What separates the classier, more elegant art form known as professional wrestling from barbaric “sports” like MMA fighting or football is the focus on awesome promos. Wrestlers become distinguishable based as much on their ability to come up with catchy phrases and engage the crowd. Sometimes, they can transcend wrestling and become popular culture icons based solely on their mic work. Over the course of wrestling’s rich history, a few have stood out as being the greatest. Here’s a list of the 10 best trashtalkers the “sport” has ever seen.
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CATEGORY: Everything Else, GENERAL, Sports, Spotlight, Videos | TAGS: C. M. Punk, Chris Jericho, Dusty Rhodes, Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper
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What? No Goldberg?! He was the ONLY wrestler that I was really scared of. He and the old Cain. But Goldberg use to talk that shit and I believed him.
if Macho Man is Ghostface, then Ultimate Warrior is Kool Keith
LOL @ Macho Man’s dramatic pause at the end of his promo. He’s great
If wrestling is a sport then Kid Cudi is a dope emcee. C’mon son.
Stone Cold is a derivative of Dusty Rhodes. Not saying who’s better, but they had that Everyman shtick down
Ric Flair = Jay-Z
When I saw wrestling… I knew David D wrote it.
When I saw a list concerning wrestling that David D wrote… I knew Flair would be at the top of the list.
Call it… an educated guess.
“HULK HOGAN! WE COMIN’ FOR YOOOUUU, NIGGA!”
LMAOOOOOOOOO
LMFAO @ the Booker T ish! Man I miss watching wrestling when it was good growing up because this ish today sucks ass! Proves once again how good we had it in the 90s growing up *sigh*
Stone Cold is a derivative of Dusty Rhodes. Not saying who’s better, but they had that
EverymanWhite Trash shtick downRic Flair >.
LOL @ Amp! hahaha
The greatest moment in wrestling promo history.
*dies. Seriously dies*
Shout out to Rick The Model Martel too
Indelible mic work that is undeniably engaging is what separates the legends from mere main eventers. When you get 2 legends who consistently do fantastic promos against each other in the squared circle, you get the greatest moments in wrestling history. Look at the feuds between Hogan & Macho Man, Flair & Rhodes, and Stone Cold & The Rock.
The Rock = Raekwon the Chef
The greatest moment in wrestling promo history.
*dies. Seriously dies*
^^^
*Co-muertes*
Excellent choices. I would have included HBK.
I’m glad Y2J got some shine in this post
@ Patrick – yep. I would’ve replaced CM Punk with HBK.
I dunno where HHH figures in a discussion about top 10
Shoutout to Scott Hall when he was Razor Ramon (pronounced Grraadzer…..Grraadmmone), oooozing machismo!
Hulk Hogan was an interesting choice, but his actual shit talking heyday was when he was Hollywood Hogan, he was cool as hell. hahha.
Oh yeah. Early-90s Rick Rude should get a shoutout too.
I was pissed Stone Cold was at 3 until I saw who was at #2 and #1. Can’t be mad at that at all. Man, talk about a trip down memory lane. This was it.
HBK’s promo on Hulk Hogan where he parodied the Larry King Interview is a definite honorable mention.
@ maurice, I’m glad you mentioned Scott Hall cuz him & Kevin Nash were pretty good too.
lol @ Rick Rude. Val Venis was a derivative of that dude
Scott Hall = the greatest hype man of all time?
All it took was a “Hey, yo” to get the crowd going.
Come on, how do you leave out HBK’s “Lost my Smile” promo?
I knew it was over over Jericho when The Rock gave him The People’s Eye.
If wrestling is a sport then Kid Cudi is a dope emcee. C’mon son.
——————————————-
lmao
no million-dollar man ted dibiase? no ravishing rick rude?
shenanigans. this contest is rigged.
i gotta put the rock at number one. that dude was straight comedy. his ring skills were weak but on the mic he was a beast. IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT YOU THINK!
callin people jabrones and roody-poo candy asses, c’mon son.
I can see aloooot of Ric Flair influence in Lil’ B LOL.
jericho shoulda been higher…anyone seen the man of 1001 submissions…that shit had me rolling
How is Macho Man not higher? Behing Jericho!? He was droppin Supreme Clientelle’s for damn-near 20 years!
