Jeff Jarrett returned to the WWF in late ’97 after spending over a year in WCW. 30 minutes into an episode of Raw, he came to the ring talking about how he was misused in both the WWF previously and most recently WCW. He took shots at Eric Bischoff, Mongo, Doink, Ahmed Johnson, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels. Although he was told to go out there and shoot, the biggest mistake for him, in the long run, was to shoot on rising star “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. The promo ended with Jarrett telling Vince that he hoped his investments were worth the headaches although they were not. Jarrett would reclaim some success in the WWE for a bit, Austin refused to work with him, and he would be back in WCW by the end of ’99.

Scott Steiner didn’t always talk a ton during his time as one-half of the Steiner Brothers. However, when he split from his brother to join the NWO and fully took on his “Big Poppa Pump” persona, it became exciting to hear what Steiner would say due to his impulsive promo style. Although promos in WCW weren’t necessarily scripted, not many people took advantage of this more than Steiner. He legitimately had heat with Ric Flair so he called him out for his teeth, stealing Buddy Rogers’ “Nature Boy” gimmick, and even referenced changing the channel to watch the WWF when Ric Flair was on TV because WCW sucks. There is no way he was told to say all of that! This is one of the best wrestling shoot promos and certainly one of the most unintentionally funny picks on this list.

I’m sure there are a plethora of great shoot or worked shoot promos from the independent scene. I mean, a lot of our favorite wrestlers and promos in wrestling were guys who cut their teeth on the independent scene. One person who has always been able to talk has been the “Mad King” Eddie Kingston. Giving Kingston a microphone is always entertaining and he is a master at trash talking. Prior to finally being signed to AEW in 2020, Eddie cut a promo in Progress Wrestling where he shared his fatigue on building all the stars on the independent scene that eventually got signed to bigger companies while he was still firmly on the independent circuit for over 10 years. He would trash the “acting” part of wrestling claiming he was not an actor and it never does feel like Kingston is acting.

It was the night they said out with tradition and in with a new era of wrestling. Shane Douglas had won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In a moment where he could have basked in the happiness of winning such a prestigious championship, he instead cut a promo that nobody saw coming. Douglas would list the names of former great champions before throwing the championship on the ground proclaiming he was the new ECW Heavyweight Champion. It was the dawning of a new era and an unexpected farewell to the tradition that came before it. It might not seem like a big deal now but back then everyone lost their minds. Extreme Championship Wrestling was soon born and it started with the Franchise’s defiance. This one earns its placement here as one of the best wrestling shoot promos thanks to it kickstarting a wrestling revolution.

When TNA was formed in 2002, it was meant to be a good mix of well-known talent as well as homegrown talent that would get the opportunity to work with a company on a larger scale since WCW and ECW were both now out of business. This left WWE as the only major game in town. Samoa Joe was one of those talents plucked from a thriving independent scene in the early ’00s to be a part of TNA.

Although established names such as Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Sean Waltman, Raven, Kevin Nash, Dusty Rhodes, and Scott Hall made appearances in the company, it was the young stars who felt like they were the backbone of the company. Therefore when Scott Hall did not show up to the Turning Point 2007 event where he was in the main event, Joe decided to take matters into his own hands and address the situation. Even if that meant disrespecting the legends who paved the way for him.

In the summer of 2017, the WWE finally began working towards A dream match between John Cena and Roman Reigns. Both men were presented as two of WWE’s chosen superstars to run as the face of the company. In many ways, it was Cena’s time to pass the torch to Roman to see if he could run with it. However, The Miz took offense to this and the crowd in Barclay Center in Brooklyn actually agreed with him when he interrupted their moment to talk about the amount of undeserving opportunities Reigns and Cena would receive because the machine was behind them. He was tired of working hard and waiting for his moment while things were just handed to the other two. He insulted both by pointing out their flaws while boasting about his work ethic. It was hard to disagree with The Miz, even though we’re not supposed to. This one’s pretty underrated when it comes to remembering the best wrestling shoot promos.

