Hanley! wrote:Rusev is great on the microphone, I completely disagree there. I'm baffled as to how he's made your top 10 worst list. The guy has natural comedic timing and is, if anything, underused in a speaking role.
I agree on everyone else. Asuka is great when you give her two lines to say, but when you give her a proper in ring promo it just doesn't work. She's the last person in the company who needs to cut in-ring promos to get over anyway, so I don't know why they make her do it.
Not everyone needs to be a great talker. Not if they have other skills to bring to the table. WWE focus too much on long in-ring promos these days. Wrestlers can get over through their matches, through angles, through backstage segments. You don't need to be able to cut a Triple H 20 minute opening promo to make it as a star in wrestling.
Rusev isn't in my bottom 10, I put him in my bottom 20, the 10 was just showing how many are guys that WWE want to really push that can't talk. I mean WWE thinks so little of his speaking they attached Aiden English to him. As for his comedic timing, maybe you're right, although comedic timing should be way down the list of skills his character should have.
As for Asuka and Nakamura, you know what I think I'd do with them, I'd make it a more professional setting, every time they need to talk I'd have them in an interview/press conference setting and just have them speak Japanese with English subtitles. It'd be something completely unique that I don't think WWE has done before, would allow them to be more natural and complex in what they are saying and get the point across better.
As for everyone not needing to be a great talker, you're right you don't have to be great, but you have to be some level of competent and compelling. WWE sells their matches on stories, you need to be able to tell the story, there's plenty of guys that were great in the ring whose ceilings were limited thanks to their talking. Bottom line is you need to be dynamic and if all you've got is matches the WWE audience will tire of you.
I also agree that the WWE needs to modernize the way they tell stories and utilize promos. They have basically been using the same weekly format for RAW since the Attitude Era, most of their opening 20 minute promos would be better served being chopped and mixed into 3-4 small segments throughout the show. They also should do more things where it's more than a promo, have the characters do something that's visually interesting, instead of standing in the ring, more often. The best and most memorable promo moments of my time watching wrestling, pretty much all involve some sort of activity to go along with the words (IC belt being thrown off a bridge, HBK throwing Jannetty through the Barber Shop window, etc).