This Past April we saw one of the biggest matches in WWE history. The marquee read “Once In A lifetime”, the fans in attendance in Miami where rooting for their home town hero, booing his opponent at every turn. The home town man was victorious in his attempt to quiet, in his eyes, the young pretender. The Rock was the man and he was left with arm raised high. The victor on the night.
This match was never going to be a once in a lifetime bout. In fact I’m sure that for creative, this was never even the plan. The Rock’s image allows Vince McMahon to print money if his name is at the top of the card. All well and good for business but for the industry, this can only be described as a short time cash cow that, in the long run will likely cause some serious issues after Dwayne has got his pay cheque and run.
I’ve never really been a fan of The Rocks I’ll be honest, except for his comedic skills on the mic. He, a lot like his least favourite Fruity Pebble, was never a great worker in the ring, wasn’t able to hold his own as a ring general but got the rub, quite rightly, due to his charisma. There have been many before who have had the same circumstances but unlike anyone else, i truly think Dwayne believes his own hype and to some degree, someone backstage agrees. Although no one can deny just how similar the audience used to view The Rock and how they see John Cena today. Although Rocky was meant to replace the true legend of Stone Cold.
Stone Cold The Rock is not. As a matter of fact the only reason Rocky got so big was due to Austin getting injured in the late 90′s, allowing for a break out star to emerge. Kudos to him for being that new face and performing admirably with it. As a poster boy he was superb but if you look back to when Austin returned in late 2000, the fans immediately realised that they only wanted Austin. Shown majorly when it was time for Austin Vs Rock at Wrestlemania X-Seven, we heard our first boo’s for Rocky (it may have some reason to the event taking place in Austin Texas), even though Austin turned heel and aligned himself with the boss Vinnie Mac. It wasn’t long after this Rock made his way into films.
It was quite a confusing time for Rock I’m sure as we didn’t miss him half as much as he and ourselves were anticipating. We had Austin acting the heel, Jericho, Kurt Angle and Benoit were showing just why they were the next top stars in the biz. As well as the recent influx of all the WCW talent filling the lower to midcard. Rocks absence wasn’t really noticed. Sure he came back to a grand ovation to feud for the WCW title but the times, however, were a changing. The true once in a lifetime match between Rocky and Hogan was soon upon us. That was all the fans needed to finally have a reason to boo their peoples champ.
The reason why Rock and Cena have been booed regardless of there persuasion as either a heel or face is because the most important critic, the fans, grew bored of their samey tactics and inability to shock us in the ring. unlike Cena however, the creative team allowed Rock to switch to heel, sensing the animosity towards him. Easy to do when Austin was now face and the Midcard talent had massive followers meaning very little risk. We wanted to boo The Rock, not only for our boredom towards his image but because it was becoming more and more apparent he was jumping ship to Hollywood.
Making films was always Dwayne’s destiny. His charisma and good looks would serve him well in twinkle town. He has been apart of some serious high budget summer blockbusters, made alot of money and could quite easily sit at home waiting for the next job offer and subsequent pay cheque to arrive at his door. Hollywood though, is not stupid. Especially when it comes to marketing. I’m sure the appeal of The Rock to feature in films is the free advertisement they will garner from appearances on WWE TV because, lets face facts, there’s always a film to push on us whenever Rocky comes back.
This in itself to me is reason enough to give him a hard time whenever he graces our favourite Monday Night programme. He claims he is doing this for the love of the business, to get back to what he calls home. BS, he’s there for the pay cheque. He obviously doesn’t see the damage i alluded to earlier he is most definitely causing.
Now, in my opinion, the clean victory over Cena at Mania has hijinx written all over it. I get that a Cena victory in Miami would have gone down like a lead balloon but, surely, the torch should have been passed from Rocky to Cena with the two embracing and allowing the live crowd to cheer for the battle as well as their hero at the same time. I simply dont understand the reason why Rock, a glorified part timer, would go over against the current top babyface and merchandise seller. Hell, the biggest ego in wrestling , that of Hulk Hogans, managed to get pinned clean versus The Rock. The aforementioned passing of the torch if you will. The only reason i can think of is that Rock didnt want to lose so that his image of a Hollywood hardman would remain intact. I could be wrong, there is an argument that there are simply more options going forward with a Cena loss, but having your top superstar lose to a retired, albeit built like a tank retiree can only cause harm to his reputation going forward. Especially on the biggest stage of professional wrestling.
The next night on RAW The Rock left us again. More proof in my eyes that he was there simply for the pay cheque. It left Cena with an empty feud going forward with Brock Lesnar and, to be honest, he’s lost all sort of momentum since his loss at Wrestlemania. If he were able to get some sort of revenge on The Rock before he left, his momentum would have gained some purchase at least. Most importantly though, the time, effort and prestige that was lavished upon Rocky over several weeks took away any sort of momentum that could have been picked up by any number of top mid-carders. January’s Royal Rumble will be the explanation point in my eyes regarding this very subject.
For some unknown reason, The Rock is booked to face the WWE Champion at the Royal Rumble. When i heard this on RAW 1000 i was infuriated. How could Creative give this prestigious match on a truly prestigious event to a part timer we’ve seen a handful of times in a year? Surely giving this spot to an up and comer would make much more business sense in the long term. Dolph Ziggler or Daniel Bryan spring to mind immediately. Both are caught in mid card turmoil and need to be launched soon or it may become too late. Why not simply have The Rock participate in the Rumble itself? The fans get to see him but with the added mystery factor of what number he drew. Its like recording a huge pop! The worst part of this I’m afraid is that I’m sure they will put the title on Rock and Cena will win the rumble for the second time in his career. If this is the case then it adds more insult to injury to the current roster. Especially if he beats current champ CM Punk.