From the first-ever interaction between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon in 2016, I just knew the two of them would one day have a fun feud based on their instant on-screen chemistry. They began feuding in late 2017 going into 2018 but initially, Owens was the bad guy and Shane was the good guy. By 2019, the roles had changed and everything Owens was saying about McMahon since 2016 now seemed to ring true. That being said, while feuding with an authority figure or person of power, it might be hard to air your grievances. Therefore, when Owens had to come through the crowd to hijack a microphone to rant about Shane McMahon, it felt unscripted and came off like a total shoot. It’s always a nice touch when someone’s mic gets cut, which is exactly what happened to Owens here.

Promos such as this one were rare at the time. Just one night after losing the WWF Championship on WWF Raw, Diesel walked out to ringside during a match between Savio Vega and Skip to make it feel more unscripted or planned. There was no entrance music playing and Diesel shockingly came out in his street clothes. He talked about not having to be a corporate puppet anymore after being the champion for an entire year. He even addressed Vince McMahon as if he was letting us know McMahon had more stroke in the company than most casual fans knew. This might not be as “insider” as future shoot promos, but it was for the time.

2013 was definitely a transitional period for WWE’s women’s division. AJ Lee had gained popularity over the years by being featured in many male storylines and even played the role of Raw GM for a brief period of time. The show “Total Divas” began airing on the E! Network, which brought in a new fanbase that took a liking to the women who were cast on the show. Those women were the Bella Twins, Natalya, Naomi, Cameron, Eva Marie, and JoJo at the time.

AJ Lee came out blasting the entire cast of Total Divas with insults like calling the women cheap interchangeable useless women and dissing their decision to join a reality television show. The promo was loaded with insults like those while AJ Lee also talked about how hard she worked to be the face of the division while all these other women sucked up to management and got by on their looks. It felt real and out of nowhere. It was practically AJ Lee’s own “pipe bomb.”

When this promo first aired, we had no idea what we were witnessing. It just felt like another Cody Rhodes promo to promote his upcoming ladder match with Sammy Guevara. Little did we know it would be Cody’s last in-ring promo in All Elite Wrestling before returning to the WWE at WrestleMania 38 a few months later. Looking back at this promo now, Cody really had a lot to get off his chest before he even brought up his match with Sammy and it was basically a farewell to the six years of his career that he spent outside of WWE.

This was the period where AEW fans started turning on Cody and booing him no matter what he did to earn their cheers. He told a story about going back to when CM Punk dropped his pipe bomb and how he went to go do all the things CM Punk talked about in that promo. He wrestled in New Japan, faced the best of the indies, and helped create an alternative to WWE. If CM Punk sparked the Revolution, Cody Rhodes lived and participated in it. All of this was extra special now looking back at it.

Jim Cornette has always been known to be quick-witted and clever with his rants and roasts. Therefore in late 1997 during the midst of the Monday Night Wars, WWE decided to start airing shoot promos by Cornette on Raw where he shared how he really felt about the current state of the wrestling business. He really would shoot on just about everything he disliked, which included the NWO, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart being screwed, Shawn Michaels being a jerk, Phil Mushnick, and much much more. If you haven’t seen them and you’re a big wrestling historian, be sure to watch them all. Cornette has been on record saying he didn’t enjoy them looking back because he feels like shoot promos exposed the business too much. But boy was he spitting fire from an educated perspective of someone who loved the tradition of the business.

Joey Styles was a one-man commentary team in Extreme Championship Wrestling and is fondly remembered for his exaggerated “Oh My God!” call when things got wild in the company. He would call PPV events solo and somehow remained entertaining the entire time. Years after ECW went out of business, Joey Styles was brought into the WWE to replace Jim Ross.

It was a life-long dream for Styles to work a WrestleMania. So when he was almost fully kept off of Wrestlemania 22 (he was able to commentate for Foley vs Edge, though) with Ross returning and McMahon not being a huge fan of his play-by-play style, it really rubbed him the wrong way. They wanted a storyteller who knew the WWE style. This led to an angle where Styles would use this real-life disappointment in a worked shoot promo bashing WWE. Vince McMahon, sports entertainment, and the fans who buy into all of it. It all felt super legit.

