Is Stone Cold now stuck in The Rocks shadow?

[xXSlater420Xx]

Simply put it seems that Austin has been getting lost in the shuffle so to speak. Any time that The Rock has any involvement with the WWE everyone goes nuts. He steps in the arena and instantly has everyone in the palm of his hand. Like it or not Rock is an accomplished actor, Austin not so much. When Rock came back his crowd reaction was considerably better, Austins was good but once again fell short of The Rocks.

Why could this be? Maybe because Rock is more likely to come back and have a few more matches, or even come back full time (as unlikely as that is). Where as Austin only has a few more matches at best left in him if he wants to continue to live a normal life.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Long Island Iced D]

I dont see it. I think Austin got better pops at WM and a good reaction on RAW. Austin has been doing his thing for TE while Rock has his feud with Cena.

 

[radec]

well rock has the better slot and fued, stone cold dosent even have a grudge with any1 and just comes out to talk about TE so people wont have the same intrest in him than they do with the rock even if he had a bigger name in the past. Its all the 1 with the better hype and position and thats the rock.

 

[The Mighty Tiger]

Simply put it seems that Austin has been getting lost in the shuffle so to speak. Any time that The Rock has any involvement with the WWE everyone goes nuts. He steps in the arena and instantly has everyone in the palm of his hand. Like it or not Rock is an accomplished actor, Austin not so much. When Rock came back his crowd reaction was considerably better, Austins was good but once again fell short of The Rocks.

Why could this be? Maybe because Rock is more likely to come back and have a few more matches, or even come back full time (as unlikely as that is). Where as Austin only has a few more matches at best left in him if he wants to continue to live a normal life.

What are your thoughts?

It may seem like that when you are on the outside looking in so to speak but in the end Austin isn't in The Rock's shadow. The thing is, Rock has just been gone for so long it is just a big deal that he his back, Austin on the other hand has been popping up here & there throughout the years so it is a big deal when he comes back to it's just that noone ever thought Austin wouldn't come back like they did w/Rock. I do believe that everyone knowing that Austin is done for good in the ring also plays a part in it. Everyone knows Rock has a few more matches in him so this could also be the reason for the excitement but when its all said & done my personal opinion stills stands like this Rock & Austin are completely equal as for as who is the greatest of all time is. To me this is the only time where two ppl have two share that title.

 

[theshawn]

I think Stone Cold is beyond the Rock in this business. The people pop for the Rock and everything and he's amazing on the mic, gives the best promos any week he's there, but honestly, if Stone Cold didn't have so many piled up injuries, I think he would still be out there busting his ass while the Rock was happy to walk away to Hollywood. I don't question that the Rock loves this business, but I think Stone Cold has just more passion for it. I'm also not trying to say that the Rock sold out or anything or turned his back on the fans. He made the right choice for him, so don't lob me in with those who think he did otherwise.

 

[doorag]

Austin's over. He's been for years. Rock has had second best to Austin and will continue to do so. Stone Cold was just too popular. Rock has always been second best. Austin popped first and was HUGE while Rock was still fueding with Ken Shamrock, trying to get over. "And that's the Bottom Line, Because Stone Cold Said So..." I'm glad to see The Rock coming back and not completely burying his past with the WWE. It speaks volumes about his character.

 

[Azogan v.2.0]

Great question which i think deserves a simple answer

Rock left to makes movies and be in Holywood
Austin left because his neck forced him out

Why do I bring this up...

Because of what happened tonight, Rock CAN still wrestle, and people KNOW that he can easily get back in the ring and "electrify" like no other, Austin could do the same, but you'd be thinking in the back of your mind with every bump Austin takes "i hope he's okay"

Dats the answer in a nutshell to your question, rock left by choice austin didnt, after all these years we rooted for the rock to comeback while we knew austin couldn't. Not to say austin is not a bigger star then the rock because i truely believe in the attitude era there was NO ONE BIGGER THAN STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN but Rock is clearly repersenting the attitude era because scsa physically cant.

Rock vs. Cena is awesome, but id take a healthy SCSA vs. Cena over that match anyday!

 

[Decarow]

Stone Cold still gets crazy ass pops. They are just going apeshit for the Rock because he shows up once every 7 years while SCSA is in and out.

Austin's biggest problem is his injuries. He would be able to do more for the fans if he wasn't at that stage in his career with all his injuries. I still respect Austin for than Rock.

 

[sTyLnK]

Stone Cold still gets crazy ass pops. They are just going apeshit for the Rock because he shows up once every 7 years while SCSA is in and out.

Austin's biggest problem is his injuries. He would be able to do more for the fans if he wasn't at that stage in his career with all his injuries. I still respect Austin for than Rock.

Austin is 100% healthy and that includes his neck. He could wrestle if he wanted to but he knows he's very lucky to even be 100% again after what happened. The only draw back if he wrestled again would be his age. He hasn't wrestled in a long time and he's not as quick. I don't think he'd be capable of pulling off a great match anymore. The guy is almost 47 years old and I don't think many people realize this.

