Dwayne Johnson VS The Rock

[One to Remember]

That's what The Rock does. What did you want him to say? "Booker T., we finally meet face to face!" No. Besides, all due respect to Booker, it's still Booker. Rock wouldn't say "Who in the blue hell are YOU?" to STING of all people. Come on now. Also, around that time, Austin was in the Alliance so Booker wasn't exactly the top guy in the opposing faction anymore.

What in the hell are you talking about? He would had said that to anyone because that is the attitude his persona produced. Book has been a top name in WCW since 2000 but he was already prominent as a tag team legend on par with a Road Warrior or a Steiner or a Midnight Rocker..
He would had said it to Sting, he would had belittled Flair, made a bottoms up gesture at Scott Hall, and so on.

The Rock didn't change, he just evolved IMO. This is due partly to the whole PG Era having an effect on him. I don't get people complaining about Rock and his shtick. This what The Rock does. He uses catchphrases. Just because he doesn't have sideburns, wear sunglasses and refer to himself in the third person anymore doesn't mean he's not the same guy. He's just evolved. I never understood that.

I don't

Okay, there are different levels in evolution and they can only be so close before they became separate. The Rock right after the NOD Rock was way different due to his attitude, not the words he used. The sideburns were a '90s thing but they are a sign of rebellion too when everyone is pressured to lose them. Wearing sunglasses at night and not showing your eyes to people who need to see them is rogue and out of order outright. There is a difference between cocky and smug. Full of it and confident. The old Rock was not under the jurisdiction of the fanbase be him good or bad. In his evolved form he actually acknowledges the audience.. The old Rock was above them.

People just find reasons to shit on The Rock because he "got out" unlike certain wrestlers who are still on TV to this day. He became successful in a profession other than wrestling and it annoys people. In fact, I remember in 2003, he said this very thing in a promo. Not exactly quoted, but he said when you go on and become successful, the people will turn on you and it was becoming apparent.

Your confusing envy with ruffled feathers. It was worthy of a hostile response when Johnson behaved above wrestler or embarrassed of it. It was juvenile and hypocritical because he wasn't too embarrassed to cash his WWF checks at a bank. He also got a hostile response because he eased out a bit too quick. They felt disrespected because he changed his showbiz name even though his WWF persona would inspire the roles he was even considered for.

At the end of the day, WWE needs The Rock more than Rock needs WWE. Rock is climbing the ranks at Hollywood with his movies, starring in multiple of them, and still has the time to make appearances. If he didn't care, you wouldn't have heard a peep from him in the 7 years he was gone. He still was able to treat the fans to some good old Rock when he had the chance. His mainstream appeal and nostalgia factor come into play. Why else did WrestleMania do 1 Million buys last year? Even as an A Lister these days, and his loaded filming schedule, he still finds the time to entertain the people, and give guys like Punk the rub.

WWE doesn't need the Rock like WCW didn't need the NWO in 2000, ECW couldn't be saved by Snuka in 2001 and Verne Gagne did the AWA no favors by having title reigns past '75..
WWE likes to utilize crutches out of paranoia. We have not seen what happens when Vince McMahon lets things play out w/o reaching for a trump card in fear. Its speculation.
He might make returns to not look like he switched up.. People in all arenas don't like people who do that. He may be doing it as a nod to his family.
It might be free advertising for him or it might be a means to get WWE fans to embrace a project already coming down the pipeline..

Austin went Hollywood and he hasn't come back! Arguably you could say he turned his back on WWE. We the fans clamor for one more match! We tweet. We hit the internet blog, no response! Austin doesn't even show up on the Raw's for the big specials. No appearances. Makes weak injury excuses, my knees, an accident, my back, my neck, and YOU still clamor for him. Don't get me wrong I like SCA, but WWE made him. And he is barely a B list actor, and you can't show up on RAW??