One of the most respected and honored characters in the WWE is The Undertaker. Although he had an over-the-top character that worked in the early 90s, the Phenom took his character work so seriously that people would suspend their disbelief for all the years he acted like a dead zombie cowboy wizard. it was rare to ever see him out of character, even for interviews or other television appearances.

Therefore when he came out for a promo with no extravagant entrance and in street clothes in ’98, fans already felt like this was off the script. He talked about his relationship with Vince McMahon as an employee and his loyalty to him while not feeling like he was getting the respect he deserved. It felt like the first time we were hearing Mark Calaway talk with all the gimmicks and deadman characteristics absent. It was a preview of who we would see during his run as the “American Badass,” but it really caught fans off guard in the summer of ’98.

The relationship with Paul Heyman and TNN was a rocky one, to say the least. When Heyman introduced ECW to the wrestling scene, it changed the landscape of professional wrestling. Although ECW featured great technical wrestling, it also introduced a more hardcore style of wrestling. It was a lawless organization and began gaining a lot of popularity for standing out from the competition.

WWE and WCW were leading the professional wrestling industry and there was a ton of interest for networks to get on this wrestling boom, so TNN took a bet on ECW. ECW began airing on TNN, but Heyman was disappointed in the lack of promotion and support from the network. When TNN bought the rights to WWF Raw to begin airing on the network, Heyman saw the writing on the wall and verbally attacked TNN on their own channel. He certainly didn’t hold anything back.

Jim Ross was hired by the WWE in 1993 with his first appearance being at WrestleMania IX. This was around the time when Razor Ramon and Diesel had jumped ship to WCW. The WWE was so petty over them jumping ship that they wanted to prove that it was the characters they created that got those guys over rather than the guys themselves. Therefore, they were going to introduce a new Razor Ramon and Diesel, which we would later on all refer to as the infamous Fake Razor and Fake Diesel.

Before Jim Ross could introduce us to these new “returning” characters, he cut a promo about his lack of loyalty to the WWE and even called out the egotistical owner of the WWE, Vince McMahon. He discussed his issues with Bell’s Palsy and how he was fired two weeks after his first attack. They used Ross’s anger towards the company as the explanation for why talent was leaving because JR was seeking revenge. Ross did a great job delivering the worked shoot promo and they had something here, but the pay-off was unfortunately pretty bad.

When CM Punk made his return to wrestling after a seven-year absence, I was ecstatic. Especially since he made his return to AEW, where there were a ton of old and new foes he could cross paths with. For some reason though, the idea of him feuding with Eddie Kingston never really crossed my mind. Therefore, when they crossed paths on an episode of AEW Dynamite igniting their feud, I was intrigued knowing they had crossed paths before on the independent scene in the early ’00s.

Kingston was starting out on the big stage, whereas CM Punk had some years under his belt. Following their brief interaction on AEW Dynamite, CM Punk wanted an apology on AEW Rampage. The last thing Kingston was going to do was apologize. It led to this tremendous promo where you couldn’t tell if Kingston meant what he was saying or if it was a worked shoot. It was the first Punk program since his return one with Darby Allin that I could sink my teeth into. I still want more!

In the summer of 2005, Vince McMahon was convinced to bring back ECW for a one-night-only event. The response and success in sales for the “Rise and Fall of ECW” played a huge role in this decision. It ended up taking place in front of a rowdy Hammerstein Ballroom crowd, which was occupied by hardcore ECW fans filled with so much passion that traveled from all around the world for this seemingly once-in-a-lifetime event.

There was an angle where Raw and Smackdown crusaders also had seats for the show as they felt ECW was below them and wanted to be there to mock the event. Paul Heyman would come out to feel the love from all his ECW loyalists in the crowd, but also tore the WWE crusaders up with insults before heading to the back. The insults to Edge and JBL were top-notch burns! This is undoubtedly one of the best wrestling shoot promos I’ve ever laid witness to.

In early 1997 the Wolfpac boys of the New World Order began feuding with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Looking back now, it’s easy to think that Flair, Piper, Nash, Hall, and Waltman all came from the same era. However, by the time Nash or Waltman got into wrestling, Flair and Piper had already had at least ten years of experience on them. Which means they hailed from an era way before their younger rivals.

