Legacy Comparison: The Rock vs Steve Austin

[RJJ]

"using merchandise as a reason"

if anyone using merchandise as a reason for austin or rock, please give me the figure and the numbers, shopzone only show hot list could be MEAN ANYTHING just like TOP WWEs" Top 50 Greatest Superstars DVD which people have disagree with..

Austin is the guy who was needed to be main event where people to see him week after week kicking vince ass, Austin not only became megastar of WWF he was the man of wrestling industry. Austin need the surgery so you just took him off where people pay to see him and replace rock right away? its a huge business risk where you take away megastar people spend their money to see him every monday night without proper storylines-builtup-put over your replacement...
in wrestling business is not about talents but is all about drawing power and how much you able to make for promoters. look at Goldberg, people consider he's overrated and no wrestling skills but he one of top drawer for wcw and sell merchandise. one Spear of Goldberg the crowd went crazy..compare cena or HHH will always below goldberg for making money for promoters.


-Austin was supposed to go down as the 1st 7times wwe champion, he refused to job to a rookie, rock took advantage and gave us the greatest triple threat of all time(even though rock was the top guy).

you talking about brock lesnar? you have one of biggest face of wrestling industry who save wwe just go out there lose 1 match to new guy without built up-angle-storyline? Austin said he should be the last guy to face brock have a PPV match which will put brock over. Rock-taker-Kurt put brock over and what he do? brock piss off to football. so many bias rock fans...

"Also, Steve Austin in a way is why The Rock is popular today. Had Austin's character not taken off, The Rock never would have been born. The fans got a glimpse of a legendary gimmick/performer such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and they expected it from the rest of the roster. Rocky Maivia wasn't going to cut it, "Die Rocky, Die!" The fans absolutely hated him. When he came back as The Rock, he had that edgy gimmick, he took off. He owes a lot to Stone Cold, ironically."

i agree with that statement and good statement, without Austin there's no rock. Austin put over rock and elevate him to became megastar in 2 fued(1 for IC title and WM15). Austin originally was heel and the more Austin doing heel acts the more fans cheering for him. at WM13 they have double turn Bret became heel and Austin became face. we can close this thread with that Statement...Without Austin, rock will not have great legacy as today. JR-Lawyer-Foley said on Legend of wrestling that Austin Elevate Rock and rock elevate HHH.

"around 2000 the fans got bored of HHH vs Rock anyway, i still remember on chat room and forums the fans starting to get sick and tired of HHH vs Rock. "

hmm I thought that year had the highest ratings of the attitude era, which is supposed to be austin's era. I'm wonder why that year was that successful, I mean the company was better without its top star(austin). hmmm there must be a guy that is as good as austin...

"you talking about brock lesnar? you have one of biggest face of wrestling industry who save wwe just go out there lose 1 match to new guy without built up-angle-storyline? Austin said he should be the last guy to face brock have a PPV match which will put brock over. Rock-taker-Kurt put brock over and what he do? brock piss off to football. so many bias rock fans..."

Well If you really love the business you'll do what the boss tells you to do. Do actully think that guys like HHH and Y2J are pleased with getting thier asses kicked by cena week in and week out?

"Also, Steve Austin in a way is why The Rock is popular today. Had Austin's character not taken off, The Rock never would have been born. The fans got a glimpse of a legendary gimmick/performer such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and they expected it from the rest of the roster. Rocky Maivia wasn't going to cut it, "Die Rocky, Die!" The fans absolutely hated him. When he came back as The Rock, he had that edgy gimmick, he took off. He owes a lot to Stone Cold, ironically."

If it wasn't for the "Mr.McMahon" character, austin wouldn't be half the star he's today, hell there would be no wwf. I can also give bret hart some credit for ELEVATING austin. Their fued helped austin alot to become a big superstar. As far as austin being responseable for rock's success, I thought this is what the attitude era is all about, character freedom. You can do what ever you wanna do, you can say what ever you wanna say. I don't get it, rock and austin charcters are complely different from each other. Beside rock's charisma was the main reason why he became that big, not austin. Speaking of elevating and all that stuff, how did austin got back to the top in 2001? That's right he needed to beat rock at WM 17 to make sure he's the GUY.

You can say austin is better all you want, afterall that is what the wwe is trying to do, they want austin to be its biggest star of all time(that wouldn't be the case if it wasn't for his last run as an active wrestler back in 2003), and there is no doubt that austin is as great as anybody stepped foot in a wrestling ring, but saying that austin is better than the rock by far? oh that's BS!

I understand the frustration and the anger at the rock for leaving the company, and I also understand that half the people here didn't witness thier primes(or should I say were not old enough to witness..) and just giving opinions on what the wwe's feeding them today, but that's fine, cause I've witnessed both rock and austin primes, and one thing I'll disagree with is that they were not on the same level. As far as who was the better, I'll leave this to you.