No love for Ravishing Rick Rude….cut the music
Classic Booker T – [www.youtube.com]
Well, if Booker T can say it, then Vince McMahon sure as hell can:
[www.youtube.com]
LOL
^ Man Wtf ahahahahahha
unrelated, but funny as hell:
[theurbandaily.com]
lmao @ booker T’s “i just ended my own career” facepalm after saying that shit.
So glad I clicked all the way to the last page…
Great post, wish I had time to watch all of these…brings back memories.
And I agree, HBK and Scott Hall should be honorable mention, at least. I don’t watch today so I don’t know this CM Punk character.
*Here lies Celly Cell. Killed by a Teefus Link.*
lol
Dammnit Teef you beat me to it!
Dusty Rhodes = Yelawolf. He got me all amped n shit. HARD TIMES MUFUGGA
I never remember Terry Funk being ill but I was dying laughing there too.
Shoutouts to Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, and the Road Dogg Jesse James too
DEAD @ the Booker T link, bahahaha.
Also, Rick Rude deserved an honorable mention.
Ultimate Warrior too. Ultimate Warrior was like the ODB of wrestler promos.
[www.youtube.com]
Added bonus: Warrior on Arsenio Hall. *DEAD* [www.youtube.com]
LMAOO @ Teef’s link.
I had an outburst of veeeery awkard laughter in the middle of class.
As a Macho Man scholar I would say Mr. Savage is easily 1,000,000% #1!!
Proof:
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]
yo, I used to get all hyped for Saturday Night’s Main Event, back when it used to air every 3 months or so. The infrequency plus the caliber of the matches made the anticipation worthwhile
even though he wasn’t a wrestler, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan was dopewhen cutting a promo too
Flair was the best ever to touch the mic.
Whhoooooooooooooooooooooooo
The Rock took wrasslin off life support and gave it that 2nd wind; He is the Jay-Z of wrestling minus the constant comebacks.
Great list
I would give honorable mention to the Iron Sheik and Bobby the Brian Hennan
This post will rank in the top of 2010, nicely put together son.
Stone Cold could still get it!!!
hmmm…I wonder if David D. follows the indies at all….cuz THAT’s where CM Punk made his name as a good wrestler and awesome mic work.
Straight Edge means Im better than you…Second City Saints w/ Colt Cabana…and the infamous signing of his WWE contract on the Ring of Honor World Title (where he made a name for himself).
WWE CM Punk is very, very good….but just pales in comparison to the ROH Punk. If WWE let Punk say what he REALLY can say….he’d be for sure the n umber 1 heel in the business right now (can even be argued he is now)
anyways, enough of my stannism of the one of the few reasons why I still watch WWE…CM Punk. great list by the way. u know its stacked when the likes of HBK, HHH, Mick Foley and even perhaps Paul Heyman dont make the list.
how about a top 10 most technically sound wrestlers? top 10 up and comers? top 10 PPV’s of all time!!! #kanye
@PSA What you know about ROH CM Punk? Punk says some greezy ish, I remember his Raven feud, those were some verbal battles like Slaughterhouse type shit. Raven deserves a honorable mention for sure with his club foot.
And no Bobby Heenan?? Best part of WCW was him doing commentary and on PPVs when Dusty came by lol.
Great list. Anytime someone posts about old-school wrasslin’, it’s defintely a discussion I wanna be a part of.
For personal reasons, I woulda had Mr. Perfect in here somewhere; probably over CM Punk, but that’s through no fault of Punk’s. I just don’t mess with current wrasslin’ at all. Kurt Angle used to talk greasy in the old days, but it woulda been hard to put him in the Top Ten.
