So my usual caveat before we do start today's video, and that is that this is a combined thought list from the minds at what culture wrestling. So if your favourite promo is missing, please do comment below, of course, but it is brought to you under the power of multiple opinions. With that out the way, though, let us get into the ability to talk. Arguably, it's more important than what you can do in the ring sometimes, because good grief, the art of a promo can take a feud from zero to hero in a heartbeat.

And of course, we all have thoughts about who have been some of the best speaking artists throughout the years. But what about the actual promos themselves? Why, I am Simon Miller, and his 15 are the absolute best from modern wrestling. Number 15, Mark Briscoe, is the realest man ever. A dude with the magic to make it feel like he's just a guy talking from the heart, dare I said, he is a gift to all elite wrestling. If he just needs to fire off a quick few words, he can be charming and funny, whereas when he wants to make you care, yep, he's got that too. The promo we want to talk about more specifically today went down on January 17, 2004's episode

of Dynamite, because it tied into the anniversary of his brother Jay's passing.

Given that Mark was usually the most talkative guy, him struggling to find the words just got

you right in the heart and that's what a promo should be.

It's meant to make you feel something.

When Briscoe turned his attention to Jay's daughters and how they were also involved in that tragic car accident, he also reminded us that the eldest was told she would never walk again. Mark then dropped her, however, to explain she had proved all those assumptions wrong, and yeah, it was an incredible moment because the Briscoe family in question then walked out on stage two. Don't come and tell me that wrestling can't be special. All the proof was right there. Number 14, the final boss goes off. The Rock's final boss character was excellent. Who knows what happened behind the scenes to get us there, but it was a net positive on screen. It was some of Dwayne Johnson's best working years, and the hill-turned pivot also allowed Rocky to remind everybody

that he is definitely one of the best talkers ever. On March 15, 2024, he took all of this and

through it in the year, when he decided to focus on Cody Rhodes' mum as he cut a promo from his

gym. It all tied into how childish Cody's fans were being, and after adopting the voice of a kid,

the Rock asked if we were, kidding me, you start crying, I can't give the belt to dusty Roads, but I can give it to Mummy, my mummy, shut the fuck up. Please excuse my language. Of course, before all this, Rhodes had been talking about the weight belt he was going to give the person who bore him, and apparently the Rock wasn't very impressed. The rest of it is gold too, although really just find of any of the final boss's promos when he did just do it on his mobile phone, and you're going to be having the best times. It's an unhinged maniac, but that's perfect for wrestling. Do not forget the beat down in front of the American Nightmare bus as well, which also deserves a shout-out, but good grief, I tell you, my friends, it just made the road to

WrestleMania 40 an absolute joy. Number 13, Cody Rhodes returns to WWE. Cody's WW return

promo is actually an underrated gym. Him leaving AEW had been totally unthinkable,

especially because in 2019 he was one of the main humans that was calling for an old-fashioned

wrestling war. It's time to shake up the industry. Rhodes later into this too as he talked about the invisible wall in WWE, the continued focus on the attitude era, the insistence to change everybody's name. And yeah, he broke the throne. It was a literal metaphor. It made his comeback speech on Raw all the more fascinating because after playing the

role of anti-WWE dude, he now has to go, well, I tell you, I love being back here. I mean,

the whole thing actually was rightfully performative, but still, what Cody was able to do was take

a story and paint a picture. Because Rhodes has always realized that wrestling is best when it is

personal, so he went and did just that. He avoided

any more tribal rhetoric and simply told the story of his father, a legendary figure who had never

won the WWE title, and that's the main reason he was here to write what he saw as a very upsetting

wrong. Doesn't even matter that in real life, Vincent Man never considered moving Dusty to that

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