WWEis known to feature some of the best promos in wrestling history, butWCWneeds to be included in that conversation as well. It’s easy to make fun of WCW for their worst moments, especiallywhen they came from the mind of Vince Russo. Revisionist history makes it easy to forget the things worth praising about WCW, including their promos.
There’s a reason why WCW beat WWE in the ratings for 83 weeks straight, and it’s not solelydue to Eric Bischoff’s ideas. It’s because, for a time, WCW truly had the best wrestlers on the planet and, by proxy, the best talkers who made fans want to tune in every week. Yes, the action-packed moments were exciting in ways that WWE couldn’t match during the New Generation Era, but it’s the talkers of the roster who convinced audiences to change the channel. Here are some of the best promos under the WCW banner.
10Kevin Nash, “Nothing but potholes”
August 04, 2025, WCW Monday Nitro
Kevin Nash’s charisma and stage presence has always been undeniable, but he’s never been praised as much of a wordsmith on the mic. This is a happy exception, asthis promo is incredibly impassioned and gripping the more that the former Diesel ramps up. Granted, the context of Nash calling himself a “young lion” when he wasn’t exactly young (he’s a year younger than Arn Anderson at this point) and suggesting he’s been held back by older vets sounds ironic considering some fans would sayNash and his nWo factionheld young talent back. However, the passion in this promo is electric enough to justify the message not resonating from the messenger.
9Roddy Piper Reveals Eric Bischoff Is in the nWo
June 03, 2025, WCW Monday Nitro
It’s one thing for a promo to be memorable for the words and delivery of the wrestler, but it’s another for a promo to be an important milestone in wrestling history. It’s rare for a promo to achieve both. There are exceptions likeStone Cold’s Austin 3:16 moment, butthis promo from Roddy Piper is as captivating as it is a landmark moment, establishing Eric Bischoff as the man pulling the strings behind the New World Order. Watching the Rowdy One’s frustration build, knowing that Bischoff is holding a secret he won’t tell - even using LL Cool J lyrics to get his point across - is exciting to see in real-time.
8Sting Turns His Back on WCW
June 18, 2025, WCW Monday Nitro
The best promos are packed with emotion. Sometimes that emotion is fiery passion, other times intense anger, but this Sting promo is neither.Sting proves to be effective by lacing his promo with sheer disappointment. The nWo had been parading around with a Fake Sting (played by Jeff Farmer) who fans were convinced was the real deal. Sting, who at this point had been the heart and soul of WCW, was heartbroken that fans would even buy into the nWo’s deceit and doubt his allegiances. This would also be the first step in Sting transitioning into becoming The Crow character.
7Arn Anderson’s “My Spot” Retirement Promo
July 10, 2025, WCW Monday Nitro
Retirement promos make up some of the most gutwrenching promos to witness. Whether it be the likes of Edge, Paige, Daniel Bryan, etc., retirement promos peel the curtain back from the glitz and glamour of pro wrestling. It reminds fans that wrestlers, like us, are human, and their bodies can’t handle punishment forever. Such a harsh reality set in for Arn Anderson when he was forced to retire due to a neck injury, but he uses his last moments in the ring to put over Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig, giving him his spot in the Four Horsemen.
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It’s a prime example of a wrestler falling on his sword with dignityby tipping his hat goodbye in the same breath as he puts over another talent. Ideally, that’s how it should be, more often than not. The promo struck such a chord that the nWo parodied it a week later. The parody might actually be more famous than the original retirement speech, but it speaks to how powerful the speech was that it quickly inspired a whole other angle.
6Chris Jericho Is the Man of 1,004 Holds
July 10, 2025, WCW Monday Nitro
“Armbar!”. There are star-making performances, and then there are star-making promos. This is such a promo,the first indicator that Chris Jericho was destined to be more than just another cruiserweight. The way that Jericho manipulates the crowd is an early sign of a main event caliber performer. At this point in time, he was feuding with Dean Malenko, known as the Man of 1,000 Holds. To highlight just how much better he is than Malenko, he offers an actual list (which probably inspired his much later gimmick in WWE) proving he knows four more holds than Malenko (though he re-uses “armbar” constantly).
