I am a fan of both guys, but honestly, The Rock would win this one. John Cena has been a big star for a longer period of time, but Rock became a BIGGER star in a SHORTER amount of time. No one has ever achieved so much in so little time as The Rock. In just two or three years' time, Rock cemented himself as one of the greatest of all time. No one could say that The Rock is not at least in the Top 5 of all time in terms of overall success, and many would argue he is in the Top 3, right behind Austin and Hogan. I am so sick of reading all of the time on these forums that "Rock is nothing without Steve Austin," blah blah blah. Yeah, Stone Cold was the main guy responsible for saving the WWF in the late 1990s, but guess what? You guys act like Austin was the only thing keeping the WWF afloat, and if that was true, then his absence in 2000 would mean that the WWF would start to sink without him,m but guess what? The Rock swooped in, took over, and gave the WWF its best financial year ever up to that point.
Which he did while riding the success that Austin built for him.
Do you think Rock could have reached those heights without Austin? I sure don't. Because the WWF would still have been on death's doorstep.
Drawing Power Sure, John Cena is the biggest draw the WWE has had for a few years now, but even if that is true, Cena is not able to draw even half of the ratings that The Rock was drawing weekly. Someone mentioned it earlier above me, but The Rock was apart of the highest rated segment in WWE/F history (and guess what? IT didn't involve Stone Cold either). Rock was also apart of an era where nearly every RAW he went to was sold out, where as these days some PPVs don't even sell out.
Ratings are one thing, but to say they're a raw indication of Rock's drawing power is misleading when, as I said earlier, he rode the momentum that Austin built for his supporting cast. Cena, despite faltering ratings and attendance, brought WWE its best financial year ever as the top dog AFTER business had died. Cena brought the WWE to new heights without Steve Austin's momentum to ride. That, in my opinion, is the greater accomplishment. And if you're going to pretend Rock's great financial year is a big deal, you have to concede that Cena's is a bigger deal.
Accomplishments Some people have given the edge to Cena in this category, and its hard for me to argue that. The only thing I could say is that The Rock was apart of the Attitude Era, in which Titles switched hands way more often that they did in 2006-2007, when Cena held the Belt for a year on RAW, and Randy Orton held it for 7 months after that. After Orton, in 2008, Triple H held the Belt for nearly 8 months. Clearly, during this time, people held the Belt for much longer.
Liar. On SmackDown when Cena was the man, the belt was going from Rey to Booker to Dave to Taker to Edge to Khali and so-on while Cena dominated the scene. While Triple H had that lengthy reign, the other belt went from Taker to nobody holding it to Edge to Punk to Jericho to Batista than back to Jericho and eventually to Cena.
The fact is, belts jumping from person to person was just as fashionable as it was in the late 90s. But a few men were able to stand above the rest and be real champions. Cena was the realest.
I will also point out that since Cena's year-long reign, he has had a few reigns that lasted only 3 weeks, and the longest he's held the Belt since the year-reign is 3 months.
Until Rock has a reign like Cena's longest, this doesn't matter. At all.
Also I will point out, again, the drawing power is during all of Cena's reigns, not a single one of them drew the kind of ratings The Rock drew as the Champion or the challenger.
Yet Cena's put more money in Vince McMahon's pocket than Rock ever did. Funny how that works out.
Consider also that Rock was apart of the bloodthirsty Attitude Era, which was a much more violent and weapons-oriented time period than John Cena is used to.
Oh, good. Another person who didn't actually read the thread.
Hell, in nearly any given Rock match you could expect at least one table or chair spot in the match. Even if Cena has wrestled for a longer time than The Rock, I believe Rock has much more gimmick match experience.
Add up Cena's I Quit matches, his Last Man Standing matches, his Street Fights, his Parking Lot Brawls, his cage matches, his HIAC matches, his Elimination Chamber matches, his First Blood matches, and other general multi-man matches where there were no rules. While you do that, I'll be laughing at how ass-hatted your beliefs are.
