If you have the idea that a wrestler needs only the ability to pull off moves in between the ring to make it big in professional wrestling, well, itâs about time that those ideas get revised.  Microphone skills are clearly a crucial part about reaching the top. Many careers have been doomed because of it while another handful found the shortcut to stardom. WWEâ entire Attitude Era was centered on vocal promos while wrestling took a back seat and we all know how that worked out.Over the course of history, weâve had many promos that changed someoneâs career upside down and gave the fans Goosebumps, and here is a look at the best ones from the rich lot. Also read: 10 WWE Sexiest Moments that parents wouldn't want their children to see
#15 I screwed Bret
For years, Shawn Michaels gave everyone the impression that he wasn’t informed about the Montreal Screwjob. Though many of the fans bought that, there were always a certain group that knew Michaels a bit too well. And the people in Montreal belonged to that group.
Seeing their beloved hero being screwed over made it easy for the fans in Montreal to hate Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon.
Michaels, on the other hand decided to take it to a whole different level. In 2005, Michaels came down to Montreal and was welcomed by a chorus of jeers.
But what he did after that made everyone hate him more. The heart Break kid admitted that he screwed Bret and it was clearly a great way to get heat from the crowd.
#14 They can all kiss my.
ECW was heaven if you had a taste for controversial content. There were a lot of promos that came out of the promotion which turned out to be classics, but it all started with this one.
Shane Douglas won the NWA World Championship in 1994 and instead of embracing the championship, he threw it down. It was the ultimate form of disrespect to a championship which was held by the lights of Ric Flair, Terry Funk and Harley Race and it also marked the birth of Extreme Championship Wrestling.
The heroics of Shane got the eye of everyone in wrestling business and Paul Heyman thus had a platform to build up his empire.
#13 I was born with a golden spoon
How do you bury all other wrestlers and all other promotions in just one promo? Well, Ric Flair knows the answer to that question.
He was the biggest thing back in the Territory days and was also one of the richest professional wrestlers. And unlike most of the other superstars, he didn’t hold back his expenses. Flair had the life that everyone wanted and when he moulded it into a promo, it became a classic outing.
It was somewhat like the toned down version of ‘Best in the World’ promo of CM Punk. But in the end the message went out loud and clear.
#12 Bret losses it
While the fans loved the prospect of having an edgier WWE, there were some names who felt like it was stupid. Bret Hart was one of those names.
He was the poster boy of WWE throughout the early 90s and when he returned after a hiatus in 1996, he didn’t like how the company changed. After losing a steel cage match to Sycho Sid, Bret went on to spit out every emotion that he had about the Attitude Era.
It’s probably the first time that Bret cursed on National television. The rant gave Bret a ‘cry baby’ tag but the emotion he showed was nothing less than genuine.
#11 The possible motive for TNAs birth
Jeff Jarrett jumped ships from WCW to WWE in 1997. And since Jarrett didn’t have many pleasant experiences back in WCW, he decided to get some things off his chest.
He delivered a full on shoot promo against Eric Bischoff and also took some shots at Vince McMahon. The sad part however is that, it was the only high point during his WWE spell.
Jarrett didn’t fit well in the WWE scene and after wasting two years, he left the company in 1999 with nothing but soar memories to share. At the end of the day, maybe it was these experiences that led to the birth of TNA.
#10 The unhinged Latino Heat
Eddie would go down in history either as an underdog or as a great in ring performer, but one thing that always gets overlooked about the Latino heat is his heel brilliance.
He was heel in many occasions of his career but the most intense version of that came when he turned on Rey Mysterio. WWE was stuck in a transition between the Ruthless Aggression Era and the PG era during that time but the segment which Eddie gave could’ve worked anywhere.
Intensity was oozing out of every word he said and with just that one segment; Eddie became the biggest heel in SmackDown during that period.
#9 I have no loyalty to WWF
Jim Ross had the responsibility of introducing fake Diesel and fake Razor Ramon back in 1996 after the original ones jumped ships to WCW.
However, before Ross did the honor of the introduction, he had some things to say about Vince McMahon. JR took public shots at Vince on National Television and told the crowd how he was ill treated by the boss for nearly three years.
Ross painted Vince as an evil boss even before he became one thanks to the Montreal Screwjob and when the legendary Jim Ross delivers a promo of this quality, it’s incredibly hard not to find a place for it in the list.
