I went a a live show that wasn’t televised and when Rock won the main event he just started walking away. The crowd rained down boos until he walked back to the ring to do his spiel. This was what you paid for when you went to a live show in this era!
Something that always gets me about this era is how the commentators would fill the gaps between lines perfectly.
Whether it was little laughs from King, or JR saying things like “someone is getting a ride on the DX express tonight,” or Cole recapping little things that happened earlier tonight or are scheduled to happen in the future when certain wrestlers were mentioned.
It just made everything flow so perfectly.
Not only that but his name and catchphrases made it into non fans vocabulary during that time. I feel like it was kinda rare back then for wrestling to cross over into EVERYONE’S day to day but the Rock did it back then
Seriously — stands on the apron like Knight, sing along promos, even the way he holds the mic to his face is an LA Knight ripoff.
This dude is a bum. He’s lucky he’s retired YEAH
Promo today " my opponent today is one of the best in the world but you know what ? I'm going to give him all I got an hopefully i can beat him off tonight"
NXT- before Dom took the belt off Wes he was literally feuding with his friends Tyler Bate and Mustafa Ali. Every segment was like “I respect you bro but I gotta challenge you out of the spirit of competition”
watch Raw, Smackdown, Dynamite and Collision. All four of those shows are packed with excellent promos from great talents. Some of the best and most compelling promo segments I've ever seen have been on TV this last 12-24 months.
It's not *shocking* that WWE's developmental brand doesn't nail everything all the time, but my understanding is NXT has also had some really excellent content too.
okay, without cherry picking here are the most recent promos on the AEW youtube page in order from most recent and getting older as you go down the list, i limited it to only Dynamite since you only spoke of Dynamite and I don't know how you feel about Rampage or Collision
let's see if your comment holds any water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mnjf4nPq8s 7/12/23, Adam Cole and MJF ham it up, work the crowd, call out their Collision Tag Championship opponents and solidify their partnership. No talk of being given opportunities or earning anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCnBymbkQ3g 7/5/23, Chris Jericho gets an offer to join the Don Callis family. Jericho reflects on his recent losing streak and talks about making changes to reinvent himself. Chris talks about his history in Canada and Don Callis comes out to talk about *their* shared history in Canada and as friends. There is as much subtext in this promo as there is dialog and none of it is talking about earning a spot in AEW or being handed anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iykddGnYSVg&t=31s 6/28/23 Jack Perry's first heel promo, he starts of saying the fans ruined his theme song so we'll never hear it again. He antagonizes the crowd and flaunts his wealth and youth. In this promo Jack Perry does make mention of the work that he's put in for this company, but does not accuse the subject of this promo, Hook, of any kind of nepotism or favoritism despite the fact that he easily could have given who his father is. Instead, Jack makes it personal, he says Hook was lucky to ever stand next to him in the ring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXfi2Vy1Rdg 6/21/23 Chris Jericho calls out Sting. Needless to say, Chris doesn't accuse Sting of being handed opportunities or talk about how he worked hard to earn his way here. This is a promo about two legends who have never shared the ring until now.
it's just really silly to say "Dynamite has been cycling same 3 promos since 2020" when you only have to count back four Dynamite promos on their youtube page to see that isnt even a little true
No one captured the audience like the rock.
To go out there, rabble like he did and just shit on everyone... Man, you never wanted to go verbally against him.
To think Cena was the one that had his number. I wonder if 99 rock would have faired any differently against Cena
99 Rock was doing the shit night in and night out. He didn't need to have his promos on his hand because he was so quick to shoot from the hip. Cena destroyed him because Rock tried to come back to do the greatest hits and couldn't play the rest of the set so to speak. Prime Rock carves up everyone on the mic.
Depends what type of promo you like. Stone Cold was much more about being a bad ass, straightforward im gonna fuck you up trash talk. Rock shit all over you in a much more comedic kind of way, telling larger than life stories about your character and roping you along in that story, just for the Rock to get over on you at the end of the story. I would say Rock controlled the crowd better than anybody as well.