CM Punk at the time would have been champion for over a year and we’re lead to believe that the only guy who can beat him is a 40 year old actor? Compounding that with a potential Rumble victory for well established, company babyface of Cena. Where is the progression for the future? Granted, none of this could actually happen of course but it all makes sense for a short term cash influx that Big Vince seems more than happy to accept these days. It could be that Rock will lose to Punk, granting Punk his respect he already deserves, but if Rock wasn’t able to do the job for Cena, then why would he for the current, mostly out of favour with management, WWE champion.
I could get on board with some of the Rock’s business, possibly even support him at times if he was actually The Rock. But he is not. He is most definitely Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson trying to be the Peoples Champion. He doesnt have the same aura around him anymore, or the cocky badassness that he used to have. Instead we get a guy, praying to the fans to like him and laugh at his jokes, smiling all over the place while reading promo’s he wrote on his wrist. The Brahma Bull you are no longer sir!
To summarise in accordance with the title of this article, the short of it is the long term damage his fuzzy, mirror image of his past self is causing on the current crop of genuine talent the WWE has in its ranks. For what will be 2 years of events, his likeness will have been the centre point of what WWE are doing at their big events. The ramification can be felt already in viewership numbers and fan interest waning. It also seems people forgot that we used to boo The Rock for the exact same reasons fans Boo Cena. At least Cena seems to genuinely care about his fans and the product. He became stale and boring and nothing of his recent “run” has changed that perception. In fact his current “run” as a Rock impersonator makes it even more difficult to digest.
If Stone Cold were to reappear on the other hand, well, that would be a different story altogether!
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46 Comments
You are deluded my friend. Go drink a protein shake.
I posted an article quite similar to this prior to WrestleMania on another website and it garnered some quite negative feedback. My only issue with The Rock was that I felt he was taking somebody else’s spot. My feeling were that he isn’t one of the guys that is on the road all year round, paying his dues at house show after house show. I felt as though he was undeserving of that spot at WrestleMania ahead of all of those others on the roster. I feel the same way about Brock Lesnar. However, the general consensus from my article was that Rocky had paid his dues in the 90s and that although he might have missed a step, he is still better than most of the guys on the WWE roster. And I agree with that to a certain extent; nobody draws like The Rock. Nobody gets a bigger pop from the audience than The Rock. It’s understandable why WWE use him. It’s just a shame that nobody other than perhaps Cena can reach the marquee value of the Rocks, Austins, Michaels and Hogans.
People boo Cena because he was stale. People booed Rock because of the push he got but then he changed and went heel and became the most loved as a heel. Two very different reasons for him getting booed
You are a stupid idiot.
I love all the contstructive criticism you’re getting.. Good article, I agree that the rock is fairly stale, and I think the only reason that he gets away with it is that cena is even more stale. If management hadn’t been so very determined to make Punk a heel I could’ve seen the Rock getting booed in a fued against him. But the WWE seems to want to halt punk’s progress at every point, and give us the same old rubbish.
Thanks for the feedback guys. i knew this would be an opinion that divided and that very few would side with the article itself.
To those that say im forgetting that The Rock is the biggest draw, i state this and even say its great as an upfront cash cow BUT it will damage future cash flow by not allowing the young talent to take these valuable spots to get over.
To subho9000 regarding your statement that WWE is in his blood and he comes back for the business i would say, politely of course that you are dillusional. He comes back for the pay off then, as i stated in the article, he leaves without further progressing anyone or anything. Are you a cena hater though? if you are i am trying to highlight the fact that he and The Rock are of the same mould, The Rock just makes more d*ck jokes.
I agree completely with this article. Back in the attitude era I LOVED the Rock. I thought he was amazing. But at this time as a child I still thought some of it was real! But know watching the old matches back he, as a wrestler was awful. I still laugh at his promos as they are and will be the best promos ever. The fact that he just keeps coming back whenever he feels like it, offending my TV with his presence, annoys me. Like the article says who is he to just walk in and get a title shot when Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan are around? It is absurd. And the fact that when he does come back he’s all “I love you guys, you are the best, thank you” and keeps showing us his arm to show ‘Goosebumps’ I actually want to throw things at the TV. He does not give two hoots about anyone but himself and the money. If you do care, stay for more than 5 minutes! He is not the Rock anymore he can’t even put together a good promo without writing it on his arm and everything he did that was any good was pre recorded.
I understand that there are people who will always love the Rock no matter what and I probably would have been one of those people if he had come back as the Rock and not Dwayne.
P.S His films are awful.
A simple “I don’t like the rock” would of been more more appropriate than what seems to be a 1000 plus word essay for a university professor.
Back in the attitude era, The Rock was flawless. He was fortunate enough to establish himself in the era that didn’t involve PG, along with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now that they have to dull it all down, it doesn’t seem the same for us who grew up with them swearing, and all of the violence and straight to the point action.
I don’t dislike The Rock, and I think he’s a great in-ring competitor – definitely better than you’re giving him credit for. But I do think he may be on the verge of “becoming stale”, and they need to potentially have a re-think. I think the last time I saw him was RAW 1000 possibly? That’s a disgrace and that is the one thing that annoys me – “I’m back for the fans, it isn’t about the money”, yet he makes one appearance every 4 months, if that. I think he’s making a film at the moment though which explains his absence which is fair enough, it’ll be in his contract, probably similar to Brock Lesnar’s deal, but we’ll have to wait and see what they have planned just before and after Xmas, in the build up to WrestleMania.
We can hope for: Brock Lesnar, The Rock and Chris Jericho to all return leading up to WM. Along with that, and it’s a long shot, WWE need to try their very best to secure the signature of Jeff Hardy again; they’re lacking that sort superstar – he is also a fan favorite and is wasted in TNA. Obviously Kurt Angle would be a giant return to WWE, that would increase ratings massively I’d imagine, but I cannot see that happening ever again, after reading what he said originally.