You sound like some middle school girl that got stood up at the prom..
Austin's issues are either with WWE or McMahon depending on how you look at it. Because he had an issue with WWF storylines doesnt mean he declared war on wrestling. Quit taking his gripes out of context on purpose. If he is an old skool guy or an Attitude Era guy and WWE represents neither of those to him he can pull a Bruno and just not recognize what's current. If Paul E. was running a re established ECW based on the old one Austin would show his face there.. If the Governor of Texas made some speech about the Sportatorium Austin would be there. Austin has WWE issues, not wrestling issues.

You have no point about him being a B actor because you don't know if hes destitute, if he values money at all, or a media ****e. He isn't a Kardashian, he can decline tv time.. As far as your remarks about the Rock making bank, how do you know after he makes 15 million that 14.5 million goes into a retirement account? You don't.. Plenty of celebs who make more then him have wound up with less then you.. He may just be able to maintain his life style, we don't know what he keeps at the end of the day.

Now for my own 2 cents: I get the feeling that the only reason why people online claim that his segments are boring now are because they're comparing his good days (now) to his "great days" (back then). Even at his worst, he's still far better at verbal delivery than CM Punk or even John Cena. If I can give an example of hypocrisy, Punk's rants and speeches since his kayfabe-breaking character retooling have been far less entertaining that any of The Rock's speeches since then. He's also failed to garner any consistent loud support/anger from the audience until he starting feuding with the Rock. And even then, Heyman was getting the bulk of the consistent responses. So if we're going to be just as harsh on others as much as The Rock, then I should see far more complaints about someone like CM Punk rather than nothing but focusing on his in-ring prowess.

Well yea because they are two different Rocks with two different attitudes, and two different sets of rules to adhere to. CM Punk isn't supposed to be the king of microphones. His kayfabe critiquing is for a certain variety of fan and is also meant to garner interest by delusional fans. The point of his speech isn't to get a pop but to clarify his stances. Its to explain his actions and then make you sympathetic enough to back his actions. He wasn't getting a crowd response because it wasn't clear if his criticisms make him a heel or just a face with gripes. Heyman is always heel, as the manager of monsters or the ECW guy in the WWE Universe..

I think is his current run he is severely held back by the PG era and not only that he's held back by Vince and the writers. You can't seriously tell me the original Rock wouldn't have absolutely layed the verbal smackdown on John Cena? Sure he's given out some decent lines but it all seems to be about protecting Cena especially last year. I feel the Rock is being held back from doing what he can do and what he would have done back in the day.

Yeah because in addition to the Rock being good at it John Cena is a funny character. How do you expect a character like John Cena to hold his own against a former member of the Nation of Domination? Any member of the NOD..? The writers and PG rules are an issue because its not what the Rock does, its the fact that he does it because he feels like it. The Rock's appeal wasn't being a bad ass it was him answering to no rules or jurisdiction which by default made him bad ass..

I read an article a while back which was completely true, one of the reasons some of you (not me) are finding him boring now is because you've grown up. Its that simple for me.

That makes no sense because when we were introduced to him we weren't grown up. Maybe he grew down after we grew up.. We were even younger when he was Rocky Maivia and WWF was more PG yet we didn't like him then..

Dwayne Johnson is a great guy, sure he has an ego but I'm genuinely surprised so many seem to dislike him. He's worked his ass off for everything he's done in his life, he should be an inspiration. People really need to get over the fact he's not a wrestler any more. Its a minority mind you, most of us and the fans that actually go to events still enjoy what he's doing.

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Yeah but if thats your logic explain why a wrestling fan needs to except a former wrestler has the holder of wrestling's top title? He is a caricature of himself and the question you all need to ask is how would today's Rock handle an attack from the Rock of '99? If he can't hold his own against an earlier form then thts a case in point, you can't just dismiss that problem by sayin "oh well, I am still me so he can't defeat me because we are we.." Where are his sideburns? Why can't his money be used at the same hair clinic Chavo lucked out at and why is his guitar playing as bad as it was 12 years ago? The guitar is a good point, he doesn't play at all, he was just doing a caricature of a '90s performance to get a cheap nostalgia point.