Promo Skills - The dying art form

K Jay

So good'ol TD is running a greatest ever promo contest at the moment, and it will come as no shock when the polls start that probably only 2 or 3 interview segments over the past 2/3 have any chance of being serious contenders.

Which brings us to a question, why are there not any seriously good stick men coming into the business? In days gone by you had to be good at interviews at the very least to be taken seriously. Now I look at the roster and even the 300 muscle-heads can't do the scary srceaming at the camera look.

In WWE right now your best promo-men are HHH, HBK, Edge, Cena, Kennedy, JBL, Orton (only as a heel tho) and on the fringes Carlito. Only a few of these have been around less than 4 years.

So whose fault is it? I just read an intresting extract from a recent Nash interview where he brought up the fact his latest WWE run was "over-scripted" and he felt he worked better with creative leverage on his interviews but he could see why WWE had to script for the guys coming in these days.

They're good points from one of the best interviews of the last ten years, but they give an insight on why guys are failing. If words are scripted for the newcomers to WWE they come across just as that "scripts". Perhaps WWE creative need to give bullet points to all (including the poor) to bring out a little naturalness and then the edge that WWE seems to be failing to provide right now. I'm a great advocate of giving a poor interview a manager as well, not just to rely on but to teach, look what Heyman did for Brock.

Surely if this overscripting continues we will continue to watch lifeless performances from guys not speaking their own language.

What do you think?

I had a sig, once.

ShaneRamlall

Cena may suck in the ring but his promos are good. He needs repackaging.

God

Super Moderator

i think it depends on who cena is against. if the put him against umaga he will be cheered, if they put him against someone who can wrestle like edge he will be boo'ed. wwe just need to come up with a situation where he faces the guys he'll be cheered against one after the other rather than just randomness like it is now.

i dont think the bullet points will work for everyone. i know tna do that with vkm but bg james is a great mic worker. bullet points wont work for someone like snitsky, who has no charisa.

Randy Orton

WC's Resident Alchoholic

Some wrestlers are just horrible on the mic so it has to be completely scripted. It's one of those things where you have to be good at it and you can't really teach it. You just get better over time once you get more comfortable talking in front of thousands of people Like nitro is pretty terrible on the mic, you can tell he is not comfortable out there at all cuz his voice sounds shaky and the way he says teh lines its easily noted that he i just reciting what they told him to before he went out there.. I probably wouldn't be either if i had to talk in front of that many people.

K Jay

The thing I'm trying to put across is people like Nitro are scripted right now, and it sounds horrendous, perhaps it they had to fill in the blanks of a bullet-point outline they would improve, and if they didnt there's always OVW anyways!!!

I had a sig, once.

God

Super Moderator

what are the chances of Nitro being sent back to OVW tho?

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

I have been calling for Nitro to be sent back to OVW for some time.

I don't think it will happen though.

Inogenius

Rather than going to OVW, they should just send their new wrestlers to public speaking and acting classes.

It'd do the WWE better.

Twist of lEMOn

What the fuck? Why is nitro involved in this shit.

Hes The SINGLE greatest worker since Bret Hart - Fact

Randy Orton

WC's Resident Alchoholic

He is good. Dno about the second statement. But I agree, there is no way that he is going to back to OVW just because of his promos.