During their feud, there was a lot of talk about respect and the new generation of guys having no respect whatsoever. In this promo specifically, Syxx and Nash decided to fire back. Syxx would call out Flair for ripping off Buddy Rogers, but it was Nash who really got passionate about the veterans leaving nothing but potholes behind them in the wrestling industry. It felt like things really got personal with the jabs delivered during this rivalry. As far as the best wrestling shoot promos go, this one certainly had an air of truth to what the younger guys were saying.

MJF is a student of the game and committed to his character. He’s always on, even when it comes to meet and greets, interviews, or being seen in the public eye.  Therefore, anytime we see a different side of MJF, it feels like something is off. Although in the most recent promo we saw a fired-up MJF talking about stuff that was breaking down the fourth wall, this promo from earlier this year was one of the first times we got to see MJF with his guard down.

He told a story about his childhood, getting bullied, his love for wrestling, being able to meet CM Punk, and how CM Punk let him down by leaving wrestling when he needed him the most. It was the most genuine we have ever heard MJF be. He even broke into tears. It was a plus that he mentioned how a picture of CM Punk and Bryan Danielson posted on my @thewrestlingclassic page encouraged him to pursue his dream to become a wrestler and prove that he could be better than CM Punk. Nobody knew how to feel after this promo because it was too real for MJF.

By the Spring of 2001, the WWE had successfully gained ownership over both WCW and ECW. By the summer, they started an Invasion storyline where the WWE was at war against an Alliance between WCW and ECW. This would all lead to a “Winner Takes All” match at Survivor Series in a traditional Survivor Series match. Vince McMahon was the figurehead for the WWE, whereas his children were the figureheads of WCW and ECW respectively. Paul Heyman was on commentary during this period and he aligned himself with the Alliance for obvious reasons as ECW was his creation.

On the go-home Smackdown before Survivor Series, they let Heyman cut a shoot promo on Vince McMahon. Heyman would dig in deep on Vince about the promoters he ran out of business, the way he disrespected his father’s wishes by expanding globally, the ideas he stole from ECW, and the way he made wrestling seem like a dirty word compared to the term “Sports Entertainment.” It all felt real and Heyman was able to make the fans feel conflicted for a good while. It definitely deserves its placing here as one of the best wrestling shoot promos.

Bret “The Hitman” Hart had been a superhero to wrestling fans around the world for most of the decade. He was cool, calm, and always kept his composure. The Hitman would back up all of his verbal accolades in the wrestling ring as one of the best wrestlers in the world. He even got through feuding with his own brother with a respectable approach.

When he lost the championship at WrestleMania 12, he took some time off. When he returned later in the year, the environment was changing. A disrespectful Steve Austin was on the rise, Shawn Michaels was acting more like a degenerate, and Bret Hart just couldn’t catch a break with his enemies all on his back. Austin had screwed Bret Hart in the Royal Rumble and out of the championship the night after winning it a month after.

It wasn’t until after a cage match that would determine whose match would be for the WWE Championship with Sid on the go-home show to WrestleMania that we actually saw Bret Hart fully unravel. He was tired of being disrespected and screwed. He shoved Vince McMahon to the mat and pointed out that he’s been part of screwing him over just as much as everyone else. The Hitman was so frustrated that he even cursed on television, which was really rare at the time. This would lead to a brawl and it all felt very real.

It’s one of those segments I’ll never forget and will forever be known as one of the best wrestling shoot promos. It really planted the seeds for the Attitude Era as we saw the WWE moving towards a more reality-based direction.

Talking Smack was this brand new show that aired right after SmackDown every week. Renee Paquette and SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan hosted the show and there were special guests appearing on it every week. The beauty of the show was that it was unscripted, meaning the talent that came on had to cut promos and answer questions on the fly. Whereas everything they said on the main shows was scripted or had some sort of direction. The Miz has always been one of those guys that when he talks, you listen because he’s one of the best talkers in the business today. When Miz gets fired up, he reaches a whole different level.

