By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Dot Net readers were allowed a single vote per day for each of the 2020 awards categories. The following are the results of our poll for Best Mic Work along with our staff comments. Thanks to everyone who took part in the voting.
1. Jon Moxley (25 percent)
2. Roman Reigns (15 percent)
3. Edge (13 percent)
4. Paul Heyman (6 percent)
5. MJF, Randy Orton, Taz (Tied with 6 percent each)
Others (23 percent)
Jason Powell’s Thoughts: The versatility of Jon Moxley was on display in 2020. He has such a great feel for the type of promo that each situation calls for and he’s able to shine no matter what style is required. No one grumbled publicly more than Moxley about WWE’s scripted style, and he backs up his arguments each time out. It’s awesome to see Reigns crack the top five. WWE went ridiculously overboard in trying to protecting him by limiting his promos and overly scripting every word that came out of his mouth during his babyface run. How many times do you remember babyface Reigns getting a chance to deliver a money promo heading into a big pay-per-view match? Roman’s work as a heel in 2020 was so damn good that it makes you wonder if things might have gone differently for him as a babyface had he been given more opportunities to put things in his own words (along with help from Paul Heyman). Edge delivered some of the best promos of the year and may have given Moxley a run for his money had he not missed time due to an injury. I’m surprised that Drew McIntyre didn’t crack the top five with his strong babyface mic work. It was a tight category once we got beyond the top three, as Heyman had just one more vote than the three men who finished tied for fifth.
Anish V’s Thoughts: The guy basically got hired due to his captivating mic skills, not to take away from his wrestling ability, but Eddie Kingston’s arrival into AEW and his subsequent ability to sell anything and produce a great mic moment on every Dynamite makes this answer a no brainer for me. Kingston just has something on the mic right now that no one else has, and it’s not just that he is in AEW where he’s allowed to run wild. Kingston’s cadence and uniqueness of phrasing just is not found anywhere else in pro wrestling right now. While I hope this doesn’t happen, he is someone who could lose a thousand matches on the trot and still convince me that he’s worthy of a world title match.
Colin McGuire’s Thoughts: I was a big fan of Bayley in 2020, and for my money, she was the unsung hero of the WWE women’s division in its weirdest year ever because of her work on the mic. But this can’t be anybody but MJF. His promos working with Chris Jericho were gold, and he’s one of the very, very few left in the wrestling business that can get instant heat anywhere he goes, no matter what. And while his ring work is fine, he essentially talked his way to the top of the card in 2020. He stood next to one of the best promos ever in Chris Jericho and still managed to outshine him. No one else is close.
Nick Perkins’ Thoughts: I almost put Pat McAfee as the winner of this category and, had he stuck around a little longer, I think he would’ve won. The dude just gets it. Another dude that just gets it or, is finally allowed to ‘get it,’ is Roman Reigns. It was Jake Roberts who really adopted the idea of speaking slowly and calmly in his promos to differentiate himself from the rest of his hyped up, screaming colleagues. When Jake spoke, you listened, because he forced you to. Roman does the same thing and it is just so effective. Confidence oozes out of him with every word he says and every smirk he offers. This man truly believes what he says and, better yet, he forces us to believe. This is a far cry from “Sufferin’ succotash.”
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