 

[apokalypse]

"If you really love the business you'll do what the boss tells you to do."
it was stupid thing to do but it was stupid of Austin to walkout, if you go listen or read WWE BYTE THIS 2002 TO 2003 where Austin take a shot on writers and direction which WWE is referring from over the years. AUstin mention alot on Scripted promos and the guys have.

in 2000 not only you have Rock/HHH but you also have other guys aswell like Radicals-Jericho-Kurt angle and Foley. RAW RTWM 2000 HHH/Rock was the higest rating but it can't beat 2001 RTWM 2001 of Rock and Austin. please remember this if Vince able to let Austin go on a surgery then he able to let go of rock.

what i'm saying is great as the rock is but will never above austin, without Austin there's no rock who elevate him and put him over with 2 big fued one for IC title where rock still in a group Nation of Domination, after he got over and he leave that group on his own. WM15 is all about elevate rock to another level of superstardom. who else other than austin able to do that? at that time you only have Austin who are worthy main eventer a super draw put guys over, Foley admit it he's not the man to be like Austin. Shawn Micheal is a jackass who trying to put HHH on top and buried Rock. Undertaker is not the guy only play great support role for drawer/headliner like Austin/Shawn. Austin was needed to be the man to put guys over and establish stars. Without Austin WWE couldn't survive....Jr-Foley-Haynes- all said on Legend of Wrestling only Austin able to pull Vs Mcmahon off. Austin and McMahon is match made in heaven they have so much chemistry. in 96-98 only Taker-Shawn-Foley is worthy Main Eventer but they unable to draw and Rock-HHH still new and got boos and wasn't over. thats why they have them in a group of DX/Nation of Domination. Austin play important part of Rock Legacy. Foley said on his book when he have the match with Terry Funk the fans got bored and starting to leave the building but when the announcer mention "coming up next Stone Cold Steve Austin" the fans cheer and stayed to see him.

 

[DeathClutch]

After reading everyones reply some are valid some aren't.
I'm basing my opinion from Survivor Series 1996 to WrestleMania XIX.

Austin was the Attitude Era, he really helped to get wrestling cool again, however from 1996-2003 Austin didn't change once, his look, theme song, move set as the same, sure 2001 he had heel turn but it generally failed because WWE didn't add to his heel turn, they could of done a lot to get him over a heel then they did.

Stone cold had some quality matches with Bret, Owen, HBK, The Undertaker, Kane, Mick Foley, The Rock... HHH and erm... Austins well ran dry.. oh wait here comes a fresh Kurt Angle decent match for RAW.. heel turn, and made to look like a wuss.

Rock however from 1996-2003 went from being shoved down our throats winning the IC title to doing nothing for more or less 9 month in 1997 until he turned heel and joined the Nation, then he flurished, his feud with Shamrock was legendary 7 PPV's in one calander year were involved in the same match, that has to be a record, then to his singles role as the corperate champion to becoming a face and chasing the championship, where you were just begging for him to get the belt.. and he did for 3 weeks before giving to HHH only to get it again a month later then hold it for 4 months his longest run as champion (WWF Champion that is) where he faced Benoit in a good match and HHH/Kurt Angle at SummerSlam 2000 before a bit of a mid card role before getting the belt back to give it to Austin at Mania 17, so off he went to hollywood returned kicked some ass, or WWE buried Booker T then Rock put over Jericho like no else could have, and put one classic match on at No Mercy 2001 (get the dvd that match is worth the price alone) then he had a stint with Undertaker nothing note worthy, in this time he put Test over as well and then came Hulk Hogan and then took time off and returned became Undisputed Champion and put over Brock Lesnar before leaving again to return and rematch Hogan, beat Austin at WrestleMania and out over Goldberg... then return for his farewell at WrestleMania 20.

The Rock adapted and changed his style, his theme song, his look a few occasions, he added some great one liners to his promos, over all The Rock was probably the better wrestler and put people over while Austin didn't but Austin was in the world title picture constantly from 1998-2001 (minus 2000 with neck injury) where The Rock was a title picture guy but also went to mid card for a few feuds, personally I see the rock in a better light then Austin but most will go with STONE COLD, but hey I think the Rock was the better.

 

[SCrooked1]

And what's this about "Without Austin there would be no Rock?"

He was a heel while Austin was the face throughout most of 1998, Austin didn't make Rock the star he is today, the fans did! I doubt anyone in the summer of '98 thought he would been rivaling Austin as the top babyface by the following year, Rock was supposed to stay heel throughout the era. I mean in the summer of '98 did you think that DX HHH who was crazy over with the fans would be a bastard heel champion the following year, of course you didn't. In the summer of '98 how many would have guessed that the fans would be cheering Rock like crazy while wanting HHH to get his ass handed to him a year later, the percentage is very small, I bet you.

