Undertaker can still move, or did you not watch his past few Mania matches?
What is this thing that people have against him not wanting to be typecast? Try walking up to Daniel Radcliff and call him Harry Potter. How pissed would you be if you played a particular character for 10 years and then tried to do something different and NOBODY would allow you to change? I do not fault Dwayne for wanting to make it as Dwayne and not the Rock, and if you do, then you're not much of a realistic human being. Would I say him wanting to be addressed as Dwayne over being addressed as the Rock is a diss to the fans? No. But i'm not so personally invested in a persons on screen persona.
Clearly people who took offense to that blur the line between fiction and reality.
Why take offense to it? If someone went up to Adam Sandler and called him "Big Daddy" do you really think he'd be mad about it? Do you think Jason David Frank would be mad about people calling him Tommy from Power Rangers, even though he's an undefeated MMA Fighter?
It's called being recognized for what you did. Why would you take offense to someone who admires your work? It's selfish.
Yeah? Taker has done more in the last 2 years to put over new talent?
Who? (I'll need names and dates for this one.)
In the past two years, he put over...
Chris Jericho - Elimination Chamber 2010. Sure, he's been main eventer before, but a win over Taker is never anything less than a put over.
HBK - WrestleMania 26 (Yes, HBK lost but you don't need to win to be put over. HBK looked like a serious threat, thus he was put over.) If you want, you can take him out since he's BEEN over.
Rey Mysterio - Smackdown May 28, 2010. He won, yes, but what happened after that put Rey Mysterio in the world title picture which gave him a World title reign.
Kane - Summer of 2010 (From Night of Champions, all the way until SummerSlam, Kane defeated Taker in back to back confrontations)
Nexus (Otunga, Slater, Gabriel, Harris, and McGuillicutty) - Say what you want, but their attack on the Undertaker during that Buried Alive match put a further interest into the group. It might have failed as a group later, but that night helped them.
Triple H - WrestleMania 27, again he lost but he was still put over by looking like a viable threat. If you want, you can take him out since he's BEEN over.
By my count, that's 9 people in two years, and if you take out DX, that's still 7. The Rock put over maybe that many his entire career. Undertaker has never been stingy to the point that he doesn't put someone over.
Even his rivalry with Punk, in the beginning of that feud Punk was high on the title reign. He even went over Taker to retain his title at one point. Sure, he lost the World title at a later date, but he still made Punk look like a main eventer.
are you serious? for what??? Dude you are trippin.
Well, do you think that if Cena hadn't called out Rock's bluff that Rock would be in WWE?
I sure as hell don't.
and he would still have done all he needed to do in wrestling, winning every major championship and been a part of one of the greatest era's in wrestling history. He has done all that their is to do in wrestling. What more did he have to prove? What more DOES he have to prove? I congratulate him for leaving at the top of his game, and doing well in a safer, more lucrative industry.
Put over some young talent. Ric Flair has always been able to do that, even when he WAS world champion. The best of the best have all stuck around to put over some young talent and show them the ropes. HBK, HHH, Kevin Nash, JBL, Stone Cold, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Mick Foley... because they love this business and want to see the next stars become like them. Why couldn't The Rock be the same? Why did he have to snub the up and comers from some much needed help?
Even you would have to admit that having someone like The Rock give you advice on how to improve would be a huge jump for someone's career.
Seriously....all of you "via-satellite" quoting Cena lovers need to get a grip.
Really? Cause the way it looks, all of you "here to stay" quoting Dwayne lovers need to check into reality.
....wow....you really BELIEVE he turned his back on the fans....and you know why you believe that? Because Cena said it.
Cena told you that because he decided to pursue a career in acting and that he said he didn't want his acting career to be associated with "the Rock" that he was saying "screw you" to the WWE and the fans that backed him for years. You TRULY have taken this to heart and believe with an unwavering belief that this is fact.
Do your thing bruh, but I would ask that you start to realize that there is life after and outside of wrestling and you don't have to be forced to retire in order to start doing something different.
Because it is a fact. Why not give back to the company that made you who you are? Why not show up at least once for the fans who put Rock in those movies to begin with? Face it, without the WWE fans, The Rock would be jack shit... and yet he doesn't want them to recognize him at all? How does that NOT say "screw you" to the fans.
