D1 - AJ Styles & Hulk Hogan versus The Rock & Bruno Sammartino

[Dave]

Day 1 of the inaugral WrestleZone International Cup begins with tag team matches that pit Team U.S.A against Team R.O.W in randomly assigned matches. Who will gain the early advantage in the Cup and who will let their team down? Let the debate begin!

Boards are open for 1 day for discussion and then polling will begin in 24 hours. Polling lasts for 48 hours afterwards. The winning team gets the point. In the event of a draw, teams will half a point each.

 

[Dave]

This is a tough one for me but in the end I had to go with Bruno and The Rock.

Realistically, AJ Styles is the weakness in the match. And although he has been one of my favourites for many years, he's just not on the level of The Rock, Hogan and Bruno yet. When everything is said and done, he'll be in the conversation and rightly so.

But a match like this can only be judged on reputation and for that reason, I'm giving it to the Rest of the World team.

 

[Bernkastel]

Poor, poor AJ Styles. He's so far out of his league in this match. The Hulkster is a massive force to be reckoned with, but even he can't stand against two of wrestlings all time greats all by himself. Because let's face it... Bruno would demolish Styles with practically no effort at all. Rock might have to exert some effort, but not enough to be seriously gassed. Rock beat Hogan one on one when the chips were down, and Bruno in his prime was peerless. So with AJ dispatched, having been killed somewhere on the outside after attempting some flippy move that backfired on him, the Rock/Bruno dream team take turns wailing on the Immortal One until Hogan can't go any further, finally succumbing to a barrage of Rock Bottom's and Bruno's punishing bear hug.

Team Rest of World take it.

 

[Slyfox696]

So we have the greatest professional wrestler in history teaming with one of the greatest in-ring workers of all time vs. a regional draw and a guy who played second fiddle to Steve Austin.

Seriously? Hulk Hogan is the greatest of all time. There's no way Bruno or Rock would go over Hogan in the mid 80s. Not a chance. Hulk Hogan was busy taking Bruno's regional promotion to a national and even worldwide audience. Rock was #2 behind Austin.

So then that brings us to AJ Styles, the perceived weak link in the match. But in a match like this, with Styles in his prime (as he is right now), he's not a weak link. Not by a long shot. Styles has been a top worker in every promotion he's been in for over a decade now and since coming to the WWE a couple years ago, he's shown he's every bit as great as anyone in the world. He even showed himself to be every bit the worker as John Cena, the greatest professional wrestler of the last 15 years and arguably one of the top 3 all-time.

AJ Styles is not a weak link and he provides the proper balance to Hogan's power in this match. Hogan is the greatest of all time and there's no way a regional draw and a #2 worker can stand against a team of Hogan and Styles.

Hogan and Styles win this and shame on everyone who has voted otherwise thus far.

 

[Bernkastel]

So we have the greatest professional wrestler in history teaming with one of the greatest in-ring workers of all time vs. a regional draw and a guy who played second fiddle to Steve Austin.

Bruno was a regional draw? What a dishonest argument. Bruno had sellouts all over the United States and Canada when he wasn't champion. And Japan, Puerto Rico, and Australia while he was champion. The NWA wanted Bruno to be their champion. That should tell you everything about his appeal.

Rock was #2 behind Austin in 1998/1999 but became the WWE's #1 in 2000 after breaking Austin's record as a box office draw, and bringing weekly ratings to their peak during the Attitude era.

Seriously? Hulk Hogan is the greatest of all time. There's no way Bruno or Rock would go over Hogan in the mid 80s. Not a chance. Hulk Hogan was busy taking Bruno's regional promotion to a national and even worldwide audience. Rock was #2 behind Austin.

And yet Vince brought a 50 year old Bruno back for a third run during the 80's to boost the companies numbers because the Hulkster couldn't draw the crowds in New York, Boston, or Philly like Bruno could.

So then that brings us to AJ Styles, the perceived weak link in the match. But in a match like this, with Styles in his prime (as he is right now), he's not a weak link. Not by a long shot.

Styles would be no match for either a prime Bruno or a prime Rock.

Styles has been a top worker in every promotion he's been in for over a decade now and since coming to the WWE a couple years ago, he's shown he's every bit as great as anyone in the world. He even showed himself to be every bit the worker as John Cena, the greatest professional wrestler of the last 15 years and arguably one of the top 3 all-time.

And he drew none of the money that the other three did.

AJ Styles is not a weak link and he provides the proper balance to Hogan's power in this match. Hogan is the greatest of all time and there's no way a regional draw and a #2 worker can stand against a team of Hogan and Styles.

And Rock doesn't provide any balance to Bruno how exactly? Rock beat Hogan one on one. Bruno had no equal. I fail to see how someone that relies primarily on high risk offense would not end up a liability to his partner against 2 men that wrestled safe in comparison. Styles would be far more likely to make a mistake than Rock or Bruno. And as strong as Hogan was, he was no match for Bruno's strength. Bruno would have picked him apart.