Besides Undertaker played the "shades of grey" babyface long before the Stone Cold character. When Taker turned face the first time he didn't change his character at all. He was very different compared to the traditional "clean cut" babyface then. The average babyface at the time played to the fans or they slapped hands with the fans, Undertaker didn't do these things, he still looked very evil and he still made a lot of death references, those were very controversial for a babyface to do at the time, a 'face back in those days was supposed to look "happy", not look like a zombie putting people in bodybags or caskets. Austin wasn't even the first to use profanity or flip the bird on TV.

 

[Chris1-16]

Besides by 2000 Rock wasn't the same as he was in the previous years anyways, I thought he watered his character down big time. In '99 IMO he was better than Stone Cold, but by the time he had the title in '00 (especially his 2nd reign) his character was very tame compared to how he was in 1998 and 1999, so it wasn't really shocking that some fans began to turn on him, I think that if he stayed in '98-'99 form throughout his entire career it would be a bit more of an even comparison.

Remember the way he carried the belt and did the 1 fist pose, he wasn't doing that crap in '98-'99, he was being himself and not acting like Stone Cold! To this day I have no idea why he started doing that.

 

[SCrooked1]

This is one of the main reasons that Vince picked Austin, Rock was a heel in the beginning while Austin was a face pretty much throughout the era, plus the Austin-McMahon feud. In reality though I don't think Austin at the height of his popularity was any more popular than The Rock was in his, Austin was an even bigger name in 1999 than he was in 1998 (the highest 2 ratings they got in '98 was a 5.5 and a 5.7 where in '99 a 5.5-5.7 would've been one of their lower ratings for the year) and Rock's popularity peaked in 1999, he was not any more over in 2000 at all, if anything sometimes he got mixed reactions in '00(mainly later on throughout the year), where in '99 the crowd was always 100% behind him.

 

[RJJ]

"Without Austin there would be no Rock"

LMAO that is the funniest **** I've ever heared in my life. The only reason why austin gave rock the IC belt is to get into the main event picture, so hey that elevated austin as well. As far as WM15 goes, after his fued with austin ended at backlash, rock wrestled the entire year as a midcarder, he recieved some title shots(and got his ass handed to him), but he really wasn't a main eventer. Holding him back is a big reason why the fans got in his side throughout 1999.

Rock got elevated by his fued with foley that started at survivor series 1998...acually that fued elevated both rock and foley. If we're talking about elevating, then rock over austin anyday. Just ask angle, jericho, lesnar, hurricane..etc. If getting your ass kicked all the time( backlash, WM 15 austin-rock) during a fued means elevating in your book, then that's your problem.

 

[SCrooked1]

"Without Austin there would be no Rock"

LMAO that is the funniest **** I've ever heared in my life. The only reason why austin gave rock the IC belt is to get into the main event picture, so hey that elevated austin as well. As far as WM15 goes, after his fued with austin ended at backlash, rock wrestled the entire year as a midcarder, he recieved some title shots(and got his ass handed to him), but he really wasn't a main eventer. Holding him back is a big reason why the fans got in his side throughout 1999.

Rock got elevated by his fued with foley that started at survivor series 1998...acually that fued elevated both rock and foley. If we're talking about elevating, then rock over austin anyday. Just ask angle, jericho, lesnar, hurricane..etc. If getting your ass kicked all the time( backlash, WM 15 austin-rock) during a fued means elevating in your book, then that's your problem.

I wouldn't say he was midcarder, but he was definitely held back somewhat. Like I said in August of '99 it was he who had the majority of the top 20 selling merchandise items, not Austin, yet he got stupid shit at the time while Austin, Undertaker, and HHH were pushed like gods. Obviously who has the most merchandise in the top 10 and top 20 on shopzone is who the fans see as the most popular.

However the reason he didn't have the WWF Title in the summer and fall of that year was because he won it too many times too early, I do think he was as big of a draw as Austin that year though.

 

[The Jeff]

I pick The Rock. The Rock's return will add a new chapter to his legacy, while all subsequent Stone Cold appearances will be well, subsequent appearances. Also in 2000 I think the Rock really perfected his character. He had his best look, best theme song, best electricity. In 2000 he WAS the WWF. He won the Rumble, had the most championship reigns, classic promos and main evented almost every PPV

 

[wrestlingfan]

Austin/Rock are light and dark. They're equal without one their woudnt be the other. sure McMahon could be considered Austin's greatest nemesis but he couldnt wrestle him all the time and at the time with all the powerhouses who did McMahon choose to become the Corporate Champion: The Rock

 

[apokalypse]

Last Night we all see Rock is one of greatest entertainer of all time and only him able to entertain the fans. look at top greatest on mic like Austin-Jake the Snake-flair-piper..etc but they was great and good with face to face kind of promo unable to entertain the crowd like the rock.