2. Apparently you didn't see Hogan vs Orton at Summerslam a few years ago...
He'll go over Cena because he's in his hometown, and it gives reason to keep the feud going and milking another PPV with the Cena vs Rock headline.
Summer Slam isn't WrestleMania. Had that match taken place at Mania, Orton would've been the winner, hands down. And anyone who believes otherwise is crazy.
Hometown wins in WWE mean nothing to Vince. You'd think Montreal would be quite the example of that, but then again people have short term memory these days. So I'll use a more recent event... Orton lost the Rumble in his hometown last night... You logic of "hometown hero" is flaud.
Stone Cold definitely has drawn more than Rock, but how can you say that Cena has? When Rock was at the top RAW's ratings were in the 7's and 8's... Cena's are in the 2's and 3's.
Ratings aren't the only thing that count as far as draws. Keep in mind that Rock never drew on his own like Cena's been forced to do. Rock had the help of Stone Cold, Triple H, HBK, and the added benefit that he became popular right around the time Stone Cold started giving everyone a stunner for touching a beer can before he did.
Cena is out there pushing t-shirts on his own and making Vince money doing so. He even put out an anti-Cena shirt just so he can make money off the smarks in the crowd, and it's working.
He can still go, can he not? He hasn't slowed down physically, or on the mic. You're argument to him being passed his prime is pinned on that he lost a match to a curtain jerker...
Are you kidding me? He was blown up in mere minutes at Survivor Series. But I guess since he was able to go through a few spots, that's "not slowed down" to you isn't it?
He's never said any of those things, that's what you've assumed and inferred from some interviews and you're interpretations of his actions.
Rock has never "dissed" The WWE, and how can you bring up Rock jobbing to The Hurricane, and losing to a green Orton, then say he never put anyone over? What has Taker done to put anyone over? Getting the World Title taken off of Punk because he didn't like the way he dressed?
Taker part has been addressed...
As has the Hurricane situation.
So ultimately, you're biggest gripe with him is he stopped going by "The Rock?"
My wife calls me "Pookie" is it an insult to her that I don't put that on job applications? The Rock isn't his real name, and he doesn't want to be typecast nor rest on his previous successes.
Addressed.
Honestly... their not as big of a rub as The Rock.
Really?
First of all Triple H never reached the level Rock did, while he's a big name, it's like comparing the rub you'd get from Lex Luger to the one you'd get from Hulk Hogan.
Right because his return in 2002 in Madison Square Garden didn't spark an electric pop from the crowd? Because DX was never popular. Because Evolution wasn't a success.
Triple H is as big of a star as any of the guys in WWE history. Going over him
The only rub you could get from The Undertaker that would be anywhere near The Rock is beating Taker at WrestleMania... which will never happen.
Beating the Undertaker, period, is a giant rub. Look at the stars who've beaten Taker and come out on top. Are you going to tell me that Lesnar beating Taker in a Hell in a Cell match DIDN'T make him a bigger threat? Are you going to tell me that Khali's debut didn't make him look badass when he mopped the floor with Taker? Are you going to honestly tell me that Edge didn't benefit from beating Taker in countless world title matches? If you honestly believe that, then I have no further reason not to debate with you.
And Booker T is kind of washed up... beating Booker at this point is the same level as beating Jerry Lawler.
Right because Miz didn't benefit from his feud with Lawler at all, did he? He didn't get more hated as a heel, did he? The Atlanta crowd wasn't pissed when Cole was decided as the winner at Mania, were they? Cody Rhodes didn't just sky rocket in the eyes of WWE by feuding with Booker, did he? I rest my case here.
I don't believe he's actually going to stay around, nor does he have to. That's great you feel like you've gotten your moneys worth. The point of bringing in The Rock is not to satisfy you, it's to bring in people who otherwise wouldn't look twice at a WWE event.
CM Punk has proven that any star in the WWE can bring in other people. Hell, Stone Cold even proved that when he ushered in the Attitude Era that created The Rock. Samoa Joe proved that in TNA when he went off on Scott Hall years ago.
Here, I'll take your ratings logic and use it here.
Raw was still in the 3.5s when The Rock came back. CM Punk went off one time, and the ratings for the next week spiked instantly, and stayed that way for most of the summer in 2011. You tell me, who helped WWE the most in that situation.
Uh yeah, you knew that was happening. 