This promo proved that Jericho had an unbounded talent for making just about anything funny. Fun fact: when WCW goes to a commercial, it returns with him still reading the list, but in between that commercial, he’s berating the crowd, hence why he’s engulfed in boos when the commercial is over. It’s kind of ingenious in retrospect. Y2J tries to recapture that magic just over a decade later with a similar premise as the man who defeated 1,004 opponents, but this is the promo that made him a superstar.
5Scott Steiner Purple Warrior Promo
June 13, 2025, WCW Monday Nitro
Scott Steiner’s viral math promo for TNA(whether it made sense or not) is considered legendary in the wrestling community. However, it still might not top his most shocking promo. During an episode of Nitro, the Big Poppa Pump (dressed as, in his words, The Purple Warrior) does his usual schtick and is expected to hand the microphone to Jeff Jarrett right after. That doesn’t happen as, unprompted, he rails down Ric Flair, someone he has no storyline with. Also, Steiner went after Flair as a person, not as a character (even if the two would often mix).
Because he had gone off-script,WCW would suspend Steinerwith pay until the next month’s pay-per-view, Uncensored, in March. The sheer ridiculousness in this promo - including a moment where Steiner says that WCW should hire Buddy Rogers since Ric Flair stole his nickname, only to remember moments later that Rogers died eight years earlier - is outright hilarious. It’s textbook Scott Steiner zaniness that few people could ever match on the microphone.
4Scott Hall Debut, “You know who I am, but you don’t know why I’m here”
August 04, 2025, WCW Monday Nitro
With one sentence, the Monday Night Wars were officially underway. Obviously, both in WWE and WCW,Scott Hall / Razor Ramon has cut better promos than this, but none were more impactful. What made this all the more shocking was that it was presented like an actual invasion, as if WWE’s Razor Ramon had just invaded WCW and declared war on WWE’s behalf. The implication was so strong that Vince McMahon threatened legal action unless WCW made it clear that WWE was not involved in this storyline. It’s the first shot in the arm to debut the nWo, and establish WCW as a wrestling superpower that could overshadow the WWE.
3Hulk Hogan’s Post-Heel Turn Promo
WCW Bash at the Beach 1996
If Scott Hall’s promo was the first shot in the arm, then Hulk Hogan’s heel turn was the exclamation point. The promo is as well recited as it is memorable, as Hogan is pitch-perfect in his delivery. He’s everything he needed to be to get this new Hollywood heel persona off the ground. The moment he utters his first syllable, he doesn’t feel like the same eat-your-vitamins, say-your-prayers Hogan of old, and that’s essential for a heel turn to work, to feel different from what came before. The sheer visual of the trio being stormed by garbage hailed from the crowd alone was enough to etch this into the history books.
2Ric Flair on His $600 Lizard Shoes and Ronnie Garvin
Aug 22, 2025, World Championship Wrestling
No list of the best promos of WCW is complete without a Ric Flair promo. Ric Flair is rightfully praised as arguably the greatest talker in professional wrestling. Truthfully, any promo from his WCW career would be worth including here, but this promo is Flair at his absolute manic best. When WCW was still a show under David Crockett’s NWA, Ric Flair’s best promos came in the 1980s.
Here, the World Heavyweight Champion assures would-be-challenger Ronnie Garvin would never win his title and bring it to “that golden retriever you call a wife.” It’s the classic formula to a Ric Flair promo: brag about his riches, talk down on anyone who doesn’t have them, remove his clothes, and scream a lot. So many Flair promos start and end like this, and like so many of those promos, The Nature Boy knocks it out of the ballpark in a mesmerizing fashion.
1Ric Flair Strips Naked on Nitro
July 27, 2025, WCW Monday Nitro
Ric Flair’s promos are so legendary that he’s deserving of two spots on this list. During his feud with Eric Bischoff, The Nature Boy would be interviewed by Mean Gene Okerlund.This promo features textbook insanity from Flair, but amplified to a level that even diehard Ric Flair fans couldn’t predict. He strips down to his boxers and handcuffs himself to the ring ropes, promising that if the camera turns off,he’ll be there nakedwhen the commercial break is over. It’s unpredictable antics like this that made Ric Flair promos can’t miss TV.