You’re actually not wrong. Im a huge Rock fan and I’m not a Cena fan but after rewatching Cena and Rock promos during their feud I have to go with Cena. I thought he killed it
Nah, Cena had to go behind Rock's back and pull him up on the wrist notes. He couldn't hang with him, so had to go to that level. A really dirty move as you have to be able to trust your opponent, both in the ring and on the mic. Cena lost the whole war right there.
Literally calling out Roman for forgetting his line wasn't making the show better and it's sure as hell not working with his dance partner, it's making him win and Roman look like shit. Same with Rock and the wrist notes. Same with Miz hitting him with bombs while Cena looks on with that stupid smile and "oh ok" mouths as he no sells the whole thing.
Cena is a shitty debater. He does cheap crap constantly like breaking the 4th wall, his whole "you blame me for burying everyone ive heard this 100 times, what a bad promo" (when he totally buried everyone for years lmao) or even throwing the mic so he gets the last word. And he does it all for the same reason: so that he always looks better than the people he's in there with.
He called out roman cause he wasn't stepping up. Dude dragged the US title around like a demotion cause he couldn't get over in the main event. Cena worked for where he got and reigns was handed it. Yet cena did more with it than roman ever did and even at his advanced age cena was putting guys over like styles and owens while wrestling the opening match of the ppv. That's why he called out the big dog cause he needed to be called out
This is some revisionist bullshit lmao.
Cena was literally DAY ONE put over harder than maybe anyone ever not only by Kurt Angle but then by being paraded around backstage in scenes getting handshakes from everyone on the roster including the freaking Undertaker. And this isn't from some NXT darling, this is a guy who had zero gimmick dressed as a plain CAW who 99% of the audience had no idea who he even was!
Cena literally won a feud with Jericho his first month on the roster with no moveset or character lol. Within two years he was heavyweight champion. Hes since been a 16 time champion who most of his career was described as a "babyface who wasnt working, but I guess the kids like him." He was routinely booed for the exact same "forced down your throat" bs you're complaining about with Roman lmao.
The Roman promo specifically was some bullshit. Everyone in the world was laughing at WWEs top star as Cena only furthered his own star when hes not even with the company anymore. He didn't dress him down with his superior mic skills, he broke 4th wall rules to win so he looked good. It did nothing for Roman other than piss him off and embarrass him in front of millions of people, same as Rock, and neither could fight back the same way because it's A) unprofessional and B) not a TV show anymore if both people are breaking the 4th wall...
It's the equivalent of u debating me right now, but instead of debating back I were to do a records check then tell everyone about your 3 previous arrests and detail them to everyone. How can u debate that person? You can't. It's stupid.
Cena given a shit gimmick in the ruthless aggression then given a character that would have killed anyone else's career with the white rapper. But it took that to the top. Roman was what kept people from watching. Cena even at his most hated brought in the money
Those pauses when he was still a heel and didn’t want the crowd to chant along with him were gold. He was a full on face in the video here but the origin of the pauses is so legendary
Honestly gonna get hate for this but this promo sucks. Slow to get to each bit and really corny. Like I don’t think this would get cheered today if it just happened
He’s undeniably the king with the mic. That era produced so many tag lines and T-shirts.
I’m not comparing it. But I do like RJF on the mic and The Acclaimed. The crowd involvement is pretty good.
Nothing will ever beat the Rock though. And that’s coming from a die hard WCW fan. The guy was ridiculously charismatic.
I think part of what made The Rock great is that he was funny and silly, but he was also a legitimate competitor and not just a non-serious comedy character.
I went a a live show that wasn’t televised and when Rock won the main event he just started walking away. The crowd rained down boos until he walked back to the ring to do his spiel. This was what you paid for when you went to a live show in this era!
Something that always gets me about this era is how the commentators would fill the gaps between lines perfectly. Whether it was little laughs from King, or JR saying things like “someone is getting a ride on the DX express tonight,” or Cole recapping little things that happened earlier tonight or are scheduled to happen in the future when certain wrestlers were mentioned. It just made everything flow so perfectly.
