Professional wrestling, and this may sound hyperbolic, is a spiritual experience. Through the storytelling of choreographed violence and charismatic wrestling promos, this medium strikes its fans in unique ways. Each storyline has the potential to draw from various fictional genres to deliver its point. Executed perfectly, it will stay with us. It may be a match with memorable spots or levels of heart and intensity. Or, in this article’s case, promos.
Lately, I’ve been on a particular music kick. Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Rage Against the Machine. Folk songs of generations past and countries away.
What does this have to do with wrestling? That feeling of hope. A rush fueled by a righteous sense of solidarity, that the world should not be the way that it is. It’s the moment when your veins are filled with adrenaline to fight systems that hope to trample our hope. Though not as common in professional wrestling, when it happens and is told right, it packs a punch. Pro wrestling is a business rife with politics and power plays, both in storyline and in real life.
When that surface tension boils, it’s hard not to be swept up in the moment. Either passionately or calmly, when told in just the precise way, we believe in a world where things can be better.
After some due rumination, I looked at some promos that prompt this exact sensation.
Pro Wrestling Promos with a Message
Dusty Rhodes — “Hard Times”
Starting with the most obvious here. Dusty Rhodes cut this famous promo in October 1985 ahead of that year’s Starrcade event. Addressing Ric Flair, Rhodes delivered an incensed speech, heated by the Nature Boy and his Four Horsemen’s assault that caused him to take time away. He stated that Flair “put hard times on this country” by taking Rhodes out, which is silly at first, but then this turns into something completely different.
With a rage that burns through the soul, Rhodes compared his plight to that of the people in America working in blue-collar jobs, desperately trying to make ends meet. People who are out of work, trying to take care of their family with no wages. Workers who’ve had their professions taken by “a computer.”
Rhodes was evergreen on the mic. Sometimes he’d poignantly predict things or point out things that would age eerily well. In this, the remark about being out of a job harkens back to the 2008 recession and even as recent as the unemployment epidemic following the COVID-19 lockdown.
Furthermore, “a computer just took your job, daddy” has more meaning in a time when AI has become the uncertain norm.
“Hard Times” was where Rhodes reached Steinbeckian status. He took the plight of struggling Americans and manifested it into a distraction that gave them the hope they needed.
Sami Zayn — “My Name is Rebellion”
In 2023, Judgment Day ran roughshod over the Monday Night Raw roster in WWE. Together, Rhea Ripley, Damian Priest, and Finn Balor evicted Edge from the group and recruited Dominik Mysterio. Priest himself shattered the ankle of WWE’s golden boy, Cody Rhodes. Unsatisfied, they set their sights on other stars at the time, including Ricochet and Seth Rollins.
Needless to say, they made many enemies. In the month prior, they dethroned Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn of their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at Payback.
Fast-forward to October, Ripley boasted of the team’s recent actions and proclaimed what the group would do next. A furious Zayn marched to the ring and addressed Judgment Day’s thirst for power.
“If that’s your game, my name is Rebellion! My name is Resistance!” He shouted about how cutthroat they were, how oppressive they were, and that he would fight with every breath in his body to see them exist no more.
Much like “Hard Times”, Zayn’s words began as typical pro wrestling talk, but quickly morphed into the pain and ache of something very personal. Using Judgment Day as a metaphor for a real-world conflict that was deeply personal to him was a touch that left a lasting ripple in the moment.
It upset the people he seemed to allude to while speaking out in solidarity for a cause he felt strongly about. Some at the time said that this promo wouldn’t be remembered, as good as it was. We can keep this one ingrained into the pantheon of pro wrestling promos, regardless of storyline importance.
Hangman Adam Page — When We Work Together
The most recent addition to this. At AEW Grand Slam: Mexico, the show opened in the historic Arena Mexico. Hangman Adam Page began the proceedings by calmly delivering his promo entirely in Spanish. This act displayed a love for a culture, land, and people that allowed him in as a guest. He politely extended the same hospitality from his end and accommodated the Mexican fan base.
Page wholesomely shared his story of working alongside Mexican workers at his family’s tobacco farm during his adolescence. They taught him about hard work, but most importantly, what people can accomplish together.
“When we work together, we can change the world.” On a night when multiple other statements were made, Page’s words brought sincerity. It’s a quiet, yet impactful way of planting his feet on the ground.
It wasn’t something radical or filled with rage. No, this was a beautiful, simple call to connect with your fellow people of this Earth. Connect and work together. The world doesn’t have to be volatile and devoid of hope.
Hope you can find the least of things. Page’s promos are like that, as though a preacher giving a sermon written by a folk singer.
Why I Wrote This
The world is changing, and at the same time, the dark constant lingers, still extant. Most of the time, we are powerless to make a change. Yet, we still have a voice. Voices can inspire hope and can reach the ears of those capable of making change. From Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen. From Woody Guthrie to Rage Against the Machine.
It’s important to remember, as wrestling fans, to always look at the world outside of the lens of pro wrestling. Outside of fandom in general, really. Equally, we cannot let even the shiniest of voices stand as pillars of virtue, as perfect beacons to base ourselves. People are inherently flawed, and many of these will disappoint us.
Plus, it adds too much pressure. Their jobs aren’t politics. To reach out with their influence is their big tool, and it’s what they use it for that we should remember.
The matches, the wrestling promos.
Hard times—they always last. However, we must stand in rebellion and resistance, working together. That’s how we change the world.
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