There's a weekly WWE History topic that is debated among fans on social mediaand this week they discussed the best rookie years in WWE history. The Rock responded to a tweet from WWE's Kyle Edwards and claimed that Brock Lesnar in 2002 as well as Jimmy Snuka in 1982 had the best rookie years in the history of the company. Here's the tweet. https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/636977712649777152 When a fan joined in the conversation by mentioning Kurt Angle's rookie year (he debuted in November 1999), The Rock put him over as well. https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/636980998899560448 In The Rock's response about Angle, he mentioned a lot of babyfaces having great first years. That's probably right, but Angle was definitely a heel in that first year. It was no surprise that Paul Heyman agreed with The Rock about Lesnar. https://twitter.com/HeymanHustle/status/637034036645482497 The inclusion of Snuka by Rock is a bit of a surprise just because most people wouldn't mention Snuka in that discussion, but The Rock is also related to him since they are both a part of the same Samoan wrestling family tree that has produced a lot of talented performers. While Snuka never became WWE Champion like Lesnar, Angle or even a guy like Sheamus as a rookie, he was a legitimate top draw pretty quickly in his WWE career. I think The Rock had the right answer in Lesnar. Angle was probably a better all around performer in his first year, but Lesnar became a true top guy fairly early on while Angle was still behind others before he could be considered that. What a lot of people want to know is if The Rock would face Lesnar again. The last match in 2002 was a long time ago and if they did it again, it would be one of the biggest matches in WWE history.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