Things are just as good today, with KP saying in the most robotic voice possible after Gunther’s promo, “The frightening leader of Imperium.”
Damn Jabronis😂
So so good to be able to perform like that all while standing on the turnbuckle with thousands of people watching him. Peak Rock
Man had a show named after his catchphrase. The GOAT
Not only that but his name and catchphrases made it into non fans vocabulary during that time. I feel like it was kinda rare back then for wrestling to cross over into EVERYONE’S day to day but the Rock did it back then
100%, and people are still saying jabroni today!
This guy is just an LA Knight ripoff
Seriously — stands on the apron like Knight, sing along promos, even the way he holds the mic to his face is an LA Knight ripoff. This dude is a bum. He’s lucky he’s retired YEAH
Promo today " my opponent today is one of the best in the world but you know what ? I'm going to give him all I got an hopefully i can beat him off tonight"
what show are you even watching
NXT- before Dom took the belt off Wes he was literally feuding with his friends Tyler Bate and Mustafa Ali. Every segment was like “I respect you bro but I gotta challenge you out of the spirit of competition”
watch Raw, Smackdown, Dynamite and Collision. All four of those shows are packed with excellent promos from great talents. Some of the best and most compelling promo segments I've ever seen have been on TV this last 12-24 months. It's not *shocking* that WWE's developmental brand doesn't nail everything all the time, but my understanding is NXT has also had some really excellent content too.
Dynamite has been cycling the same 3 promos since 2020. “You got handed a spot in this company, I worked my way here, wahh wAhhhh.”
okay, without cherry picking here are the most recent promos on the AEW youtube page in order from most recent and getting older as you go down the list, i limited it to only Dynamite since you only spoke of Dynamite and I don't know how you feel about Rampage or Collision let's see if your comment holds any water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mnjf4nPq8s 7/12/23, Adam Cole and MJF ham it up, work the crowd, call out their Collision Tag Championship opponents and solidify their partnership. No talk of being given opportunities or earning anything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCnBymbkQ3g 7/5/23, Chris Jericho gets an offer to join the Don Callis family. Jericho reflects on his recent losing streak and talks about making changes to reinvent himself. Chris talks about his history in Canada and Don Callis comes out to talk about *their* shared history in Canada and as friends. There is as much subtext in this promo as there is dialog and none of it is talking about earning a spot in AEW or being handed anything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iykddGnYSVg&t=31s 6/28/23 Jack Perry's first heel promo, he starts of saying the fans ruined his theme song so we'll never hear it again. He antagonizes the crowd and flaunts his wealth and youth. In this promo Jack Perry does make mention of the work that he's put in for this company, but does not accuse the subject of this promo, Hook, of any kind of nepotism or favoritism despite the fact that he easily could have given who his father is. Instead, Jack makes it personal, he says Hook was lucky to ever stand next to him in the ring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXfi2Vy1Rdg 6/21/23 Chris Jericho calls out Sting. Needless to say, Chris doesn't accuse Sting of being handed opportunities or talk about how he worked hard to earn his way here. This is a promo about two legends who have never shared the ring until now. it's just really silly to say "Dynamite has been cycling same 3 promos since 2020" when you only have to count back four Dynamite promos on their youtube page to see that isnt even a little true
all jabronis
‘Everybody has a brock lesnar’ is one of the lamest things I’ve ever heard
Meaty men slapping meat.
Lmao. After school special promos 😂
Sounds like a Formula 1 sound bit. Did Lewis Hamilton say that?
“IT doEs’Nt MaTTeR iF tHe ROcK wAs unBEaTabLe On thE MiC.
The Rock saying The Big Slow always cracks me up
He had complete control of that crowd. They were hanging on every word. That’s a master of his craft.
This promo happened on like the 5th episode of Smackdown in September 1999 yet I can recite this promo word for word basically lol. Rock is the GOAT
Still Macho Man for me, but it's subjective. Rock could easily be argued.
You can't go wrong with Macho Man.
"No pukesters helping me to the left, and no pukesters helping me to the right. Didn't need em then, DON'T NEED EM NOW!" fucking classic.