Wow,What kind of website is this?Is this even a reliable website?Is the owner on crack allowing idiots to post?or is the owner himself that idiot?
Id you don’t like the Rock then its your issues but This proves what a hypocrite you are,you never watched WWF in the Attitude Era.Stop pretending you did.This was just to put Cena over on the mic.Anybody with a below average IQ who watched Rock talk in the AE would say that.The Rock/Cena feud was designed to put Cena over on the mic as well as in the ring.Rock made himself look corny purposefully so as to get more people on Cena’s side and make him popular again.
And go look some of the Rock’s promos from AE.Go look at the Rock/Hogan segment before WM 18.That’s best segment in history ever,EVER.Go look at his return promo from 2002.his Toronto heel promo,Rock concert 1.Those are just few examples.
And all those saying that Rock just repeats his catchphrases,you are highly mistaken.The Rock hardly repeated his catchphrases from 2000-2003 except finally the Rock……and If you smell……..
It was in mid 1999 that Vince told him to repeat his catchphrases because at that time his catchphrases were very hot.People just paid to see him saying his catchphrases.Once the repetition started to get mundane,he stopped saying them.It was in 2011 he started repeating them just to make him look bad and corny so that Cena has an edge over him.
Typical Austin mark saying BS.Anyways I have proved this many times why Austin wasn’t even close to the Rock’s popularity from 1999-2002,how Rock has surpassed Austin in everything,at all pionts and all your false arguments have been proven wrong.
http://www.wrestlingforum.com/general-wwe/638065-official-goat-greatest-all-time-discussion-thread.html
Read my posts carefully on page 50 51 and 57.
The reason why Rock got booed was because the match was in Canada and Hulk Hogan has a God like status in Canada.He has done a lot for Canada from Radio Interviews to house shows and charity stuff.And anyways Hulk Hogan had reached a legendary status that time while the Rock still hadn’t reached his level.Had the match been in the States the reaction would be mixed.
Austin wrestled Nash at WM 18 and despite got a mixed reaction from the crowd.Had Austin wrestled Hogan,he would have been booed out of the arena.
Everything else you posted is typical BS as well and I don’t really want to read it because I have proved it wrong hundreds of times.Anyways read my posts in those forum pages and you will notice that your argument is buried and I have literally owned you with facts.
So get the point,for what the Rock has done for the business he has every right to come and go as he wants and steal the spotlight as he wants.
If you wasn’t for him and Austin,you would have still been watching WCW.
Wow,What kind of website is this?Is this even a reliable website?Is the owner on crack allowing idiots to post?or is the owner himself that idiot?
Id you don’t like the Rock then its your issues but This proves what a hypocrite you are,you never watched WWF in the Attitude Era.Stop pretending you did.This was just to put Cena over on the mic.Anybody with a below average IQ who watched Rock talk in the AE would say that.The Rock/Cena feud was designed to put Cena over on the mic as well as in the ring.Rock made himself look corny purposefully so as to get more people on Cena’s side and make him popular again.
And go look some of the Rock’s promos from AE.Go look at the Rock/Hogan segment before WM 18.That’s best segment in history ever,EVER.Go look at his return promo from 2002.his Toronto heel promo,Rock concert 1.Those are just few examples.
And all those saying that Rock just repeats his catchphrases,you are highly mistaken.The Rock hardly repeated his catchphrases from 2000-2003 except finally the Rock……and If you smell……..
It was in mid 1999 that Vince told him to repeat his catchphrases because at that time his catchphrases were very hot.People just paid to see him saying his catchphrases.Once the repetition started to get mundane,he stopped saying them.It was in 2011 he started repeating them just to make him look bad and corny so that Cena has an edge over him.
Typical Austin mark saying BS.Anyways I have proved this many times why Austin wasn’t even close to the Rock’s popularity from 1999-2002,how Rock has surpassed Austin in everything,at all pionts and all your false arguments have been proven wrong.
Go to wrestlingforum.com,click general WWE and click the official GOAT discusion thread.Read my posts carefully on page 50 51 and 57.
The reason why Rock got booed was because the match was in Canada and Hulk Hogan has a God like status in Canada.He has done a lot for Canada from Radio Interviews to house shows and charity stuff.And anyways Hulk Hogan had reached a legendary status that time while the Rock still hadn’t reached his level.Had the match been in the States the reaction would be mixed.
Austin wrestled Nash at WM 18 and despite got a mixed reaction from the crowd.Had Austin wrestled Hogan,he would have been booed out of the arena.
Everything else you posted is typical BS as well and I don’t really want to read it because I have proved it wrong hundreds of times.Anyways read my posts in those forum pages and you will notice that your argument is buried and I have literally owned you with facts.
So get the point,for what the Rock has done for the business he has every right to come and go as he wants and steal the spotlight as he wants.
If you wasn’t for him and Austin,you would have still been watching WCW.
Wow,What kind of website is this?Is this even a reliable website?Is the owner on crack allowing idiots to post?or is the owner himself that idiot?
Id you don’t like the Rock then its your issues but This proves what a hypocrite you are,you never watched WWF in the Attitude Era.Stop pretending you did.This was just to put Cena over on the mic.Anybody with a below average IQ who watched Rock talk in the AE would say that.The Rock/Cena feud was designed to put Cena over on the mic as well as in the ring.Rock made himself look corny purposefully so as to get more people on Cena’s side and make him popular again.
And go look some of the Rock’s promos from AE.Go look at the Rock/Hogan segment before WM 18.That’s best segment in history ever,EVER.Go look at his return promo from 2002.his Toronto heel promo,Rock concert 1.Those are just few examples.
