For those who missed it, click here to see how our rankings of numbers 20 through 16 went. We will avoid the preamble and jump right back into our list, starting with number 15 …
#15. Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Jesse “The Body” Ventura patterned his early visual presentation off of “Superstar” Billy Graham. His promos, however, were not as blatant a rip-off of Graham’s as Dusty Rhodes’ would be as time went on. For the record, “Superstar” Billy Graham badly ripped off most of his material from Muhammad Ali, who I am an insane fan of. Anyways, Ventura was a great talker. Early in his career when he was still wrestling, his promos were among the best of that era.
Later in his career, Ventura became a color commentator. In WWE, he set the standard for color commentating. Many loved his style. Others hated it with a passion. However you felt about his style, you can’t deny that he had superior verbal ability.
#14. Jerry “The King” Lawler
Much like Ventura, Jerry “The King” Lawler had two different verbal sides to his career. Early in his career, when he was the true “King of Memphis wrestling,” Lawler’s promo style was serious and deliberate. He was a solid storyteller in his promos, and really did a good job of promoting his feuds. You really believed that he was fighting for a cause, and you believed it because of the words that he chose.
During Lawler’s WWE run as an active competitor, he changed his promo style quite a bit. He was no longer the beloved “King of Memphis wrestling” babyface, now he was a cocky, arrogant heel. It worked well. His feuds with Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Roddy Piper, among others, stand out as examples of his heel promo ability.
In Lawler’s “second career” in wrestling he became the famous color-commentator of WWE RAW. Lawler received the gig on a whim, as Vince McMahon had to scramble to find someone to replace “Macho Man” Randy Savage, who had jumped ship to WCW. Lawler not only worked in the role, but pretty much set a new standard for color-commentary. To this day, you can find Lawler seated at ringside on WWE RAW, and for a good reason. The guy is great at his job.
#13. Chris Jericho
You could certainly make the argument that Chris Jericho belongs higher on this list. Personally, I feel there are others who have a better body of work as a talker in wrestling. Chris Jericho’s early run in WCW proved that on the microphone, he was the real deal. WCW never gave him the proper opportunities, despite him showing them the way on a number of occasions.
When Jericho landed in WWE during the “Monday Night Wars,” he was an instant entertainer. Working as a heel at first, Jericho had a similar style to the one he used in WCW. As time went on, Jericho developed into a mega-babyface. His promo style was very comedic, but effective in getting him over as a top-tier performer.
Later in his career in WWE, Jericho proved that he was not one-dimensional at all. His run as a heel a few years ago, where he had the amazing feud with WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels, showed a completely different style of performance from his days as “Y2J.” The heel Jericho was an incredible character, and his slow, menacing style of speaking was a unique way of showcasing his verbal ability.
#12. Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Jake “The Snake” Roberts was a trend-setter when it comes to the world of pro wrestling promos. Roberts was one of the first examples of a guy who proved that you didn’t need to yell and shout to get your point across. Having a very slow and somewhat monotone delivery actually worked amazingly well for Roberts.
Vince McMahon recognized Roberts’ talents as a talker, so he gave him the “Snake Pit” segment to showcase his verbal ability. While “The Snake Pit” may not be remembered as fondly as Roddy Piper’s infamous “Piper’s Pit” segments, for those who lived through that era, it was definitely entertaining television.
#11. Arn Anderson
The Enforcer of the Four Horsemen, Arn Anderson, will conclude today’s peak into our list of “The 20 Best Talkers In Wrestling History,” as he lands at number 11 on our list.
“Double A” is actually the guy who named the famous Four Horsemen group. The original group consisted of Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson and JJ Dillon. The story has been told a thousand times. All of the aforementioned guys were set to record a promo together in an effort to save time. When Anderson began talking, at one point he threw up what came to be the symbol of the Horsemen — four fingers — when talking about the “four horsemen of the apocalypse.” History was made. From that point forward, The Four Horsemen were the talk of the town.
Speaking of talking, very few in the world of wrestling can do it better than Arn Anderson. Ric Flair, a guy many feel is the best on the microphone in the history of the business, will tell you himself — Arn Anderson is one of the best promo-men in the history of the business. Having heard a number of “Double A” promos growing up, I can’t help but agree.
Stop back by eWrestlingNews.com on Monday to see how the list continues, as we will look at numbers ten through six. As noted earlier, on Tuesday we will conclude the countdown with the top five best talkers in wrestling history.
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