If I have a guilty pleasure it's pro wrestling, not so much the neutered silliness that the WWE and its weak imitator, TNA spews out today. For me the great stuff was the NWA shows broadcast out of Georgia in the 1980s' and not the in ring stuff but the promos, the segments where the wrestlers would come out promoting their upcoming shows in a line of trash talking that was compelling, realistic and as badass as it gets. Some guys couldn't talk that well but the best like Jim Cornette, Tully Blanchard, and Road Warrior Hawk were amazing, fast talking politicans, preachers and used card salesmen all at once, only they were selling themslves.
I've just discovered that You Tube has a bunch of classic promos in its coffers and here is a sample of two of the best. First, probably the greatest talker in all of wrestling, the Nature Boy Ric Flair just being THE MAN!
Ric had a lot of opponents but the greatest one had to be Dusty Rhodes. Dusty was never the world's greatest or best looking wrestler but that fat man oozed charisma and when he got in front of a microphone, he was 24 karat gold. This promo "Hard Times" is supposed to be one of his classics. I definitely believe it.
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