10 Best Wrestling Talkers Of 2019 (So Far)
6. Jay White
The enfant terrible of New Japan Pro Wrestling, Jay White's prick-tacular face is the perfect vehicle which to deliver relentlessly narcissistic promos.
White's entire core is that of a rule-breaker. He cheats constantly in his matches, preferring to draw howls of derision than the delight usually served up in NJPW's state-of-the-art masterpieces. He rose to main event prominence at warp speed, where more popular, traditional NJPW fighters, like Katsuyori Shibata and Tomohiro Ishii, never reached the pinnacle. And, in his superb sh*t-talking promos, he never puts over his fallen opponents.
After capturing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Hiroshi Tanahashi earlier this year, White framed the Ace as a knackered old man, not a legend. He casually dismissed Ishii's chances of winning the big one, describing him as an "old f*ck", quietly building anticipation for a match down the line in a dual strategy of building his character and mapping out his future.
And that face is so eminently detestable. At the mere mention of Ishii's name, it morphed into a expression of disdain, as if the notion of that challenge revolted him. White is a defiant, confident, nasty promo - simmering and apathetic in his contempt, he doesn't shout.
It's an astute technique; if he were to bluster, he'd look shook at the accusations of not being "ready".