https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0UXYzwMGC8 A hugely underrated promo. As a precursor to the 1988 Survivor Series, Jake begins this promo with some classic Roberts, wonderfully crafted phrases designed to draw the viewer in, to prick the ears in anticipation. Jake talks of pride, the importance of pride to an athlete, as well as setting out just exactly what they are all fighting for. The second half of the promo is dedicated to putting every other competitor in the match over strong. Roberts goes through both his team and their opponents, clearly defining the various beefs that make up the match and giving many, many reasons to tune in and pay money for the event. I dare say Roberts achieves more in this promo than those whose job it was to talk about the action. Professional wrestling is a show, a circus-type environment that survives on its audience. Here, Roberts does a wonderful job of attracting those eyes to the product.
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.