Think about this: during some of Mankind's best years, in the late 90s, Rock beat him several times for the WWF Title, in SEVERAL matches that included tables, ladders, and chairs. Foley is the hardcore legend, and Rock beat him plenty of times. In fact, Rock even beat Mankind in a LADDER match.
Cena's also picked up a decisive win over Foley in a match with no rules. Fact is, everyone's taken three seconds worth of a ride on Mick Foley.
Meanwhile, John Cena lost a TABLES match to a ROOKIE named Sheamus.
In undecisive fashion. Rock won't be able to pin Cena after such a move.
Hmmm....also you might ask some of Rock's rivals, such as Shamrock, Steve Austin, Triple H, and especially Mankind what Rock is able to do with a CHAIR.
Do I also get to ask Steve Austin how Rock's big win over him was in his first real match in months where he had tonnes of ring rust to work through?
Do I get to ask Hunter how Rock's big win over him was in a clusterfuck of a match where he had help?
Do I get to ask Foley to explain to you how Cena's beaten him?
Kayfabe: Who was better? Its obvious that Cena has beaten the nest of his era, and The Rock has beaten the best of his era.
He beat Steve Austin at his peak? Without help?
I must have missed Raw that week.
Cena's victims include: Triple H & HBK (both of which, out of prime),
Shawn was still knocking people off like he was the champ and Triple H had Hogan-like protection. Far superior to the Hunter that Rock beat years earlier from a kayfabe perspective.
Orton, Batista, Edge, Big Show, JBL.
And Jericho (in his kayfabe peak, which Rock didn't), and Angle (in his kayfabe peak, which Rock didn't), and Benoit (clean in five minutes), and CM Punk, and Jack Swagger, and the damn near undefeatable trio of Lashley/Umaga/Khali (while Rock couldn't beat an over the hill Goldberg, showing Cena has more success against undefeatable and near-undefeatable monsters than Rock), and the ever hardcore Sabu, and Mick Foley, and on and on. You also fail to mention that Dave is the most dominant wrestler of the last five years and more dominant at his peak than Rock was. Or that Cena's one of two men with clean wins over Dave in the last five years.
Among Rock's victims are Steve Austin,
Austin's only real match in 2003. Can you say ring rust? I can.
Undertaker (whom Cena has never beaten),
Cena's never lost in his peak to Taker.
Everyone's beaten him.
Triple H (in his prime, IMO),
No his kayfabe prime.
Cena defeated a much more season Benoit with more main event experience in a more decisive fashion than Rock ever did.
Rock needed a clusterfuck to get his belt back from young Angle. Cena beat Angle in his peak cleaner than Rock ever did.
Jericho's kayfabe peak came when he won his titles in 2008, after his feud with HBK.
Cena beat him.
And beat him again.
And again.
Losing to Cena is Jericho's favorite passtime.
Also on Rock's list are Flair and Hogan, and yes I realize neither of them were in their prime during their defeats, but it was STILL Flair and Hogan, who even out of their prime have to be considered a major threat (2002 in both cases).
Flair wasn't a threat though. He wasn't beating anyone major at that time and was rusty as shit. This is also pretty weak if you think DX wasn't in their prime when Cena beat them. At least DX was still getting prime booking when Cena beat them.
Get a clue.
Hogan also won the World Title from Triple fucking H a month AFTER The Rock beat Hogan, so it has to count for something.
When Hogan needed help to beat Triple H and was suffering from ring rust when he took Rock on, not really.
Basically, Cena's list is damn impressive, but Rock's list just crushes it, in my opinion.
Yes, when you give us a quarter of Cena's list while not acknowledging how consistently he's beaten everyone's ass for years and then go on to pretend Rock is a clean win machine who beat everyone who ever worked with him in their prime and is more hardcore than Cena is and that his wins over Hogan and Flair matter... Rock sure does sound good after all of that.
But when you look at facts, Cena's in a league Rock will never be good enough to touch.
VOTE CENA.