out and pissed on Roman's leg

[wallabylikeyou]

That post-TLC 2011 celebration with Punk and Bryan was rough on ol' Zack Ryder.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

The Rock, Billy Gunn and God telling Billy it doesn't matter what his name is.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

Chris Harvard vs Scott Steiner

[Psicofreak667]

I was just about to mention Billy Gunn. He wasn't a terrible promo, more like "somewhat above average" but the only people who could really hang with Rock promo-wise were Austin, Foley and Jericho.

[Doo Doo is Worse Than WCW 2000]

I was actually coming in here to post the X-Pac/HBK segment. That was brutal. 😂

[tirtefaa]

What's weird about Walkman was he was a far better promo in WCW. I wonder if having his best friends there to have his back...or maybe he worried about screwing up after returning to WWF, seeing as he burnt his bridge with WCW. In any case, he regressed in that area, but was more over than ever.

Mar 19, 2024 11:54:42 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

The shoot promo-off between Cena and Poochie-era Roman where Cena may as well have actually whipped it out and pissed on Roman's leg

I mean, it's hard to win a promo war against a guy who the front office booked like a literal God for over a decade, even if he shoots on you. You could always break kayfabe as well, but that's typically my most hated style of promo. What's always funny about this era of Cena is he would verbally destroy these guys...then lose to them. So Cena would lose to the loser. Did nothing for Cena...did nothing for the other person.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Mar 19, 2024 15:03:50 GMT -5 tirtefaa said:

What's weird about Walkman was he was a far better promo in WCW. I wonder if having his best friends there to have his back...or maybe he worried about screwing up after returning to WWF, seeing as he burnt his bridge with WCW. In any case, he regressed in that area, but was more over than ever.

Mar 19, 2024 11:54:42 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

The shoot promo-off between Cena and Poochie-era Roman where Cena may as well have actually whipped it out and pissed on Roman's leg

I mean, it's hard to win a promo war against a guy who the front office booked like a literal God for over a decade, even if he shoots on you. You could always break kayfabe as well, but that's typically my most hated style of promo. What's always funny about this era of Cena is he would verbally destroy these guys...then lose to them. So Cena would lose to the loser. Did nothing for Cena...did nothing for the other person.

I mean yeah I didn't say the segment was *good*

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Mar 19, 2024 14:45:04 GMT -5 Doo Doo is Worse Than WCW 2000 said:

I was actually coming in here to post the X-Pac/HBK segment. That was brutal. 😂

Pac literally had the crowd behind him when he came out and then it just falls apart.

1. He tries to call out Shawn Michaels and when he does, his voice just randomly shoots up and he sounds like Bret Hart almost yelling it at him, which was jarring.

2. Shawn comes out and immediately bullies him, only for Pac to get one come back and the one he uses "how WIDE must your BUNG hole be?" kills the entire crowd.

3. Shawn laughs off the insult making Pac look even dumber and proceeds to book him in a match with Shamrock with Pac's belt up for grabs and then declares he leave to HIS music before chopping X-Pac on the way out of the ring to more cheers than Pac got to walk in.

I've never seen such a one sided promo just unintentionally happen the way that did. Crowd went from "Yeah Pac, kick his ass!" to applauding Shawn for putting Pac in his place.

Its the equilivant to being depantsed and given a wedgie afterwards in front of the whole school in a fight. JR trying to defend Pac at the end didn't work either. There was no coming back from that. Shawn may as well have just kicked him in the face.

[Spider2024]

Any promo involving The Ultimate Warrior.

[fg]

How about Superstar Billy Graham confronting good guy Bob Backlund in the early 80s? Bobs mic skills from what I read were really bad. DID YOU HEAR THAT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN?

[saneiac]

Mar 19, 2024 14:29:38 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

The Rock, Billy Gunn and God telling Billy it doesn't matter what his name is.

Just to pile on Billy Gunn a little more, Billy coming out to interrupt Edge's King of the Ring ceremony.

youtu.be/mabICstHhpY?si=Qo2npFnCn5I-XidW&t=235

[Aceorton]

The Bobby Heenan-Ken Patera "debate" comes to mind.

"As I was sitting in prison, WEASEL, I had a lot of time to think of the Bobby Heenan types of this world. Types like yourself!"

[nickcave]

Matt Hardy's return promo and Edge's rebuttal promo where he completely destroys him basically sealed each other's fates in the eyes of the company from then on

[Bo Rida]

Any wwe segment where one has been given leeway to improvise and the other(s) has clearly been told never to deviate from the script.

Brad Maddox was a particularly notable victim of that set-up.