The rivalry between Miz and Bryan goes back to when Bryan first showed up for the NXT competition game. Bryan is a wrestler’s wrestler, whereas Miz is more of a talker and personality. When Bryan said Miz wrestled like a coward while he was the reigning Intercontinental Champion looking for some respect, it struck a nerve with Miz. He even took jabs at Bryan for being forced into retirement due to his wrestling style and independent background. It got to the point where Bryan walked off the set. I think on this day we all learned not to call Mike Mizanan a coward. Hands down, this will always be regarded as one of the best wrestling shoot promos of all time.

Some of the best promos come from the heart and are fired up by true frustrations. I feel like MJF’s most recent promo was rooted in real frustrations he held deep down inside. I think CM Punk’s pipebomb was rooted through true underlying frustrations that were weighing on him as well. The first promo I remember seeing that seemingly broke down that fourth wall and came off as a wrestler expressing their real frustrations with the business rather than their rivalry was the infamous Steve Austin promo in ECW.

Austin had recently been fired by World Championship Wrestling by Eric Bischoff. Not only was he fired, but he was fired by Fed-Ex while recovering from an injury at home. Paul Heyman, who had worked with “Stunning” Steve Austin in WCW during their time in the Dangerous Alliance stable, always saw great potential in Austin. When Heyman found out Austin was fired from WCW, he called him up and offered him a role in ECW. Austin entered ECW full of anger and frustration. Heyman gave him the platform to express those feelings and he did just that by taking jabs at Bischoff, Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan, and many others for being underestimating, misusing, and under-appreciating him. It was authentic and passionate.

Every time he looked at you in the camera, you knew he was saying every word with pure conviction. Austin wanted to prove he was the superstar he always thought he was – ECW and Paul Heyman allowed him to do just that. This is definitely one of my all-time favorite and best wrestling shoot promos of all time.

There wouldn’t be a “The Wrestling Classic” without the infamous CM Punk pipe bomb from Las Vegas. As cliche as it sounds, this moment got me back into WWE programming on a full-time basis. As someone who wasn’t and still isn’t a big John Cena fan, it finally felt like things were going to change. I had friends who stopped watching wrestling messaging me asking me if that was real or not. It even ended up on WorldStar!

I have been a fan of CM Punk since I first discovered him in Ring of Honor. The run he had in the WWE was very much a story of highs and lows. I popped when he won championship titles for the first time. I enjoyed what I saw during his feud with Jeff Hardy and loved the Straight Edge Society era of his career. Although he had been given plenty of opportunities, been a multiple-time World Champion, and had high-profile matches, it didn’t really feel like the CM Punk we knew before the WWE until this promo where he sat on the stage and aired out all his grievances.

John Cena had just defeated R-Truth in a match that ended their feud where a water bottle was the weapon of choice at one point. I remember that detail because it’s a reminder of how meh I was about the product at the time. CM Punk, who had won the opportunity to face the WWE Champion at Money in the Bank, came out wearing a “Stone Cold” Steve Austin t-shirt. Once he grabbed the microphone and sat crossed-legged on the stage, the rest was history. The line about not hating John Cena but hating the idea that John Cena was the best was already relatable to how I felt. His going in on the fans, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and the entire McMahon family was wild for the time. He brought up Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, John Laurinaitis, NJPW, ROH, and even waved at Colt Cobana who didn’t work there anymore. He even stated that WWE would maybe be better after Vince was dead, which just seemed insane at the time.

After years of feeling like every promo in the company was scripted word for word, this felt like it wasn’t. It felt rebellious and radical. They got me back on the hook and it was even more satisfying when Punk actually beat Cena at Money in the Bank. He would continue to cut work-shoot-like promos for the rest of his tenure in the WWE. A lot of those promos could have also made this list, but this was the best one. People still talk about it today, whether it’s positive or negative. I still strongly believe CM Punk getting over opened the door for smaller guys who were considered indie darlings actually having legitimate opportunities in the federation. It was guys such as Daniel Bryan and himself that broke the glass ceiling for guys like them to reach the top spot. I’ll always have a soft spot for this promo and basically know it word for word.

Whether you love or hate CM Punk, you know at the time that this promo shook things up and easily earns the top spot on this list of the best wrestling shoot promos.