Savage did some of my favorite promos of all-time, so nine was low, but then again, it’s all about preference. I can dig you showin’ love to Terry Funk and to The American Dream. Plus, I can’t argue (at all) with your top-three. Even though The Great One is my favorite wrestler of all-time, it’s damn near impossible to put him over Flair in a shit-talking contest. Wait, yes it is. I’ll just give Flair the GOAT (wrassling-wise), and give The People’s Champ the GOAT of shit-talking. Great post, mane. Here’s one I did a while back as well. Check it out, and even add your opinion on there as well:
[www.edthesportsfan.com]
Dope Post David. As an Avid Wrestling fan my entire life. The List is Great but instead of CM Punk I would have had Mick Foley. Whether it’s Cactus Jack Mankind Dude Love or Mrs. Foley’s Baby Boy. The Foley Promos are Classic. Here’s a few examples
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]
the rock is #1
this is the best cm punk promo [www.youtube.com]
Oh man I forgot to mention Shane Douglas in my honorable mentions. He could talk that shit with the best of them.
Jim Cornette, by far.
Do you think you have enough commercials, advertisements, etc., on this web site? It took several MINUTES for all this crap to load up on my computer, and I have high speed 20 Gig DSL service. Enough of this garbage already! We want to see content, not be forced to read all the advertisements which won’t even be clicked on anyway! :o(
@cell, goldberg was a horrible worker, couldn’t work a mic, or even wrestle. No wonder after the abomination of wcw goldberg still isn’t in the industry…cause he’s a bitch who doesn’t understand the business
No Shawn Michael’s? The original DX stuff was gold. Mick Foley too, his last ECW promo is unreal and he could do crazy like no other. Put those two in for Hogan and CM Punk imo.
@Cell, Are you fucking kidding me with Goldberg? The dude had terrible mic skills, which is why he would come out, spear someone and leave night in and night out. Fuckin Goldberg.
This list minus Road Warrior Hawk = Fail. None of these yabos could ever touch his mic skills. Too bad the old WWF completely destroyed his schtick (as well as his career and/or life) and made “What a rush” his tagline. I always prefered “We snack on danger, and dine on death!” The man was a poet. He was the Meth of wrasslin smack talk back in the day.
No DX!!??? Are you for real?
I saw Goldberg at one of WWE’s final events and he had to wrestle twice (they recorded both shows the same night). He was nursing a shoulder injury and in the second match he dropped Bam Bam Bigelow (at least 350lb) while trying to Jack Hammer him. Instead of pinning Bigelow, Goldberg sucked it up, did a second Jack Hammer and walked around the ring holding Bigelow over his head like a rag doll. Other than Brock Lessnar, the most legitimate bad-ass in pro wrestling.
And right on with Chris Jericho. Good wrestler (for a mid-sized guy), great talker, and his band is actually really good too (if you like that style of music).
Booker T is Hell Rell
Jerry “The King” King Lawler, was the biggest shit talker. The shit he spread could fertilize crops the world over and make shit bloom in the desert.
You damn right Lil Nello, we had it REAL good in the 90′s. And now when I try to watch it, i just cringe and change the channel.
That Rock promo is CLASSIC, he completely shit on Toronto!
You know, if you’re gonna just take out ONE letter from the word, you might as well just remove it altogether. “Trash talker” would have worked. Seriously, if you don’t have the balls to print “shit” on your website, then don’t use such an ineffectual censorship method.
Good list and especially #1. Ric was the best, no question. That dude often wrestled 365 days a year and twice a day sometimes.
my favorite promo was one in which he yelled to the ringside folks ” My shoes cost more than your house!” That killed me.
” Walk that aisle!”
and Adrian Adonis was AWESOME on the mic before his weight spiraled waaay out of control and the WWWF hung him with the gay gimmick.
[www.youtube.com]
But here’s the deal to many who don’t seem to get it. what made Flair so great beyond the mic and in the ring and why Goldberg sucked, is that Ric Flair knew what kept the business going. He could show up at your little town and make you believe the whole night that this would be the night your hero was gonna take his title. He would sell his opponenet, scream in pain, beg for mercy, face flop and then just somehow break your heart at the end and walk away with the ten pounds of gold. And sometimes would leave the gold with the other guy after about an hour of greatness.
Goldberg and Hogan would sell no one but themselves, wouldn’t act like any move would work on them and then do a squash job on their opponents. You never knew how a Flair match would end. Hogan? hulk up, body slam ,leg drop. Goldberg?Spear, Jackhammer. That was a huge shit on the wrestling business really. Ric Flair made guys careers, Built them up with feuds. i can’t think of one guy Hogan or Goldberg ever put over or made better. Not one.