#8 New World Order of wrestling, brother
WWF and WCW were having an all-out battle in the Monday Night Wars and both companies were looking to take the other out of business.
While McMahon was figuring out new ways to get ratings, Bischoff in WCW invented an angle that redefined professional wrestling. He made Hulk Hogan turn heel and formed the NWo, a faction that gave WCW better ratings for nearly two years.
The fans were shocked to see their lifelong face turn heel and when Hogan took the microphone to explain why he did it, this promo was born.
#7 This aint even WWE, This is EC Fn W
Thanks to the heat garnered by the Rise and Fall of ECW, Vince McMahon decided to run a reunion pay-per-view for the dead promotion and named it ‘ECW One Night Stand’.
The show happed at the Hammerstein Ballroom in 2005 and the arena was overflowing with rabid ECW fans. At one part of the show Heyman came out to the ring and started thanking the fans for everything they did for ECW.
Controversial part of the story came after that show of gratitude. Heyman went on to shoot at every WWE superstar that caught his eyes and it was clearly a treat for the ears. And the best part was the fans, who were feeding on every word that came out of Heyman’s mouth.
#6 We are not going to use **** or **** or ****
Warning: If you don’t have the stomach for some graphic words, keep away from the Video
D Generation X was the epitome of controversy during the Attitude Era. The faction promoted foul language and a lot of sexual content during their run and was everything that your parents didn’t want to see on National Television.
With so much edgier content coming out, even the network that aired WWE got scared about the potential problems. They constantly sent letters to WWE to tone down the content and the reply they got was this.
Hunter and Michaels went on to drop sarcastic bombs throughout the segment. It turned out to be one of the biggest blows to the Network but the fans couldn’t help but to love it.
#5 Punk drops the Pipe Bomb
Too bad CM Punk was not in WWE during the Attitude Era because if he was there, he would’ve been as big as Steve Austin or even better.
This promo was one of the classic examples why Punk was a star caught in between the wrong era. He just sat on the entrance ramp and talked his heart out on everything that he hated about the company.
And to mark the significance every word that came out of his word was true. He however wasn’t able to complete his rant thanks to WWE cutting off his microphone but it went down in history as one of the best moments of PG era.
#4 You Stole my life
The invasion angle might’ve not been a big success but it did have some great moments like this. Just days before the final WWE vs. Alliance showdown, the company gave Paul Heyman a microphone and asked him to sell the pay-per-view.
Since Heyman mastered that art, he went into the ring called out Vince McMahon and did what he was supposed to do.
He accused McMahon of stealing everything from ECW and said that McMahon built his empire with the sweat and blood of others. It was probably one of the most emotional segments during that era and every word that came out felt true to the core as well.
#3 They wouldnt piss on you if you were on fire
There is a reason why Mick Foley is considered to be among the best talkers in the business. His days in ECW gave a lot of groundbreaking promos and it even got him a job in the WWE. The most standout moment of Foley’s stay in ECW has to be the Cane Dewey rant.
Foley gave a big message to all the fans that wanted to see blood every day in and day out and made it clear that the wrestlers too had a family and life.
His words had that sting that pierced through everyone’s heart and the rant blurred the kayfabe-reality line because a majority of the emotions that came was legitimate.
#2 Bret Screwed Bret
The landscape of Professional wrestling underwent a drastic change after the Montreal Screwjob as Vince McMahon ended up being ‘the’ most hated man in the business.
Everyone wanted to hear an apology from the boss for what he did to Bret Hart but Vince had other ideas. He blamed Bret for everything that happened at Survivor Series and said ““Bret screwed Bret. I have no sympathy whatsoever for Bret.”
This was not the reaction that wrestling fans would’ve wanted and the evil McMahon character was born right there and then.
#1 Austin 3:16 says
There always a starting point for all good things and for Austin’s groundbreaking anti- hero run in the Attitude Era, the inception came here.
The 1996 King of the Ring tournament saw Austin winning the final match by beating Jake ‘the Snake’ Roberts. It wasn’t the match that caught worldwide attention; it was the post-match promo that Austin delivered.
He went on to bury Roberts in one of the best microphone moments of his career and even in the WWE history. The Austin 3:16 quote went viral within no time and all of a sudden Austin was a big deal in the company.
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