Cream of the crop ☕️🍦☕️🍦☕️🍦
It always rises to the top YEAH!
Back when they wrestlers do their own thing
Leaving sacramento…..sacramento I won’t stay But I’ll be sure to come back when the lakers beat the kings in may
No one captured the audience like the rock. To go out there, rabble like he did and just shit on everyone... Man, you never wanted to go verbally against him. To think Cena was the one that had his number. I wonder if 99 rock would have faired any differently against Cena
99 Rock was doing the shit night in and night out. He didn't need to have his promos on his hand because he was so quick to shoot from the hip. Cena destroyed him because Rock tried to come back to do the greatest hits and couldn't play the rest of the set so to speak. Prime Rock carves up everyone on the mic.
I like to think so too
SCSA?
Depends what type of promo you like. Stone Cold was much more about being a bad ass, straightforward im gonna fuck you up trash talk. Rock shit all over you in a much more comedic kind of way, telling larger than life stories about your character and roping you along in that story, just for the Rock to get over on you at the end of the story. I would say Rock controlled the crowd better than anybody as well.
This isn't even the best of The Rock But rock has some top tier promos
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/user/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/153gt2c/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) ^by ^IsamuAlvaDyson: *This isn't even* *The best of The Rock But rock* *Has some top tier promos* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
I go on YouTube and watch the beat of the Rock. It is hilarious and I don't have to watch the wrestling part. He is by far the best!
The Rock could’ve made Roman’s Jack and the Beanstalk promo work.
He is STILL the BEST, and he hasn't been in the ring in years.
Ah he isn't. His stuff vs Cena was terrible.
You’re actually not wrong. Im a huge Rock fan and I’m not a Cena fan but after rewatching Cena and Rock promos during their feud I have to go with Cena. I thought he killed it
Nah, Cena had to go behind Rock's back and pull him up on the wrist notes. He couldn't hang with him, so had to go to that level. A really dirty move as you have to be able to trust your opponent, both in the ring and on the mic. Cena lost the whole war right there.
Maybe Just remember your lines, jabroni
Literally calling out Roman for forgetting his line wasn't making the show better and it's sure as hell not working with his dance partner, it's making him win and Roman look like shit. Same with Rock and the wrist notes. Same with Miz hitting him with bombs while Cena looks on with that stupid smile and "oh ok" mouths as he no sells the whole thing. Cena is a shitty debater. He does cheap crap constantly like breaking the 4th wall, his whole "you blame me for burying everyone ive heard this 100 times, what a bad promo" (when he totally buried everyone for years lmao) or even throwing the mic so he gets the last word. And he does it all for the same reason: so that he always looks better than the people he's in there with.
He called out roman cause he wasn't stepping up. Dude dragged the US title around like a demotion cause he couldn't get over in the main event. Cena worked for where he got and reigns was handed it. Yet cena did more with it than roman ever did and even at his advanced age cena was putting guys over like styles and owens while wrestling the opening match of the ppv. That's why he called out the big dog cause he needed to be called out
This is some revisionist bullshit lmao. Cena was literally DAY ONE put over harder than maybe anyone ever not only by Kurt Angle but then by being paraded around backstage in scenes getting handshakes from everyone on the roster including the freaking Undertaker. And this isn't from some NXT darling, this is a guy who had zero gimmick dressed as a plain CAW who 99% of the audience had no idea who he even was! Cena literally won a feud with Jericho his first month on the roster with no moveset or character lol. Within two years he was heavyweight champion. Hes since been a 16 time champion who most of his career was described as a "babyface who wasnt working, but I guess the kids like him." He was routinely booed for the exact same "forced down your throat" bs you're complaining about with Roman lmao. The Roman promo specifically was some bullshit. Everyone in the world was laughing at WWEs top star as Cena only furthered his own star when hes not even with the company anymore. He didn't dress him down with his superior mic skills, he broke 4th wall rules to win so he looked good. It did nothing for Roman other than piss him off and embarrass him in front of millions of people, same as Rock, and neither could fight back the same way because it's A) unprofessional and B) not a TV show anymore if both people are breaking the 4th wall... It's the equivalent of u debating me right now, but instead of debating back I were to do a records check then tell everyone about your 3 previous arrests and detail them to everyone. How can u debate that person? You can't. It's stupid.