 

[iwinulose]

-i dont know, when stone cold the reaction was equal or greater then that of the rock. the rock is gonna feud with cena.....in one year X_X, but at least he is gonna do something. stone cold could have some more matches in him, but he would need to hit the gym, and get back into shape cause he is out of shape, look at his arms, look at his biceps, triceps, etc, they are smaller now, he used to be a lil more muscular.
-the bottom line is, the rock is def going to do some more, (hopefully more than just 1 feud with cena), while if stone cold was to get into shape he could do some more matchs without as much of a risk of injury (though he did say something to triple hhh which suggests he will wrestle 1 more match).

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I think that at this moment Rock is a bigger star than Stone Cold and that is due to a number of reasons. Stone Cold has gotten old and even if his neck has fully recovered, I don't think he wants to wrestle at this point. Stone Cold also comes along quite a lot unlike The Rock who has made a return after 7 years. Rock also made it clear today that he would wrestle one more match.

All things combined I would say that Stone Cold is presently a bit inferior to Rocky but it must also be noted that he does not want to really push it and be that big star anymore. If he wanted to wrestle Vince would have jumped at the proposition regardless of Austin's health and age. But he does not want to do that because he is content with what he is doing.

The biggest thing, though, is that Rocky has come back after a long time. That itself guarantees that whatever he does will be recieved better than what Austin does.

But the fact remains that when they were wrestling, Austin was the bigger star most of the time and when you look back that is all that matters. It is Austin who will be remembered as the man who took WWF to promised land and not Rock.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

Austin was the man that WWE went with to carry the company. The Rock could have done it but they saw they had something great with Austin. He was huge as the anti hero, the man who rebelled against authority. Rock put him over three times at WM because it was good for business. I think if we were compare the two, The Rock would be second in terms of impact, I think it would be pretty close if we were to look at merchandise sale,ppv buyrates etc.

Now I wouldn't say that Austin is in the Rock's shadow. I would say that they have taken different paths. The Rock has used his popularity to transition to a film career, while Austin has had nagging injuries end his run and is now hosting Tough Enough. He's been around a lot more than the Rock has and is focused on Wrestling with the occasional film projects. So when some one is gone for as long as Rock is, when he returns it becomes a big deal. I mean when Booker returned the crowd went nuts it doesn't mean he's casting a shadow over any one.

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

Honestly, yes, it's a bit stale.

The Rock cuts promos and as a bonus, has been getting involved physically. Now we know he's going to headline (and lose at) Wrestlemania. So we know he's got another match coming.

With Austin (before his segment tonight) he would come back, stand in the ring, stun someone, drink beer, leave. Over and over and over. It was fine in 1998 because he was cutting promos and wrestling. Now that's all he does. Sometimes when he comes back he doesn't even talk. How much of that can really be interesting? Though after tonight, I'll bet people will be wondering if he'll step back into the ring as well...

 

[SIN HUEVOS]

Austin's character has always been inferior to The Rocks. Austin was popular because of a gimmick that was given to him along with McMahon selling the Austin character. He's very 1 dimensional and its clear his act is very dated which is why people dont pop for him. There's a reason he tried to be a Hollywood star and is now back to working for McMahon on tough enough.


The Rock got by on his mic skills alone and took over Austin as the biggest star in 1999 and there are awards given out by professional wrestling websites that show this.

Austin was overtaken by the Rock as soon as the Rock got hot. The only way the Rock faded was by walking away himself.

If you look at who the WWE chose to wrestle their greatest icon of all time at WM18, it was THE ROCK, NOT AUSTIN. (Austin wrestled Scott Hall here so he was perfectly capable of wrestling).

If you look at who the WWE is choosing to wrestle their greatest wrestler now at WM28, again its THE ROCK, not Austin. (Austin will probably be a special guest time enforcer for a divas match where he does the usual stun+beer routine after the match)

Even when Austin "took his ball and went home" who did the WWE bring back to make the crowd forget about Austin? Thats right.

Dont live in denial. The Rock is above Austin easily.

 

[berlinbrawler]

I think everything is the way it should be and I doubt Steve Austin has a problem with it.

Austin may have been the bigger wrestling star in total (not by that wide a margin, though) but in terms of overall international media Rocky has surpassed him and left him far behind a long time ago. These days Rocky is unquestionably the bigger star.
Austin knows this and I would say that if anything, he is happy for the Rock. So if he is presented on TV as a big star, whereas Rocky is presented as a mega star, he would probably agree that it's smart business.

 

[The Champ]

The simple fact of the matter is that Rock cares a lot more than Austin does at this point. Austin is perfectly content coming in, stunning a few people, drinking a few beers, and then leaving, and not getting involved in any major feuds. Rock is main eventing next year's WrestleMania, and was heavily involved in the main event of this year's. That's a huge difference. Austin is also extremely unlikely to ever wrestle again, and is mainly around to promote Tough Enough, as opposed to being as actively involved with the product as The Rock has been. Also note that he only showed up once in the buildup to WrestleMania, whereas Rock showed up twice live and cut two promos via satellite. It's just a different situation. If Austin wanted to be more actively involved, he would be. He doesn't, though.