And all those saying that Rock just repeats his catchphrases,you are highly mistaken.The Rock hardly repeated his catchphrases from 2000-2003 except finally the Rock……and If you smell……..
It was in mid 1999 that Vince told him to repeat his catchphrases because at that time his catchphrases were very hot.People just paid to see him saying his catchphrases.Once the repetition started to get mundane,he stopped saying them.It was in 2011 he started repeating them just to make him look bad and corny so that Cena has an edge over him.
Typical Austin mark saying BS.Anyways I have proved this many times why Austin wasn’t even close to the Rock’s popularity from 1999-2002,how Rock has surpassed Austin in everything,at all pionts and all your false arguments have been proven wrong.
Go to wrestlingforum.com,click general WWE and click the official GOAT discusion thread.Read my posts carefully on page 50 51 and 57.
The reason why Rock got booed was because the match was in Canada and Hulk Hogan has a God like status in Canada.He has done a lot for Canada from Radio Interviews to house shows and charity stuff.And anyways Hulk Hogan had reached a legendary status that time while the Rock still hadn’t reached his level.Had the match been in the States the reaction would be mixed.
Austin wrestled Nash at WM 18 and despite got a mixed reaction from the crowd.Had Austin wrestled Hogan,he would have been booed out of the arena.
Everything else you posted is typical BS as well and I don’t really want to read it because I have proved it wrong hundreds of times.Anyways read my posts in those forum pages and you will notice that your argument is buried and I have literally owned you with facts.
So get the point,for what the Rock has done for the business he has every right to come and go as he wants and steal the spotlight as he wants.
If you wasn’t for him and Austin,you would have still been watching WCW.
Wow,What kind of website is this?Is this even a reliable website?Is the owner on crack allowing idiots to post?or is the owner himself that idiot?
Id you don’t like the Rock then its your issues but This proves what a hypocrite you are,you never watched WWF in the Attitude Era.Stop pretending you did.This was just to put Cena over on the mic.Anybody with a below average IQ who watched Rock talk in the AE would say that.The Rock/Cena feud was designed to put Cena over on the mic as well as in the ring.Rock made himself look corny purposefully so as to get more people on Cena’s side and make him popular again.
And go look some of the Rock’s promos from AE.Go look at the Rock/Hogan segment before WM 18.That’s best segment in history ever,EVER.Go look at his return promo from 2002.his Toronto heel promo,Rock concert 1.Those are just few examples.
And all those saying that Rock just repeats his catchphrases,you are highly mistaken.The Rock hardly repeated his catchphrases from 2000-2003 except finally the Rock……and If you smell……..
It was in mid 1999 that Vince told him to repeat his catchphrases because at that time his catchphrases were very hot.People just paid to see him saying his catchphrases.Once the repetition started to get mundane,he stopped saying them.It was in 2011 he started repeating them just to make him look bad and corny so that Cena has an edge over him.
Typical Austin mark saying BS.Anyways I have proved this many times why Austin wasn’t even close to the Rock’s popularity from 1999-2002,how Rock has surpassed Austin in everything,at all pionts and all your false arguments have been proven wrong.
Go to wrestlingforum.com,click general WWE and click the official GOAT discusion thread.Read my posts carefully on page 50 51 and 57 by the name Sam.
The reason why Rock got booed was because the match was in Canada and Hulk Hogan has a God like status in Canada.He has done a lot for Canada from Radio Interviews to house shows and charity stuff.And anyways Hulk Hogan had reached a legendary status that time while the Rock still hadn’t reached his level.Had the match been in the States the reaction would be mixed.
Austin wrestled Nash at WM 18 and despite got a mixed reaction from the crowd.Had Austin wrestled Hogan,he would have been booed out of the arena.
Everything else you posted is typical BS as well and I don’t really want to read it because I have proved it wrong hundreds of times.Anyways read my posts in those forum pages and you will notice that your argument is buried and I have literally owned you with facts.
So get the point,for what the Rock has done for the business he has every right to come and go as he wants and steal the spotlight as he wants.
If you wasn’t for him and Austin,you would have still been watching WCW.
Sorry for the duplicate posts,actually when I first posted them they didn’t go so I clicked four times,you can delete them.
I misspelled in my last sentence it should have been-”If IT wasn’t for him and Austin,you would have still been watching WCW.
Anyways,if you still have arguments,lets discuss them on Wrestling Forum.I am pretty much sure I will bury you with facts especially the Rock/Austin argument.
Only your one point arguable is that back in 2002 the Rock said “WWE is his home and in his blood”and then he left for Hollywood.There may be several reasons for this-
1>The Rock wasn’t sure whether his movie carrier will put himself on the map in Hollywood or not,so he didn’t want to lose his wrestling carrier.
2>The Rock meant to say that once his movie carrier is well established he will return as a part timer.
Also I don’t agree with you when you said that Rock will run away after he gets his paycheck,IMO The Rock will continue to wrestle and make part time appearances for the rest of his life.He will put over many wrestlers as he put over Cena on the mic last year and this year at WM 29 he will put Cena over in the ring.
Also I don’t think you are a wrestler or someone who have WWE in AE.You’re just a Cena mark or an Austin mark trying to brainwash people.If you really did watch WWF/E in AE you would have come to know what backstage bitch Austin was and how many wrestlers he had buried.And you also would have come to know that Rock has put over many wrestler throughout his carrier like Y2J,Brock Lesnar,Goldberg to name a few.
I disagree totally with the article. I don’t have the time to go through everything one point at a time, but one point Rocky earns alot more at hollywood than the WWE. So i know its not for the money. The rock in the wwe is priceless.