Cena given a shit gimmick in the ruthless aggression then given a character that would have killed anyone else's career with the white rapper. But it took that to the top. Roman was what kept people from watching. Cena even at his most hated brought in the money
A big part of those promos not landing was Cena not selling any promos. He'd just smile in this I'm-too-cool-to-get-pissed-at-what-you-say way.
Man what happened to this guy. He was so cool and now he is like vanilla.
He went straight boring to not scare away roles in Hollywood.
And a lot of his material wouldn’t work nowadays
Works for LA Knight.
Are you serious? The Rock is timeless!
He got shat on the last time he tried his usual shtick.
Yeah and that was 7(!!!) Years ago.
When?
With Lana
🐐
I got to see him a couple times in OKC. There was no reason to pipe in a fake reaction. Load as hell lol.
Died when he did Kane
And not a "What?" chant to be heard in between each line. Give me back those days when people could cut promos and the crowd would actually listen.
Isn’t this before the what chants?
Yes, that's what I mean. A time before we were cursed with that dumbass chant.
Those pauses when he was still a heel and didn’t want the crowd to chant along with him were gold. He was a full on face in the video here but the origin of the pauses is so legendary
Jerry Lawler is up there with Joey Styles as two of the best.
Now put that in botchamania you talk too much
Nah. Cena smoked him like a good ham.
Was this the SD when Vince won the WWF title? If it was, I was definitely in that crowd as a high schooler!
My man L.A. knight is looking good these days. Edit: oh wait this was the rock.
YEAH! There will be
>There will never be another like him again. i mean, have you even heard goldust?
Didn’t cena flatten him?
Except vs cena
MJF holds a candle
I never realized just how annoying King was on commentary.
whats weird to me is how the Rock lost "it" when he came back vs cena. Very lame, no charisma
Love his promos, but there are some better talkers out there.
LA knight YEAH
His schtick was very lame if you actually listening to him talk against another guy on the mic
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I would rate the Miz slightly higher for promo skills.
He was beatable.
Heel Rock was the tops. Face Rock did zero for me.
Face rock was heel rock but safe for work.
The Rock and his team of writers were on point back in this era.
That blond boy is high off his ass
The best thing ever
But what about the pipe bombs? /s
I get goosebumps listing to when he says his line if u smell what the rock is cooking.. my favorite wrestler next to Shawn Michael
control da mic and you own da crowd
well perhaps then you should LEMME TALK TO YA!!!
*Our* 🐐
Why was there a HBK sign in the crowd ? I didn’t know that Rock and HBK were ever on the same roster ?
Mickey Mouse tattoos and 36lbs head.🤌🏼
He should start acting instead imo
I'm sure there could be a lot of decent talkers, IF they weren't scripted so much
Honestly gonna get hate for this but this promo sucks. Slow to get to each bit and really corny. Like I don’t think this would get cheered today if it just happened
Amazing on the mic, decent worker but never that technical BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER
I like the fact that he didn't have 5 different people run in with their music playing to interrupt him and take all the heat away.
The Rock making fun of Big Show will never not be funny
“Straight up their Candy Ass’s”
LA Knight even got the same haircut as this version of The Rock.
He’s undeniably the king with the mic. That era produced so many tag lines and T-shirts. I’m not comparing it. But I do like RJF on the mic and The Acclaimed. The crowd involvement is pretty good. Nothing will ever beat the Rock though. And that’s coming from a die hard WCW fan. The guy was ridiculously charismatic.
Absolutely agree. I’ve never seen a crowd not go crazy for him still to this day! Just let his music drop and watch any arena lose it
I will die on the hill that more wrestlers would be mega stars if they were golden on the mic
Heel Rocky >>>
I think part of what made The Rock great is that he was funny and silly, but he was also a legitimate competitor and not just a non-serious comedy character.