 

[xcoN]

Nah I don't think Austin is stuck in his shadow at all. Austin doesn't and really can't wrestle anymore due to his bad neck and bad knee. Instead they gave him a show that he can host. Now the Rock is able to wrestle still so why give a show to him when he can perform? Each guy has something so I don't think anyone is just pushed away.

 

[The Champ]

Austin is also absolutely excellent in the Tough Enough role. He really is the toughest SOB in the business, and he's not easy on the contestants at all, nor does he show any kind of pity for them at any time. In a show about being tough and sucking it up to achieve your dreams, those are exactly the kinds of qualities you want in your host. Plus, some of his harshest comments had me rolling last night, he's just hilarious.

 

[Jenna.]

Neh. Like most said Austin is doing the whole Tough Enough thing and probably prefers to keep the low key vibe with him. On top of that Austin made a lot more apperances throughout the years than The Rock did so when Rocky returned people went nuts.

But let's not get it twisted. The Rock wasn't "second" to Austin. Maybe coming up and while he was with The Corporation...Stone Cold looked like a GOD. But even as a heel The Rock PUSHED his way to the top and had people reciting his catchphrases even as a heel. Once he became The People's Champ,there was no 1 and 2 with them. It was more like 1A 1B. They got the same pops and the crowd was always overwhelming filled with Rock or Austin shirts, foam, posters, etc.

 

[quink987]

everyone needs to realise if rock came back every year like Austin has and cut a few promos and rock bottomed someone now and then do you really think people would be going crazy like this.............really? the fact of the matter is through out the last 7 years on these forumz people have always said who is the greatest superstar ever in the WWE and 98% of the time its always been between Hogan and Austin not Rock,

dont get me wrong I think the Rock is out of this world but there's no way he is bigger then Austin in the Wrestling Buisness the only reason people are debating this is because he has been away for 7 years if Austin had been away this long people would be saying how Austin is the greatest of all time but because he has had injurys and could wrestle full time he has only been able to appeared once a year which keeps Austin on the scence and we all know Austin will always be here but with the Rock we dont know that and now its all fresh again its a blast from the past!!!

and think about it Everyone was praying for Hogan vs Austin at Wrestlemania for how meny years and then when Cena was going through his Rapper gangsta phase who did people want him to face it was'nt Rock it was Austin.
and before Cena publicly started calling Rock a sellout on radio shows and chat shows people was talking about the biggest star from the Atittiude Era Stone Cold Steve Austin vs the current biggest star John Cena and how meny other current and past wrestlers said that Austin is the biggest star ever in the wrestling buisness and that he has surpassed Hogan

so for me yes The Rock is bigger then Austin in Hollywood but when it comes down to the wrestling buisness its Austin all the way, and plus at WM18 there was 2 dream matches Hogan/Rock and Hall/Austin me personnel wanted to see Austin/Hogan more then Rock/Hogan but to have the bad guy Scott Hall vs the new bad guy Steve Austin was still pretty cool

 

[tyler.durden]

Stone Cold was always "around" while the Rock clearly was gone from the WWE for the longest time. But I'd say the pop for the Rock is gonna die down now that the "unexpected" factor is gone... And he'll probably not be around until January 2012.

 

[BK Styles]

Yes, in a way. But you have to remember that Austin keeps coming back to WWE for different things. Rock hasn't been back in person since about 04/05, so it's more special seeing Rock than it is Austin. As a result, his reaction was always going to be bigger.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

SCSA quit wrestling but never really left WWE. We have seen him on RAW numerous times since he stopped wrestling and we've seen him on other PPVs as guest ref and what not so while many fans (including myself) love SCSA, when we see him, it's not as big of a deal as when we see The Rock who has been gone and had minimal contact with WWE (for over 7 years) until now.

Both guys are way over and legends and both will forever get enormous pops.

The more The Rock sticks around, the less of a "big deal" it will be when he shows up.

 

[rge2010]

Austin was always more popular,Austin always sold more merchandise and Austin had the better career but I feel WWE have always seen The Rock as the bigger star - which he is.

The Rock is better known than Austin outside the Wrestling world and has been since aboiut 2001. When Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Hogan had their first big matches upon entering/returning to WWE who did WWE put him them up against. The Rock. Granted Goldberg entered just after Austin retired but WWE could of easily worked around this. It was the night after wasn't it???

Fact is, storylines apart, who have the ICW and Wrestling fans in general wanted to see John Cena fight? The Rock. The fact is The Rock vs John Cena is MUCH bigger than John Cena vs Steve Austin would ever be.

 

[Reddog1146]

I think the rock got a better reaction because he is in a feud while stone cold is just making guest appearences and only has a long shot chance of a feud with the miz that would not go very far.