Thanks Sam Knight for taking the time to reply in such depth. I do think your slightly missing the point of my article though. I have only good things to say about The Rock from the Attitude Era apart from his in ring skills and not once have i said he didnt deserve his place on the roster etc etc.
i was tryiong to highlight the damage his current “run” is doing on the current, full-time, WWE worker. Lets be honest, for the past 2 and the upcoming Wrestlemania, The Rock, a part-time (at best) performer will be the main attraction. How is that advancing anyones career. You say he put Cena over on the mic? He lead the audience to hate Cena and bashed everything he stood for. I also cant find a reason why Cena needs to be put over. Why not over an up and comer. As well as the fact he’s been randomly given a WWE title shot at a true marquee event as the Royal Rumble.
If you have read any other article of mine you will know i am most definately not a Cena fan. In fact i find him supremely overrated. once again, im simply comparing both cena and Rock as from the same mould.
Its not all Rocky’s fault of course, its WWE creative who have become lazy. but can you honestly say that The Rock, at this moment, isnt holding back more deserving stars of the future?
To those saying its not for the money. Maybe not but his image on top WWE events will do no harm for his career and im absolutely positive he knows that.
but you are right about one thing. I am a Stone Cold mark. I will hopefully read your article soon and maybe my judgement will change.
Sorry for my rudeness towards you.I actually got mad when you said Rock became popular because Austin got injured which is really stupid because The Rock was already over with the fans in 1998 and how they were cheering him despite him being a heel and how they booed Austin at various instances whenever he confronted the Rock in late 1999 and then how Rock went to break almost all Austin’s records in 2000 and took WWF to heights never been seen before.Anyways more of that on page 50 51 and 57 of Wrestling Forum GOAT thread.Despite I disagree with you,when you say Austin was a better technical wrestler than the Rock,I agree with you on one point,he shouldn’t be given the spotlight not that he doesn’t deserve but its not good for the company unless he is going to pass the torch.But still we are in darkness as to whom Rock is going to face at Royal Rumble,it may be CM Punk,it may well possibly be Ryback,Rock may well possibly lose at Royal Rumble,it may well possibly be an angle to give an impetus to Ryback etc.So if Rock is supposed to pass the torch to a rookie I think its appropriate for him to be in the main event.But also the ratings and buyrates have reduced so if Vince thinks that only the Rock and no other rookie can increase the WWE’s level,he may give him give one more title reign just to make WWE popular.Once the WWE is popular Rock doesn’t need to keep the title and he will lose it to someone like Sheamus or Ryback.One thing I know for sure is that I 100% completely trust the Rock and he is one of those who keeps his ego aside and does what’s best for the business.You would know if you would have been watching WWF in AE.This may be a well planned project by Vince and Rock to make WWE popular again and If Rock’s suppose to have one more title reign he will be back full time for couple of months.That’s what I think.
And BTW I really don’t know why did you even include Rock getting booed at WM 18 and if it wasn’t for Austin,Rock would never have been popular arguments?
What’s that to do with your Rock stealing the spotlight argument?No relation at all whatsoever.And you may also think that once Austin returned to the WWF in 2001,he regained his popularity and defeated the Rock in drawings which isn’t true.I have various visual evidences where people booed face Austin and cheered face Rock whenever both came face to face in 2001.Remember the Rock’s Scorpion king for which he took four months off drew $165 million worldwide for the WWF.While Austin’s movie Condemned produced by WWF/E studios couldn’t even gross 10 million.
Hold on. WWE Studios co-produced Scorpion King, in the sense that it was the studio used together with Alphaville. They didn’t have a say on who got casted.
Also, “…. which means that the Rock drew $165 million for the WWF” – from the GOAT thread page 50. WWE Studios didn’t get $165 million gross as they were only the studio. They probably only got a fixed amount for studio rent or a small percentage of the sales, depending on their agreement or if they invested themselves.
It’s the investors who get the larger part of the money.
Even if they didn’t get the entire profit,Austin’s 13 million is nothing compared to the profit the WWF earned from Scorpion King.
Wrestlemania 18 was held in Texas, which is why Rock was booed, if that is the second wrestlemania they faught in. If its the third, he´d turned heel.
And you also included Rock getting booed against Austin at WM 17 thing which is ridiculous,had it been in Miami?only thinking about that make shivers run down Austin marks spine.Austin never confronted Rock ever in Miami RAW’s ever and there is also a story Austin denying to wrestle the Rock at WM 17 unless it was kept in Texas.
Anyways as I said I have various visual evidences in which people booed face Austin over face Rock in 2001 and they never did that to the Rock in presence of Austin of course except WM 17.
Thanks again for the comments. Always nice to have a good ol discussion from two different mind sets.
As of my saying Rock got over due to Austins injury, in my opinion there is no way that rock would have gotten as big as he did if Austin was still around during Rocks period of immense popularity. Would he be big, course he would but the WWE only has one spot for top babyface. Especially pre-brand split.
With Rock facing and hopefully giving teh rub to a newer guy i hope so but i dont see it happening. It would feel almost anticlimatic. As well as him having no reasont o really be there. I think most people, including myself, see Rock taking the title from Punk and then, at elimination chamber, giving it to any number of guys in the overall plan.
