9 ECW Wrestlers: What Was Their Best Promo?

It will always be remembered for its hardcore in-ring action, but several wrestlers to have worked with ECW also cut some fantastic promos.

Has there ever been quite a promotion like ECW? It started as a small northeast Indy fed that gained some traction when Paul Heyman came on board to front the creative team. He then transformed it and introduced hardcore wrestling to the Northeast. The company gained enough notoriety that it went national.

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It couldn't sustain itself and went under. The WWE snatched up all of the licenses and eventually relaunched the brand as a pseudo-developmental brand. It's one of, if not the only promotion to get a second chance, which means there is a lot of fun material to cull from - like promos from hardcore alumni.

Because in his real life, Mick Foley is far too nice we get one of the all-time "eff the fans" promo. A fan had asked him for permission to make a sign that said "Cane Dewey," his firstborn son. He gave the OK, but the wife saw this and wasn't alright with it.

It got the wheels churning in the demented mind of Cactus Jack to come up with his infamous Cane Dewey promo, chastising the very fan he gave permission to as well as the rest of the fans who constantly demand more and more bloodletting.

For eleven years, Kofi Kingston hasn't even gotten a shot at the WWE Title. All the Dreadlocked Dynamo wanted was a chance, and he finally got it - against Daniel Bryan of all people at WrestleMania. Bryan was no stranger to a groundswell of support from the WWE Universe.

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But now he was on the other end of that storm and KofiMania was heading straight for The Planet's Champion. Kofi told Bryan as much during an impassioned promo where he told him, you know what happens next, and you can't stop it.

As ECW Champion, Raven was firing on all cylinders in 1997 and had a litany of people gunning for him. So much so that he had not one, but three challengers at Barely Legal - The Sandman, Terry Funk, and his old charge Stevie Richards. The three of them collided in a Three Way Dance with Raven waiting in the wings to pick the bones.

Raven expertly called deftly called out all three of his challengers but focused on Terry Funk and the ten percent of the fans that came to see him vanquish the hardcore legend.

The Ten Pounds Of Gold was once considered THE world championship in wrestling, and its holder was considered the real world heavyweight champion. But by the mid-nineties, the NWA was a mere shell of itself.

So when Shane Douglas won the title, there was hope that he’d help a resurgence in the company. Instead, he buried the National Wrestling Alliance and declared the ECW Title the only real title, and the new era of wrestling had arrived.

Throughout their entire ECW career, The Dudley Boys were masters at getting white-hot heat to the point of near riots throughout any and all arenas. They battered and bloodied every tag team in their path and broke Beulah McGillicutty's neck, putting her out of action.

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The fans loved to hate them. When they had signed with WWE, they came to The Elk's Lodge to rousing cheers of "please don't go." But they masterfully turned the crowd by telling them, they’ll be bringing the ECW gold to the desk of Vince McMahon.

The former ECW Champion Mark Henry gave an award-winning performance when he told the world that he was going to retire. Yes, part of how believable the promo was, was because of what The World's Strongest Man was wearing - his salmon-colored sport coat.

Mark was just so earnest about having to walk away until he wasn't and crushed John Cena, immediately becoming his top challenger in the process.

Had he not passed away or gotten in the nasty car wreck that fused his leg, there's a good chance that the world would be talking about Brian Pillman as one of the true GOATs.

He was able to have the three major American promotions vying for him at the same time and had convinced all three locker rooms and every fan that perhaps he did go insane. When he arrived at WWE, he further cemented that thought by proclaiming he was going to pillage and plunder the entire company.

To be frank, nearly every single time Paul Heyman has a microphone in his hand, moments are going to be made. Most recently, moments were made with Sami Zayn, and Cody Rhodes, and several years ago, with Edge, would fit right in with any high-stakes drama.

But it was on the eve of the WWE Vs. The Alliance at the 2001 Survivor Series, the purveyor of ECW let Vince McMahon have it. He railed against him and how he put everyone out of business and used his employees' blood and dreams to make himself a billionaire. Most importantly, he stole Heyman's dream and rebranded it Attitude.

No matter how you might feel about him these days or ever, there is no denying the iconoclast has a way with words. He used them as an instrument to try and create some change when he delivered The Pipe Bomb promo.

To date, over ten years later it is heralded among the all-time great promos. Much like other promos like "Hard Times," it instantly became the marquee promo of Punk's career.