15 Greatest Promos In Modern Wrestling History
WWE's Sami Zayn proves that a promo isn't about words...
The scripted promo was a complete disgrace in Vince McMahon's WWE.
A wrestler's voice is an instrument. They grew up cutting promos in their mirrors. They worked to tell their own stories using that instrument only for some clown writer sh*t-scared of Vince to tell them, no, what you are going to say is the most lame joke you've ever heard in your life.
AEW has brought back the professional wrestling promo, and in the process became the best company for interviews since Jim Crockett Promotions across 2021 and 2022. Worryingly, AEW has slipped out of form amid the recent 'Where The Best Wrestle' banger directive. While the promotion has settled on an identity, the match graphics do more work than the interviews.
The high-end of Triple H's WWE is not on that 2021 AEW level, but can still yield greatness. The best promos however just elicit dismay over the entire process. The answer is staring them in the face. Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens have full autonomy, and they are the best mic workers in the company. The pattern is not hard to spot. The promos in WWE could be better, and there should be far more promos in AEW. We could be living through a golden age, on the following evidence.
New Japan was the destination of the great promo for a while, and an honourable mention must be made of Lance Archer's threat to eat vegan Zack Sabre, Jr. alive and crap him out as pate for the good of his digestive health.
But what promos were the very best in modern history...?
15. Mark Briscoe Embodies The Human Spirit
Mark Briscoe is a gift to AEW. He's almost too much of an asset for his own good. He's so charming and funny - but also so hard and sympathetic - that he can and often does pop up anywhere on a show where his immense talent warrants a main event spot. It's little wonder that his two best AEW promos are so wide-ranging.
The promo that spawned the Conglomeration was fantastic. Briscoe tasked himself with improvising a reason as to why he was teaming with two men he'd only recently fought, and his explanation was so rousing that they formed a permanent stable. This unhinged freestyle was such an effective call arms - "Orange Cassidy is the man with the plan and the hands...in his pocket..,watch your jaw, 'cause he's gonna rock it!" - that Kyle O'Reilly's eyes lit up the longer it went on. The promo broke Renee Paquette entirely. She guffawed when Briscoe was done, knowing she'd just witnessed TV magic.
Briscoe didn't actually show his range in what was really his best AEW promo, because that would suggest he was acting. He wasn't.
On the anniversary of brother Jay's death, January 17, 2024, Briscoe entered the arena. The most talkative guy on the show could barely get his words out as he reminded the audience of the day's significance. He also reminded the fans that Jay's daughters were involved in the same car accident, and that the doctors had told the eldest she would never walk again.
When Mark said "However...", the tears stung so severely and quickly that it felt like a strike to the face. Jay's young family walked out to to a huge ovation in one of the nicest moments in the entire history of the sport, not least the modern.