WWE: The 15 Worst Mic Workers in Wrestling History

Since professional wrestling became less of a sport and more towards the "sports entertainment" genre, emphasis has been placed on how a superstar can speak. In a world that once had a lot of managers as the mouthpieces for their athletes, today's WWE now has many superstars holding their own microphones. It has certainly helped some, while others have all but lost their jobs from it.

Not everyone can be a good public speaker. Some are from other countries and others have focused most of their energy on their physiques and in-ring abilities. Every superstar is an investment to WWE and their marketability is key. Here are some men that WWE has had to try especially hard to market to the fans, if they didn't give up entirely.

No. 15: John Morrison

It was John Morrison's athleticism that got him noticed from WWE fans. From Tough Enough to MNM to his adventures in ECW with The Miz, Morrison's stock has risen in many people's eyes.

With recent years having fan favorites like Jeff Hardy and Christian win world championships, the pressure to win the belt seems to have all shifted to Morrison. Morrison seemed pretty funny with The Miz, as The Dirt Sheet is easily the most popular thing WWE.com has ever had to watch (sorry NXT and Superstars).

However, something seemed to be missing once the duo split up. Morrison, especially as a face, seems to have lost his edge with the microphone, settling for dumb jokes that aren't funny and speaking too fast.

It may be the one thing holding him back now, especially because it is one of the few things that held him back in the past.

No. 14: Shelton Benjamin

How many days can you have a mid-card title on a guy without anything to show for a world championship chance? That is the question that we all had for Shelton Benjamin, the great young amateur wrestler that had all the promise in the world. His first major problem was his lack of a gimmick, which was solved with the "Gold Standard" era of his tenure.

However, even as the Gold Standard, Benjamin showed his lack of comfort with a microphone. Any hope I held for Benjamin as a serious world title contender ended one night during his ECW stint where the debuting Yoshi Tatsu was subject to bad Asian stereotypes that seemingly went on forever.

No. 13: Kofi Kingston

I still hate Kofi Kingston and his gimmick. To me, the Jamaican gimmick is a classic example of a gimmick acting like an anchor for a rising star in the company. There isn't a single man who could take that type of gimmick and be taken seriously as a top guy in WWE. This is especially the case when you find out that Kofi Kingston is actually from Ghana and is not Jamaican whatsoever.

Originally, Kingston spoke with a bad Jamaican accent, which didn't do him any favors. Eventually, Kingston spoke in his regular voice and was called out on it by Triple H in a funny moment on RAW. From that moment on, Kingston was billed from Ghana and kept the Jamaican gimmick as some sort of weird tribute to Jamaican people, whatever that means.

Even without the accent holding him down, Kingston couldn't do much better regularly. Kingston had a chance when he had a feud with Randy Orton. Unfortunately, more people have had their pushes thwarted by Orton than those that have been propelled by feuding with Orton (just ask Mr. Kennedy).

No. 12: Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy will not die, but when he talks, you might contemplate it for yourself. Hardy has never had much of a strong liking to speaking on the microphone. The best promo work that Matt ever did was against Edge, but that was based off of real-life events. There was probably some real anger in those words, so it doesn't show any real skills in storylines.

The worst work was when Matt was in a feud with his brother, Jeff. It got so bad and boring that WWE would play music to try and make the situation seem better. Perhaps WWE was just trying to make it an easier job for the guy that makes pay-per-view promos, but the dreadful words from Matt Hardy didn't make me believe that he hated his brother, especially because it was probably because of Jeff Hardy that Matt was even employed for as long as he was.

No. 11: Sid

There's just something about Sid that I never really liked. Maybe it is the fact that he looks like a reject from Chippendale's in this photo, but I never saw much star power that oozed from him.

It just seemed like Sid would try to get himself angry and yell whatever, which sort of played into his character. The problem is that Sid never really seemed to try and it showed as WWE never really tried with him.

No. 10: Scott Steiner

We saw Scott Steiner transform in his wrestling career. Originally with his headgear-wielding brother Rick, Scott would become a lot bigger, in both popularity and appearance. The only thing that didn't seem to grow for Scott was his acting ability, worrying more about his biceps than his promos.

Steiner was entertaining on the microphone, but for the wrong reasons. Scott was often wrong in things that he was saying and would often get flustered and stutter, a far cry for the man who was so smooth with his pushups.

No. 9: Batista

Of all the people on this list, not many have as much terrible footage as Dave Batista. From his stance on basketballs holding grudges to weapons being both legal AND allowed, Batista has had microphone flubs forever. WWE's flubs coincided with Batista's on the microphone. They refused to stop pushing Batista because he showed promise and was old.

Even his Wikipedia page couldn't protect him from his year in 2007. "Batista finally claimed his third World Heavyweight Championship after eight consecutive attempts, by defeating Khali in a match that included Rey Mysterio at Unforgiven." I guess he needed all eight title shots to get his promo right.

