10 Fascinating Facts About Famous Wrestling Promos

9. Roman Reigns Actually Received A Positive Reaction For His Worst Ever Promo

CM Punk Eddie Kingston
WWE

The "Sufferin' succotash" promo is known in shorthand as a career-killer, and with good reason: it was the f*cking sh*ts, and he became the new John Cena as a result. This was suboptimal, since a considerable and vocal portion of the fanbase loathed John Cena.

Roman's arrival in his spot felt like dread on top of nihilism on top of loathing. Happily, it really only took WWE six years to correct the problem.

This promo ruined Roman's relationship with the 18-49 male demographic. A lot of terrible, outdated WWE thinking converged to make that happen, yes, but this was so stunningly cringe that many people made up their minds there and then. In fiction, the best, most rewarding works show and don't tell the story. Vince McMahon got this somewhat wrong by screaming the message "CHEER ROMAN REIGNS YOU C*NT" so loudly that you could practically feel his spittle on your brow.

And yet, the sufferin' succotash promo actually drew chants - mild chants, but chants - of "Roman Reigns!"

Seriously. Go watch it back. It was a taped episode of SmackDown, yes, but they weren't piped in.

You can tell when WWE pipes in noise because they flood backstage Riddle segments with '98 Austin pops.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!