And, BTW, the whole Golberg streak was BS. His very first match in WCW was a match against Eddie Guererro in which he was attacked outside the ring and counted out.
Best sh*t talker in wrestling is Scott Steiner, he’ll say anything. Look how he talks about Samoa Joe & Dudley Boys being fat slobs eating Twinkies and being scumbags lol! When Scott rants it feels real with true disdain. Scott was the best wrestler in the world in the 90′s with the best body by the late 90′s then became the best sh*t talker by the beginning of 2000′s with his verbal attacks on Ric Flair & DDP.
This article was clearly written w/out the pioneer of sh*t talking = Superstar Billy Graham. He’s number one on anyones list who knows wrestling history.
Lol. The minute I saw the title of this post I knew David D. was behind it – I remember him and Emilio Sparks going IN on a wrestling convo one night I was at Sparks’s radio show.
I definitely agree with the top 2 – The Rock & The Nature Boy are second to none.
My list?
10. Shane Douglas
9. nWo (Hogan, Hall, Nash)
8. Michael Hayes
7. Steve Austin
6. The Rock
5. Chris Jericho
4. Dusty Rhodes
3. Roddy Piper
2. Ric Flair
and 1! – Andy Kaufman
If it was based upon promos and not shit-talking, remove the Rock and replace him with Mick Foley.
Taker? His shit talking was “I’m going to bury you” And other forms of death threats… Totally classic. RESSSSSSSST INNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN PEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.
HBK was good.
WHERE THE FUCK IS BRET HART?!
He was one of the all time masters of all things wrestling, including mic work.
The Ultimate Warrior would have been great because.. well.. His interviews are legendary for how legendary they are.
You got the top three right for sure. But I gotta second the love for someone mentioned in the comments. Scott Steiner is up there man. That dude was straight Cormega THE REALNESS. Tore Flair a new asshole and always said some ridiculous shit, and rocked ridiculous shit like that head dress. Guy was comedy. Had the bangin entrance music with the sirens blarin. “Big Poppa Pump is your hookup, holla if ya hear me!” Always got mad love and was supposed to be heel. “So this goes out to all my freaks in (whatever town they were in).” Had like two or three skanks for arm candy. Used to clothesline the shit out of a dude then rip out the pushups right next to him and start talkin mess while the guy was knocked out. His debut at Survivor Series was dope, plus it was at MSG so you had the NYC crowd buggin out for him. “Give me the fukin mic!” after he just gorilla pressed some slime straight to the floor. Absolute roided mess.
Want to show some love to Brian Pillman (RIP) and my guy BIG SID too. Pillman you just never knew when he would pop off. “What if I ripped off the seven right now? Not the seven deadly sins. The SEVEN WORDS YOU CAN’T SAY ON TELEVISION!!!” Would go from perfectly calm then in a split second to the eyes buggin out of his head, and he’d jump at the cameraman like he was gonna drop his ass. The Loose Cannon always had you guessin whether he was workin or shootin. “It’s just the reality of perception.”
Big Sid (WHOS THE MAN?????????!!!!!!!!!!!) may not have anything memorable promos for its verbage but he always got love and was an epic nutcase. “See what you need to do right now LITTLE MAN, you STUPID PUKE, you need to understand THAT I AM THE MASTER AND THE RULER OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!” And he rocked that black and yellow Body Glove arm sleeve forever.
good list. My other 2 favorites were big poppa pump and ravishing rick rude
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
Mick Foley. Best promos ever.
3. Stone Cold
2. The Rock.
1. Rick Flair
I agree. These guys were far more entertaining on the mic than many wrestlers in the ring.
What about Jesse “the body” Ventura? Im telling you he was the greatest smack talker ever! I remember back to an old interview with Mean Gene and Ventura. Mean Gene was asking Jesse how he got injured the night before(Jesse was faking being injured to not have to fight hulk hogan). Jesse says, “well, Mean Gene, I was out on the town partying it up and I had a woman on this arm and a woman on that arm, we know you would never have that problem Mean Gene, and I hurt my back!”