This article was written during a particularly long trip to Cardiff – on my way to Clash at the Castle day in 2022.

That day felt like the biggest event for professional wrestling in the UK in decades – and today, with AEW’s All In show at Wembley, it feels like wrestling is even bigger than ever over here.

So, while Clash at the Castle gave me a good opportunity to check out the top five wrestling promos of all time, All In is an even better excuse to republish my thoughts on the art of the promo!

Though most people think of wrestling as two (or more) participants getting into a ring and pretending to hurt each other (very well and hopefully not for real, though the line sometimes blurs there), there’s so much more to it than that.

A massive part of the appeal of wrestling is the larger than life characters and the rivalries they get involved in, with their time on the mic, calling out future or recent opponents, often proving to be just as riveting or entertaining – sometimes even more so – than the action that transpires in the ring.

Promos add weight and drama to the actual wrestling – without them and the insight into the colourful characters who duke it out, wrestling is just pantomime with muscles. So let’s take a look at my favourite wrestling promos of all time!

5. Scott Steiner: Steiner Math

Scott Steiner had already been a professional wrestler for 20 years before he cut this infamously barmy promo. Majoring in mathematical statistics at the University of Michigan, he certainly had the ability to work magic with numbers.

Which he does here, to absolutely hilarious effect.

There’s so much to unpack here, from Steiner’s Mini Me, Little Petey Pump trying to keep up, to the weird, hyperactive 00s camera work and beyond.

Though ranked at 5, this is a promo that keeps on giving – and is one that I’ve probably returned to watch more than any other, ever!

4. Ric Flair: Limousine Riding, Jet Flying, Kiss-Stealing, Wheeling and Dealing Son of a Gun!

When I was a kid, I didn’t really appreciate Ric Flair – by the time I’d got into wrestling, Flair felt old and past it, but he was also such an unlikeable character that I just genuinely didn’t gel with him at all.

Funny to think that I thought he was old and past it even in the late 80s, yet he wrestled what’s apparently his last match this year – and I’m convinced that he won’t stop there either; sadly, I don’t think Flair will stop until he dies in the ring.

In any case, his arrogant, insidious asshole heel character was a phenomenal creation – and Ric Flair the person really did seem to become Ric Flair the character in so many ways back then.

To say that he was hardly a paragon of virtue is really selling short just how awful he’s alleged to have been behind the scenes, for many years.

Heck, even now the character seems to have taken over the man; does even Ric Flair know who Richard Fliehr is any more?

There’s a number of his promos I could include, but this phenomenal and oft-repeated quote is one of his most famous and sums him up in one sentence. Absolutely iconic.

3. Macho Man Randy Savage: Cream of the Crop

Randy Savage, reportedly, was one of the good guys in real life.

He was taken far too soon, like so many wrestlers are, at the age of 58.

He was pretty much the epitome of the phrase ‘larger than life’; no one seems quite sure where Savage the character and Savage the man – or rather, Randy Poffo, as his real name was – exactly began.

It’s telling how influential he is, that just about anyone with an interest – or directly involved – in wrestling can do an impression of Randy Savage.

Randy Savage’s promos with Mean Gene Okerlund were often hilarious, improvised skits that neither man seemed to be in control of.

A list of the best wrestling promos ever could easily be filled with Randy Savage promos alone.

My personal favourite, however, is this incredible gem – in which Savage calls himself the ‘cream of the crop’ and keeps producing actual pots of cream, in little feats of what amounts to close up magic. Wonderful stuff.

2. Stone Cold Steve Austin: Austin 3:16

Steve Austin had been wrestling for years before he arrived in the then-WWF.

His most well known character at that stage was ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin, an arrogant, vain heel managed by Paul E. Dangerously (now known by his actual name: Paul Heyman).

Though it’s not fair to say that the Stunning character didn’t meet with success – in this guise, Austin was a belt holder multiple times and was involved in one of my favourite matches of all time: a 1992 War Games match featuring Sting’s Squadron vs The Dangerous Alliance – Austin the wrestler wasn’t committed to the gimmick.

Though not particularly interested in being in a tag team, Austin won gold again – as one half of The Hollywood Blonds alongside Brian Pillman.

Just a few years later, Eric Bischoff fired Austin from WCW, under the belief that he wasn’t a marketable wrestler; they say hindsight is 20/20, but this really does have to go down as one of the biggest errors of judgement in professional wrestling history.

That’s because, after a short stint at ECW (again with Heyman), during which Austin developed his promo style, he signed with the WWF in 1995.

Another ill-conceived gimmick – The Ringmaster – didn’t last long.

After a 1996 King of the Ring victory against Jake The Snake Roberts – who had added elements of a born again Christian character to his gimmick at the time – Austin delivered this incredibly fiery promo that launched a merchandising behemoth on its own, as well as numerous catchphrases.

There’s certainly a case for this to be the most important promo of the 90s; certainly in terms of its impact on Austin himself, but also the WWF/WWE as a whole.

1. Dusty Rhodes: Hard Times

My choice for the top spot of the best wrestling promos of all time is this blistering promo from the legendary Dusty Rhodes.

The working class hero, son of a plumber Rhodes was the perfect good guy to pit against arrogant, money-flaunting prick Ric Flair – and this note perfect promo calls Flair out beautifully.

With Rhodes as the voice of the common man, understanding and empathising with the plight of workers everywhere, who could fail to be on his side?

This is riveting, emotionally powerful stuff from the much-missed American Dream.

Bonus Entry: FTR: Fight Like An 8-Year Old Girl

This is incredibly recent, so perhaps including it on a list of the greatest promos of all time is a bit controversial (but hey, this is all my personal opinion anyway – so there!).

The best wrestling promos, in my opinion, are either incredibly entertaining or skillfully play with audience expectations. Some also bring in details of the wrestlers and their real lives, perhaps blurring the lines between fantasy and reality.

Dax Harwood from FTR here gives a passionate, heartfelt speech – and while you can’t foresee where it’s going at first, by the end it’ll have you punching the air and on FTR’s side for good. Masterful stuff, especially as it paid off beautifully – heartwarmingly and hilariously even – from a storytelling point of view, at AEW All Out 2022.

Is it an all-timer? Perhaps not.

Could I think of any number of timeless wrestling promos that I could place in this spot?

I could, for sure – but this one really resonated with me personally. So here it is!

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