This past week on both WWE NXT & AEW Dynamite, something was brought back to TV with wrestling, fantastic promos that felt truly real. These were delivered by Jon Moxley (f.k.a Dean Ambrose) and Finn Balor, two men who haven’t had a chance to show these skills on TV in years.
“I Am Unsanctionable”
AEW are building up their biggest match yet for Full Gear, between Jon Moxley & Kenny Omega. It was originally set to happen at All Out, but due to an injury sustained during his run in the NJPW G1 Climax, Moxley was unable to perform at that event, being replaced by PAC. Since Double Or Nothing, Moxley has been gunning for AEW’s Golden Boy to show that he is the best in the world, not Omega. Now this match is happening, but it won’t be counted in the record books for AEW, which frankly has Jon Moxley pissed off.
In these 30 seconds alone, Jon Moxley hyped his match, advertised the PPV and it’s date, and set the fans expectations, all with the crowd and viewers hanging off every single word. It didn’t come off as forced, it didn’t come off as heavily scripted, it came off as a man who knew his character but was given his bullet points to follow to hype this match, a very effective way to deliver a promo.
“WWE is Hollywood, NXT is Broadway”
On NXT, Finn Balor made his big return to the brand where he started in WWE, and it seems like it was going to be a return to the babyface warrior who held the NXT title for longer than anyone else. Instead, when he seemingly joined Johnny Gargano & Tomassao Ciampa to battle the undisputed era, he kicked Gargano in the head and hit his signature Bloody Sunday DDT on the ramp. He would explain his actions in a simple promo that was his best since joining WWE.
This promo solidified Finn Balor as someone not to be messed with or to be missed, it amplified his heel persona that was set up last week when he turned on Gargano. It was pretty simple, and again didn’t come off as forced. It felt like someone honestly venting their frustrations. He would also go on to say he would put Gargano back in the hospital again if he got in his way, setting up that match. This felt like it didn’t even have bullet points beyond setting the match with Gargano up, it just answered the fans questions on why he did what he did.
What Can Be Learned From These Promos
It’s hard to say what preparations were done prior to these promos, they could have been just given bullet points, or they could have just been given a live mic and TV time and trusted to not make a fool of themselves. Regardless of what was done to make these promos what they were, it showed that micro-managing promos doesn’t benefit anyone, not the talent, not the fans, not the companies themselves.
Not everyone can be trusted to cut promos like this, but it’s clear whatever is done on the WWE main roster isn’t working, because they seemingly don’t trust anyone to go out with a live microphone and not embarrass the company. Finn Balor & Jon Moxley both cut promos on Monday Night RAW in recent years, but neither would be as memorable as what they accomplished here. A little trust, goes a very long way. Listen to these two promos yourself, and form your own opinions on them, but I imagine most fans will enjoy one of them for their own reasons, because they are connecting with fans, not just selling a product.
