In this day and age, its no longer possible for professional wrestlers to get by on in-ring ability alone. Sports entertainers, as theyve come to be known, need a gimmick that the fans can buy into, a look thats going to set them apart from othersbut perhaps most importantly they need to be comfortable on the mic. So often weve seen talents fail to live up to their potential on account of their lacklustre verbal skills. But then, at the other end of the spectrum, weve seen a number of stars seemingly made overnight as a result of their encapsulating ability to talk the talk. Sure, weve got legends like Paul Heyman and Mick Foley whove always been able to deliver the goods. But what about the guys who have that one moment, that one instance, that one distinctive promo that transformed their career and elevated them to whole other level. This article looks to highlights the superstars who established themselves with a ground-breaking promo that changed their career for the better forever. Make no mistake, this isnt a list of the greatest promos of all time. What were looking for here is changea positive change brought about from one unprecedented development. But first lets cover those that didnt quite make this particular list.
Honourable Mentions
The likes of Heyman and Foley have already been mentioned as guys who wont be on this list. Thats not to say that they dont deliver a stellar promoquite the oppositeits just difficult to pinpoint an exact instance of one promo that changed either mans career. You could perhaps argue that Foleys epic Cane Dewey tirade should be considered, but to be fair to Mick that wasnt anything out of the bluehe was already known as a top talker, it merely confirmed what we already knew. And speaking of memorable promos, the likes of Dusty Rhodes (for his Hard Times classic) and Ric Flair (to be the man, youve got to beat the man") certainly deserve a mention, but did those speeches really change either mans career? Not really, given that theyd already been performing at the top of their games previously, and thus they werent necessarily instances of changemuch like the case of Foley. And then on the other side of the spectrum, we have stars would definitely used their promo skills to change their careers, however they dont make the list as its difficult to hone in on one example that propelled them to greatness. Examples of these stars include the likes of the Rock and Edgeexcellent talkers, but there was no discernible breakthrough moment that made people sit up and listen, as their rises were much more organic. Quite unlike this mans rise
