How Mojo Rawley Used Twitter to Become a Top-5 Promo in WWE

Picture a word diagram featuring all the WWE Superstars who are endlessly praised by the oft-repetitive wrestling media. 

AJ Styles, Finn Balor, AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro, AJ Styles and how could anybody forget about AJ Styles? 

But look deeper, into the same Twitterverse that WWE has so aggressively embraced in the new era, and you'll find a treasure trove of mind-blowing promos...by Mojo Rawley. 

Mojo Rawley? 

Yes, that Mojo Rawley. The one whose lack of time spent in New Japan Pro Wrestling has resulted in an uphill battle to win over the predictable hearts of WWE's influential hardcore fanbase. 

Despite being featured in the Clash of Champions pre-show against former tag team partner Zack Ryder, Rawley may have quietly begun a meteoric ascent that is sure to threaten aging SmackDown Live stars such as the 40-year-old Styles and the 37-year-old Nakamura. 

Rawley cut a razor-sharp pre-taped promo as an embittered narrator of the ill-fated Hype Bros saga. Rawley chastised Ryder for being an "albatross" and a failure in ways that brilliantly walked the line between storyline and reality. 

For those who may have remained skeptical of Rawley's ability to cut promos outside of the over-produced confines of WWE, the neon-clad winner of the 2017 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal dropped a pair of eye-opening tirades on Twitter. The spellbinding, intentionally low-fi videos were the equivalent to hip-hop superstar Lil Wayne's critically acclaimed "Da Drought" mixtapes released in between studio albums.

I refuse to review either of Rawley's better-than-they-should-have-been Twitter promos, because any additional words would take away from the awe-inspiring moments that his unique content creates. 

With no babyface harnesses employed by a promotion that has severely struggled to organically produce good guys, Rawley can now roam free with a heel character that is rapidly developing before our eyes. This is no longer Mojo Rawley, the annoyingly overzealous hype man, this is next-generation John Cena. 

Rawley's impressive verbal chops have already begun to gain traction on pro wrestling message boards, such as hardcore safe space Reddit (warning: contains NSFW language), with many insisting that he is an example of how WWE should embrace non-scripted promos for all its WWE Superstars. 

Erroneous. 

Rawley's Twitter trash talk is evidence of an exception, rather than a rule. The vast majority of WWE's roster isn't equipped to carry lengthy, believable segments with their gifts of gab. It's why WWE trotted out the Singh Brothers to almost immediately interplay with the otherwise popular AJ Styles during an uncomfortable opening segment on last week's SmackDown Live.

To take this example further, consider Saturday Night Live. Whenever the iconic variety show features a stand-up comedian as its guest host, these savages of soliloquy are trusted to open the show with a five-to-10-minute uninterrupted comedic dissertation—all by themselves. This is a skill that comes with the territory of their craft, which smoothly translates to, at the very least, carrying an SNL monologue. 

When an athlete or an actor is tabbed as a guest host, however, members of SNL's cast often inject themselves into these sudden dialogues in order to hide any monologic shortcomings. 

If WWE were SNL, in that regard, Rawley would be equivalent to Kevin Hart, while Styles is closer to Eli Manning. 

WWE should embrace non-scripted promos, but only for those talented enough to carry them. By sneering into a smartphone and ripping into Ryder, Rawley immediately established himself in rarefied air with the likes of Kevin Owens, John Cena and a select few WWE Superstars who can effortlessly talk people into a building. 

Rawley put an emphatic exclamation point on 2017. Consider any "future top star in 2018" list without Rawley's name on it a sham.  

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.