Again with y9ou saying that ratings and buy rates are down and that big V mac only thinks Rock can save this. I have to say its rediculous but by god its true. Vince has so little faith in the current roster he’s employing a retiree to come in. Its a sad state of affairs but, like my article tries to highlight, Thats just the problem with Rocks run. If he hadnt been the main attraction over the past 2 Mania’s, maybe we would see a new poster boy. BUt, all said and done, i hope his most predictable title run does create stars, otherwise it will only cement my article further.
the inclusion of The Rock / Hogan match was to showcase how stale he had gotten at the time (ala Cena). The True (i cant beleive im even saying this) Superstar of pro-wrestling was there for people to finally have a reason to boo rock. Thats my take on it and even watching it back now, the fans could quite easily have cheered for both. They didnt.
i dont get why your referencing films both Austina nd Rock have been involved with. Tehy all suck so much (Every wrestlers films EVER). The reason The Scorpion King did so well was because it was a Holyywood blockbuster. Hardly what condemned was.
in regards to Austin getting cheered at WM X7 during a high profile heel turn, i did mention thsi had alot to do with it being in Austin. The cheers still remained, only gradually diminishing over time (much like a certain Mr Punk).
But a possible reason for the Rock cheering over Austin (whcih i dont recall but will tajke your word for it ;) )…..the Cena effect? Younger people had tuned in to see The Rock and recented (in their eyes) Austin coming back taking a top spot? So you had two seperate fan bases cheering different guys?
Dear bro,if Austin hadn’t left or hadn’t got injured then the fans would have ultimately got tired of him and would have started booing him.They had already had started booing him by late 1999 because most of the fans felt that Vince was trying to bury the Rock and shove Austin down their throats despite he being stale.I have posted the links of videos in which he received boos on page 57 of GOAT thread in wrestling forum.Also by mid 99 most of the time they tolerated Austin out of respect for what he had done but cheered the Rock in his presence to indicate Vince that he was burying the Rock.
Look at this match http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xi22lv_stone-cold-steve-austin-and-the-rock-vs-the-new-age-outlaws-raw-10-25-1999_sport?search_algo=2
Austin wrestles most of the time,the fans get bored and start chanting Rocky throughout the match when Austin is in the ring,even king says “these people want Austin to tag the Rock,they want to see the Rock fight”There were many such instances.So it was evident that Rock was already a bigger star than Austin in 1999 and was towards becoming the biggest star.It had nothing to do with Austin’s departure,
Even if Austin wouldn’t have left,Rock would have still been as big as he had and Vince forcefully would have turned Austin into a midcarder.
Then he got arrested and also had serious neck concerns in 2000.So after few months when he returned at Backlash he got massive cheers but then again at Hell in a cell people cheered Rock over Austin clearly indicating Vince that Rock was already a bigger star than Austin.Not only that,he got heavily booed as a face twice in 2001 against the Rock when once again Vince tried to bury the Rock and put Austin over which clearly indicated that Austin wasn’t even in the Rock’s league.His departure and return had nothing to do with Rock’s rise to the top as I said people never booed the Rock in presence of Austin.
I think there are three reasons why Vince got Rock back as part timer,
1>To make WWE popular again,to give it an impetus.For a couple of weeks or three the Rock will return full time so that the ratings once more become stable at 3.3.
2>Once WWE is popular,make a rookie beat the Rock cleanly at WM.It will be a big thing as Rock is the only wrestler to defeat Cena cleanly at WM and the rookie defeating the Rock cleanly at WM will make him highly over.
3>Once the rookie defeats the Rock,turn him into a poster boy and make him carry the company on his back.
Yeah may be I partly agree with you,if past two WM’s wouldn’t have revolved around the Rock’s return the WWE wouldn’t have got 2.4 ratings.
Rock and Vince both were working on this project since 2010,both are to be blamed.Actually Rock’s return was designed to make Cena popular again by making the Rock look corny on the mic and make him repeat his catchphrases.Also Rock defeating Cena cleanly and Lesnar burying Cena on RAW did make him gain the respect of fans especially Smarks for a couple of months but then they again started booing him.This idea turned out to be major flop.
Nope the Rock was never stale.People just booed the Rock because Hulk Hogan is a legend and arguably the GOAT.Remember what I said Austin wrestled Scot hall and still got a mixed reaction which means they would have booed everyone who was on Hogan’s level.How can you say the Rock was stale?The Rock got cheered and Hogan got booed in the build up to WM on all RAW’s,if he would have been stale then he would have got booed on RAW’s too.And after WM Rock got cheered on all RAW’s until Summerslam in which people booed him because they felt he had sold out to Hollywood.Then the Rock turned heel and played the sellout gimmick just to play along with them.In my opinion Rock was the only wrestler (babyface) who never got stale in the history of WWF/E.
The reason The Scorpion King did so well was because Rock was more popular and bigger star than Austin.Vince chose him to star in that movie over Austin.
Nope,even adults cheered the Rock.When Austin first returned in 2000 as a face it was 60/40 reaction for Rock/Austin most of the time whenever both of them came face to face.Sometimes Austin got heavily booed whenever he tried to mess with the Rock.
For instance the Chicago crowd heavily booed Austin in a tag match when Undertaker tagged Austin as they wanted Taker to tag the Rock.It was Austin himself who admitted in the WM 17 behind the scenes DVD that he turned heel because Rock was a bigger star than him.
“The reason The Scorpion King did so well was because Rock was more popular and bigger star than Austin.Vince chose him to star in that movie over Austin.” – how did Vince [McMahon?] get a say on who starred in The Scorpion King [and The Mummy Returns]?
Of Course Vince did get to choose one from Austin/Rock as he is the boss of WWF/E even if he didn’t,why did the producer choose Rock and not Austin?Exactly because Rock was more popular than Austin,common sense.
First of all, your statement that The Rock can’t “hold his own” in a match is ridiculous. I’m not saying he’s Shawn Micheals but he was very good and could more than hold his own with anybody.
The Rock was every bit the star that Steve Austin was. In fact neither would have been as big without the other but The Rock doesn’t have to take a backseat to anybody in my opinion. John Cena may be the biggest star of this era but he doesn’t measure up to either Rock or Austin.
