I was watching some of a Flair Interview tape, and I got to thinking about who was the best in the business. Of course, I thought about Foley and Rock and Austin, all great interview's and promo guys. I thought about the little known guys who always deliver, the Hardcore Holly's and the Chris Kanyon's, and then I got to thinking about Flair himself. Flair basically did Rock's heel act waaaay before Rock and was the KING of the interview/promo segment. So, who's the best? Well, after thinking long and hard, I've got it.
Vince.
The guy is just ridiculous, and I honestly think, that when it comes to promos and interviews there's no one better than Vince. He's ridiculous, not afraid to make an ass of himself, and no one goes from heel to face in one promo (or vice versa) than Vince. The guy is gold. I mean, of all the promos I can think and almost do word for word, Vince's stand out. And when I think of my all time greatest promos, I think Vince take's the cake. Let's see the one's I can name that I think are bonafide classics:
1. The "Life sucks and then you die" promo. This is Vince at his best. He infuriates the crowd and feeds off of their "asshole" chanting energy.
2. The original nWo is coming segments with Vince in the leather chair where Vince cries, screams and does evil at its BEST! I'm honeslty shocked Vince didn't get an Emmy nod for this, it's that hilariously GOOD!
3. Flair's purchase from the consortium, Vince's overselling and him grabbing his ear are CLASSIC Vince moments.
4. The promo where face Triple H gets opened up. Highlights include a pissed off Vince stopping a Triple H beatdown to say, "What the hell are you doing!? (pause, then) OPEN HIM UPPPPPPPPPPPPP!" Hilarious, stuff.
5. The promo where Vince stops a Triple H beatdown, says, "What the hell are you doing!? Pedigree his ASSSSSS!"
6. The "Kiss My Ass" segments. I know, while they may have been kinda' not cool at the time, Vince running around with his pants around his ankles "riding the bull" with that cowboy hat was frickin' awesome. I think Vince's overacting made those segments.
7. Vince, Angle, Stone Cold. These are probably my all time fav segments (not Vince promos) as it spawned the whole cowboy hat things, the singing contests, these were flat out classic.
8. Vince wants the old Stone Cold. Just sticks out.
9. The night the WWF took over WCW. Vince hates and it's pretty classic, especially when Shane comes out and Vince goes off the deep end.
10. Vince gets kidnapped and pee's his pants. No other CEO would do it. Good enough for me.
In summation, I just want a "Best of Vince, the interviews" tape. Where's that one at, huh!?
A friend of mine's sister's cousin saw Benoit walking through an airport.
Me: Was he selling? He shouldn't have been if he was. I mean it IS just an airport.
I agree that Vince is a great promo-guy. The best ever? eh...I don't know about that. The Angle-Austin-Vince segments last year WERE reeking of awesomeness tho.
Yo, it's me, it's me, it's (points to self) P-A-B!
Besides Austin holding him hostage and the Vince-Angle-Austin segments,, another classic Vince moment was when he was in the hospital and Mankind introduces him to Mr. Socko. Hilarious. Also in the same night, Austin attacks him in the hospital, and hits him with a frying pan, among other things.
Vince's reaction to Shane buying WCW was classic, as well as his reaction to Foley being guest ref in the Vince-Shane street fight at Wrestlemania X-7, which was pretty good.
Well I will give Vince some credit even though he was a crappy commentator. Vince was able to pull off getting rid of Bret Hart, and possibly even made Steve Williams quit.
"No society has managed to invest more time and energy in the perpetuation of the fiction that it is _moral, sane and wholesome_ than our current crop of _Modern Americans_." -- Frank Zappa
"It was me, Austin! It was me all along, Austin! You bought it! You all bought it!"
Nothing will ever beat a promo that Vince did sometime in May of 2000 on Smackdown (CRZ probably has it transcribed) that was all about how the fans "just aren't good enough." This might've been the best promo ever by anybody.
I was born in a manger, like that other guy. You know, he wore a hat?
Deion, after some thought, I have to agree. I don't think there's anyone better at cutting a heel promo and drawing heat. I don't think he works as well as a face, not on the level of Rock/Austin, anyway, but he probably draws more decibels. I love Mick, but his promos were a little more thoughtful and didn't get quite the same reaction.
Of course, it helps that Vince looks like a reptile in an expensive suit.
My personal favorite of Vince's was when they were doing the Flair partner angle (cribbed from CRZ's Jan. 31 recap):
"But then again...in life, Ric Flair is no different than all of you; Ric Flair is a loser. Oh yeah, Ric Flair's a loser and tonight proves it, by the way. Ya see, in reality, in reality the Ric Flairs of the world, in real life, when they're pitted against the Vince McMahons, the Vince McMahons ALWAYS win. Ric Flair is coming out here tonight for one reason, and it's not the reason he stated earlier. I hope you don't buy that crap about Ric Flair claiming that - well, he's gonna sign the document tonight because of all the future generations of the WWF - because of all the WWF fans? Ric Flair doesn't give a DAMN about all you fans!"
And when Vince hit the "that crap" line, he changed to the raspy Mr. McMahon voice. It was brilliant timing.
"My brother saw the Undertaker walking through an airport." - Rex
Vice was truly awesome cutting promos as Mr. McMahon, the only problem was that we saw WAY TOO DAMNED MUCH OF HIM! The same could be said for pre-GM Stephanie, HHH in the last year, and Stome Cold. When someone gets overexposed, it is really easy to see all that is negative. I am glad that Vince has disappeared, because now when he shows up on rare occasions, I will be excited to see him...
Craig Reade "Pool Boy" Chris Jericho stole my beard. That is right, I had it first.
Guys, I know you have been waiting ALL WEEK since I spoiled at the tail end of last week’s edition that both Maxx AND High Voltage would be here. I don’t want to leave you salivating for these huge appearances any longer.