No. 8: Bobby Lashley

Poor Bobby Lashley. He is a menacing man to look at and he just screams domination. WWE did their best with booking Lashley and keeping him as strong as they could. Unfortunately, they also needed him to speak at times.

Lashley is widely considered to be one of the most awkward men to talk in WWE history. His voice does not fit his body which, if we can be honest for a moment, is some green paint and a shell away from making him a Ninja Turtle. His most widely known failure with speaking was when he tried to say the word "bastard." It is mocked by many as him instead saying something closer to "bathturd."

No. 7: Lex Luger

I never got on the bandwagon for Lex Luger. To me, he was just another wrestler that I grew up seeing. Maybe it is the fact that his piledriver finisher was called the Attitude Adjustment (sound familiar?) but I could never get on board with his fanbase.

I always found myself following the guys who could speak as well as they could wrestle. In fact, many of my favorites spoke better than they performed in the ring. After all, we are talking about a time in the business where people often won with body splashes, leg drops and elbow drops.

Lex Luger was never very terrible, but he was very vanilla. The majority of his popularity came from being shoved into our faces by WWF (by the way, I am totally craving those ice creams they used to have with the wrestlers on them).

Even in his later years, when promo skills defined if you made it, Luger would often flub lines or just not seem to grasp the moment. He isn't the worst, but he is this high because the opportunity to be on the same level as Hogan, Savage, Ric Flair, etc. was there and Luger could not grab it.

No. 6: Ultimate Warrior

The Ultimate Warrior is one of the most popular superstars in WWE history. This does not make up for the fact that the man is just bonkers when he has to speak. The high-octane personality that he has is not just reserved for his entrance to the ring. Whenever the Ultimate Warrior spoke, we all listened, but mainly to try and figure out what he was talking about.

UW would often yell and scream so loud that the volume on your television better have been down a few notches. He would get so red that you would think that he needs to breathe or that the straps on his arms are way too tight.

No. 5: Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar really was the Next Big Thing for WWE when he debuted. He failed to disappoint, being one of the greatest champions in the company's last decade. Lesnar was a perfect fit to be the top guy in the company, except that he was almost allergic to good promos.

The one moment that really sticks out to me is the night that Brock Lesnar threw Zach Gowen down a flight of steps. Gowen had been injured the week before and was confined to a wheelchair. Lesnar would go on to ask questions and try to get words out of Gowen, who had a cover over his mouth. Gowen didn't have anything restraining his arms, which begs the question of why Gowen didn't just remove the cover, but that is another question for another day.

Lesnar was being fed lines by Vince McMahon in the ring. Considering that this was on SmackDown, a taped show that can be edited if necessary, this was just pathetic.

No. 4: Jeff Hardy

In the years prior to him winning his first world championship, people would ask me why Jeff Hardy was not a world champion. My answer was simple: He cannot talk.

This fact never changed, but Jeff would get his world championship win. It was one of those rare moments where the belt for the promotion's top guy went to a guy that didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle.

Hardy has always been awkward just like his brother when he spoke. I don't know if it was his accent or his inability to seem threatening when he talked, but Jeff Hardy never exactly sent any fear into me like others have.

No. 3: The Great Khali

I wanted to be fair and left off a lot of people from other countries. It isn't their fault that a lot of them couldn't talk. They would have the capability had they learned English at a younger age. That is why those like Vladimir Kozlov, The Iron Sheik and all the rest are left out of this list. The Great Khali, however, is not so lucky.

He's on this list because he talks too often. We clearly don't know what he is saying and he talks anyway. He has had a few people manage him and he talks anyway. There's the argument that as a heel, not being understood is an easy way to draw heat. Umaga did it by speaking gibberish and he actually could talk in real life. However, whether he was heel or face, The Great Khali would try to speak, while we would all try and find the remote.

No. 2: Ahmed Johnson

Ahmed Johnson was the first African-American Intercontinental Champion in WWE history. Certainly, this would put him on the fast track to be the first African-American world champion as well. Well, it didn't happen just like that.

Just watch the "Fun with Ahmed" videos on YouTube and see for yourself why he got passed over. Injuries also played a role in keeping him from missing the boat with the original Nation of Domination.

No. 1: Bret Hart

This might not make a lot of sense, but Bret Hart was quite literally one of the best wrestlers in the world during his time and is easily one of the 10 greatest to ever lace up boots. If Hart did his craft a few generations ago, Hart would likely be on the same level of the likes of Buddy Rogers and Bruno Sammartino. Instead, he came up when sports entertainment was being shown to the masses.

Bret Hart has never had the mic skills, but because he had the popularity and the skill, he had to constantly talk. It was no wonder why a feud with a guy like Shawn Michaels had The Heartbreak Kid looking so much better in their arguments. Hart was stale compared to Michaels and he wasn't as marketable.

His heel turn helped his mic skills, just like it does with mostly anybody. It still didn't help the fact that Hart would tend to ramble and not be able to command an arena with his words. If his promo skills brought one-third of the pop that his entrance music did, this wouldn't be an issue at all.