I hear all the arguments that The Rock is taking some younger guys spot. I don’t think The Rock is holding anyone back since he makes very limited appearances. The Rock is here to sell PPVs. It would be great to see the Dolph Zigglers and the Cody Rhodes of WWE in WrestleMania Main Events but are those guys going to generate a million PPV buys? No, unfortunately, not anytime soon. WWE is a business at the end of the day.
Lastly is your opinion that The Rock is hear to collect a paycheck. Ok, you’re right, he probably is but who really cares? Do you speculate about the motivations of every WWE performer? I would guess that the vast majority of them are here to collect a paycheck. I don’t recall ever hearing about any WWE Superstars who work for free because they love it so much. Should I boo every WWE wrestler if I suspect that performing in WWE might not be the single biggest passion in their life? Damn you Chris Jericho! The Rock is here to entertain and I’m happy to see him anytime he comes back and for whatever reason.
GREAT article. I agree 100%. Dwayne should have passed the torch to Cena. It’s not fair that Rock is going to win the WWE title at RR. CM Punk is an awesome worker, and a perfect heel champion (I never really buy him as a face). When Rocky wins the WWE Championship at RR, it will just lose a bit more credibility.
No, punk sucks and deserves to be a jobber.
Its funny how PG era fans bitch about Rock leaving the WWE for Hollywood,whereas Austin has done the same exact thing.
And the way they claim to be #1 fans of Austin although they haven’t watched Austin in the attitude era.And how they keep whining about their deep hatred for the Rock just because he left for Hollywood where as Austin has done the same thing.Just because Rock made it big and Austin couldn’t incites your jealousy.At least the Rock didn’t walk away from the company in 2002 when he was under contract like Austin.And then they come up with this funny reason,”Austin had injuries and the Rock was healthy”,so is there a rule which says you shouldn’t retire if you aren’t seriously injured?
The Rock meant to say that as soon as his Hollywood carrier is well established,he’ll return to WWE part time and now he will wrestle throughout his life.And then they say Rock has a big ego because he didn’t lose to John Cena at Wrestlemania,stupid people the Rock is an employee,he does as the creative wants him to do.And throughout his WWF/E carrier he has been a put over,true WWF fans know what I am talking about.
And then they come up with ‘Rock doesn’t deserve a title run’.You people have no idea what the Rock has accomplished for the WWF/E.I suggest you to do a research of PPV buy rates,ratings and attendances during his era and compare them to today’s era.Its the creative that wants him to another title run not him.Its not that he demanded a title run from the creative.The authority is doing purposefully.
And the Rock left when the WWE was at the bottom,he simply couldn’t do anything more.
And then they come up with something funnier,”Rock is back for money and pay checks”,The Rock can take time off from the WWE and make another movie which will earn him millions without him being injured.Use your head people,he is back for the fans.
I am not saying,’Do not hate the Rock’,what I want to say is at least find a good reason to hate the Rock.
‘I hate the Rock because I am Cena fan’ is a better reason than ‘I hate the Rock because he is a sellout’
the writer and the idiots who dont like the ‘Great one’. Go home and cheak ur roody poo candy ass in the smackdown hotel. And it doesnt matter what u think.
You people don’t understand.Vince is giving him the title reign to get the Hollywood attention.Imagine him walking on that red carpet with the WWE championship,that will arouse so much Hollywood interest in WWE.He appearing on the TV shows,sets,interviews,private screening with the WWE championship belt on his shoulders,it will receive mainstream and media attention.
As a result more people will tune in to watch the WWE.This is the only way to increase the ratings and save the business!
But alas,wrestling fans are not intelligent enough.
Oh i get it but what happens when Rock leaves again? Will these “Hollywood” people still watch. NOPE because he soaks up all the attention (not his fault of course) and therefore who would they watch?
I also dont see who would watch becuse rock is champion? If adults have never liked or watched wrestling, why would rock being champ change that.
Agian i point to the main purpose of this article: The past 3 Mania’s will focus on Rock. How damaging is that to the current roster especially if Rock beats Punk at RR, what does that mean regarding the rest of the roster who tried and failed. They suck and the old, retired, guard can kick there ass?? Stupid business.
WWE need to make stars! this is doing the opposite. I dont see how you can argue against that?!
Yes I agree with you,once Rock leaves ratings will drop again but who do you think is capable enough to maintain the consistency of the ratings?CM Punk has failed,Ryder is failing too,Daniel Bryan failed long time back,no point mentioning Shaemus,no young talent is able to get the attention of the WWE universe as Zack Ryder got but the WWE screwed up his character too.
Rock becoming champion will create nostalgia in the attitude era fans,so they may start watching RAW again while Rock is the champion.This will increase the ratings for a while.
I think that WWE has tried all the ideas to create stars.They are falling short of ideas,gimmicks and characters.They have possibly tried everybody and everything.They also tried to make Cena popular again but that too failed.They already have created three of the biggest stars,Rock,Austin and Hogan.What are they trying to do now is create their rip off’s(Miz,CM Punk and Cena)but that won’t increase the ratings because people have already seen the originals.
‘The past 3 WM’s will focus on the Rock’ is damaging only if the WWE has some plans regarding a rookie to make him into a star,what if they don’t have any plans regarding any rookie?What if they have lost faith in the entire roster that they would be able to carry the company?
Vince has to come up with something that would recreate and reinvent prowrestling,he has to take pro wrestling to a new and different level than what we see today,meanwhile Rock will always there to help the company.
Vince has to come up with something quickly,once he does,Rock will step down.
Thats a good argument to be fair. Of course another person to blame (indirectly of course) is Mr Cena. His image has held young talent back for so long its now quite ridiculous. I’ve already posted an article on this a while back.
