If only he could talk

[Slasher]

I know he wasn't a great promo but I liked some of Jeff Hardy's mic work in 08-09 when he got the main event push. Particularly one with Taker and his first post-title win promo. Also agreed with those who liked Luger's promos as well as Warrior. And yeah Lesnar's recent stuff ruled, the video promo building up the Punk match was great.

For some odd reason I liked that segment where the backstage interviewer caught Jeff Hardy staring at the wall and he told her he was looking at the paint dry, which is what it was like to hear his opponent's promo. It was a short response to the interviewer that really caught the quirky personality he had.

[flyonthewall2983]

RE: Goldberg. Really wish they'd gone with the idea of having Arn be his manager.

[Sidebottom]

I don't believe Goldberg should be in this list, at all. I can't remember a time he ever seemd out of his depth in what he was saying on the mic, nor can I ever recall him fluffing his lines. He always seemed very confident to me. In fact, looking back at his in ring promos with HHH, the guy wasn't phased at all.

[pantherwagner]

To give a different view:

Atlantis was pretty bad, he'd stutter and stumble over his words.

Octagon is also terrible. He is supposedly a lawyer so it's a good thing that he made it in lucha. He seriously speaks like somebody who couldn't finish high school. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. also talks like a dumb townie.

 

And, this may surprise some, but Perro Aguayo was also awful. Good thing that he was such a loveable old geezer and it's Mexico so he didn't need the promos. He spoke like a countryside farmer though so it was a somewhat good character fit.

 

In the end it's a moot point as all these gentlemen had great careers without having to flap their gums too often (got to love Steve Austin).

[cheapshot]

To give a different view:

Atlantis was pretty bad, he'd stutter and stumble over his words.

Octagon is also terrible. He is supposedly a lawyer so it's a good thing that he made it in lucha. He seriously speaks like somebody who couldn't finish high school. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. also talks like a dumb townie.

 

And, this may surprise some, but Perro Aguayo was also awful. Good thing that he was such a loveable old geezer and it's Mexico so he didn't need the promos. He spoke like a countryside farmer though so it was a somewhat good character fit.

 

In the end it's a moot point as all these gentlemen had great careers without having to flap their gums too often (got to love Steve Austin).

Who would you consider to be GREAT talkers in Mexico?

[pantherwagner]

Very few are great. Pierroth Jr. for sure, he may be one of the best ever in Mexico even if his promos are a bit over the top for some. He used to get nuclear heat in Puerto Rico, it's a shame that his run over there wasn't in the 80s, I could have easily seen him headlining a stadium against Carlos with some sort of bloody wild stip match.

 

Dr. Wagner Jr. is also pretty good. I like Negro Casas too, his cocky promos making fun out of his opponents are very entertaining.

[S.L.L.]

To give a different view:

Atlantis was pretty bad, he'd stutter and stumble over his words.

Octagon is also terrible. He is supposedly a lawyer so it's a good thing that he made it in lucha. He seriously speaks like somebody who couldn't finish high school. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. also talks like a dumb townie.

 

And, this may surprise some, but Perro Aguayo was also awful. Good thing that he was such a loveable old geezer and it's Mexico so he didn't need the promos. He spoke like a countryside farmer though so it was a somewhat good character fit.

 

In the end it's a moot point as all these gentlemen had great careers without having to flap their gums too often (got to love Steve Austin).

Jose, I know you've said before that interviews aren't that big a deal in lucha as they are elsewhere, but without going too far off-topic, I wonder you could expand on that a bit, particularly as it relates to this point Loss made earlier:

 

The Von Erichs weren't great promos, but people believed what they were saying. Steamboat wasn't a great promo but people believed what he was saying. I guess in an environment post-1998 where the backstage vignettes and 20-minute verbal duels are pushed as an attraction in and of themselves instead of a means to hype a grudge being settled in the ring, there's more value in being able to talk than there used to be. But even then, a writer is providing the lines for each wrestler, who simply has to recite them in a way that sounds halfway convincing.

Is, say, Atlantis a bad promo just because he's ineloquent, or is he also a guy who doesn't come off as believable? I know the structure of lucha is such that promos aren't presented as as meaningful a part of the package as they are in the US, but I'm also wondering if part of it is the larger issue of "great talkers" not meaning what we think they mean anywhere, especially what we think they mean in the post-territorial era.

[pantherwagner]

I think that it all comes down to Mexico never having TV as a promotional product until a couple of decades ago (save a few short stints half a century ago) so it was never part of the culture to hype up the upcoming arena matches doing a studio interview. You only say a few sentences after the match when you want to challenge somebody for their title/hair/mask and that’s it, so it never was a required skill that you had to polish on your way up the cards.

 

Except for a few isolated matches I haven’t watched AAA in about a decade but I imagine that it’s now part of their product. I also liked how in the early 00’s IWRG used to have short interviews before the matches (maybe they still do, I don’t know). It helped you know a bit more about the personality of some of their local guys.

 

And about Atlantis, people sure do believe what he says, and he also believes what he’s saying too. The good thing about lucha libre is that a lot of the wrestlers are their own characters just like it used to be in the United States, and they aren’t given WWE style scripted lines. Cien Caras and his brothers are also guys that aren’t a good promo and they speak like northern ranchers, which is a great fit, because, well, that’s what they are, badass northern ranchers from Jalisco.

 

I know that it’s an old cliche but “I will do my talking in the ring” applies to old school lucha libre.