WWE right now has some of the greatest talent around on an in ring basis (Punk, Bryan, Cesaro, Ziggler etc) but they’re given nothing to work with. Think about Bryan from 1 year ago. Sure he was Champ but no one cared apart from the smarks but the night after Mania and the month leading out of it we saw Bryan get a great character that right now they’re burying. He could be the Benoit of this era.
Once again, the problem is that because Rock gets the ratings and pops, why would Vince try anything else. Right now it feels he’s just biding his time until Dwayne’s back which, as i’ve said, is highly damaging.
And please this comment:
“Id you don’t like the Rock then its your issues but This proves what a hypocrite you are,you never watched WWF in the Attitude Era.Stop pretending you did.This was just to put Cena over on the mic.Anybody with a below average IQ who watched Rock talk in the AE would say that.The Rock/Cena feud was designed to put Cena over on the mic as well as in the ring.Rock made himself look corny purposefully so as to get more people on Cena’s side and make him popular again.”
This guy hasnt a clue. How did Rock put anyone over last Mania? (AGAIN not his fault(maybe)) And i most certainly did watch WWE in the attitude era, i just grew out of liking The Rock when i realised the only thing worth watching of his was his promo’s and his matches with Triple H or Steve Austin..oh and Jericho….but thats cos i loved Jericho.
I am not talking about mania but throughout the Rock/Cena segments,WWE made Cena rape the Rock on mic.This made many people like Cena and be on his side,especially the PG era fans who didn’t watch the Rock in AE.But this also made many people hate the Rock and this was by far the worst part as fas as I am concerned.Also Rock beating Cena cleanly at WM 28 made Cena earn respect of Smarks for few months,the same Chicago crowd who booed the hell out of Cena was cheering him in his match against Lesnar.
Its true,WWE destroyed the Rock’s character to put Cena over on the mic in the build up to Wrestlemania.
You honestly believe that Cena “raped” rock on the mic. I can only think of one segment where Cena came out on top (i forget which one but i think it was fairly early on the run up to WM). The rest of the promo work was basically ripping into everything Cena stood for whilst being humerous, therefore keeping all the Cena-haters firmly against Cena and bringing anyone who wasnt sure what The Rock stood for cheer for him.
I also dont think the loss to Rock did anything other than make Cena look stupid. He went into the match saying he had to win otherwise his legacy was worth nothing. it made him look weak.
i also disagree that some people started to cheer Cena because of the clean loss. If i recall correctly the crowd were pretty much divided and the only reason people started to “believe” in cena again was the build up with Lesnar when he get bloody and the match against Brock itself being brutal. (i beleive this was one of the more unique and enjoyable matches for quite some time)
In my opinion the Rock feud did nothing of value for Cena but the Brock feud made him look legit again.
If you have been carefully watching the Rock in the AE,you would have noticed that Rock was being held back.The Rock was held back from performing 100% in about 7 segments.In few segments WWE made him look completely washed up by making him repeat his catchphrases,prevent him from wearing his sunglasses,making him trend things and all that stuff Rock having scripts tattoed on his wrists was horrible.I would have preferred Cena beating Rock cleanly at Wrestlemania.
Search on youtube-’The Rock shoots on Cena’.In that the Rock isn’t holding himself back.Thats the real AE Rock.
They did it just to put Cena over and I think WWE will do it again to put Punk over especially if they are going to make Rock beat Punk at Royal Rumble.I would prefer Punk beating Rock cleanly at RR than destroying the Rock’s character.
lol this is a terrible article
Pass the torch to Cena??? Are you kidding me. Look I respect Cena, but lets be serious here, his mic skills are terrible, corny, cheesy, and definitely not funny. Also, his actual in-the-ring performance is mediocre. The WWE needs the Rock. And we should be blessed to have him. Think about it? How often do you get to see a big time wrestler become a blockbuster superstar? Thats right, you dont. So lets enjoy the moment, the Rock is good for the WWE because quite frankly no one else can step up to the plate. STOP HATING, BE GRATEFUL! You roodie poo CANDY ASS!!! TEAM BRING IT ALL DAY EVERY DAY!!! Oh yeah one more thing: All the other crap you said about the Rock, I’m just going to ignore it, its really stupid. There’s a reason why Dwayne The Rock Johnson is called the Most Electrifying Man in Sports entertainment. Back then, and NOW! Booya Turd Nuggets!
Sam, you think that if someone “owns” someone on the mic it puts them over regardless of whether they lose to that person cleanly?
Andy- I love you comment for pure comedic goodness. Im not saying pass the torch of amzingness, simply do what Hogan did for Rock, cement him as a superstar (again, everyone, i am most definately NOT a Cena fan!)
Something i have realised only recently is that if ROck beats Punk at RR, there will be a genuine backlash against Rock from the vocal Punk fans. Especially seeing as Punk will hold nothing back and will not bend over for Rock in a promo sense. these days i dont think Rock could fight Punk on the Mic. I would also lose all respect for Vinne Mac for having punk beat every main eventer in the company to eventually lose to a film “star”.
I must say it again though, some readers arent understanding the damage the rock will do if he is put over Punk/Anyone relevant.
“I would also lose all respect for Vinne Mac for having punk beat every main eventer in the company to eventually lose to a film “star”.”
This may be a film star but hes also a former WWE champion, future HOF’er and one of WWE’s all time greats. lol at you losing respect over a scripted win anyway. This article is still terrible, makes zero sense, and there isnt any damage being done whatsoever putting Rock over.
what the hell happened to my comments
ok ok ilove Rock & aj lee %100 love . very very good . photo more aj lee on my email
very goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood
this article is completely ridiculous, and since when did u start treating the rock as a film star, it just shows how ignorant you are and also proves if a certain star leaves the wwe to do something else he desires, you will most definitely forget his past and his legacy!!!