**Merged** Cena & Rock Discussion - KEEP IT ALL IN HERE!!

[nWo2000]

The question should be the Rock vs "people whose name isn't Rock"...

When Rock comes out, you don't worry about what he will do, if he gives a Rock bottom, if he drops the People's Elbow, if he brawl with the bad guys. You don't think any of these... You only think of him getting the mic and electrify the crowd. Who else do you think coming out with an anticipation of electrifying the crowd with his words... Seriously just think about it... Rock is one step ahead of anybody else. You need to give respect when respect is due. I am not saying he is the best wrestler, best brawler, best etc etc actually Cena can be better in some areas compared to the Rock, but the Rock is the best in the business with the mic... Ever!

I respect that. However IMO could the Rock be the Rock in todays PG landscape? No. He couldn't. Absolutly not. John Cena has been electrifying the crowd (talking about heat as well as pops) in TV14 AND PG WWE for the last 7 years. Thats why I pick Cena. He can adapt and still remain the best in the business. I bet if the WWE went TV-G he could still do what he does better than anyone...... Love him or hate him boys, were stuck with him..........

 

[ThAwRe$tLiNgGaWd]

The Rock today sucks on the mic, to me he's stale and repetitive. Sure he can "captivate" the crowd and blah blah blah but he's terrible with coming up with any new material... he's like a one-trick pony of sorts. I think since Rock came back on Valentine's Day I've heard the words "most electrifying man..." at least 1,656 times. Surely "whup your candy ass" was said at least 2,437 times. I think I counted "jabroney" 862 times, "know your role" was said frequently, and "if you smell what the Rock is cookin" was spewed 5,988 times!!! and on and on and on... oh and his new personal favorite Fruity Pebble jokes are wearing mighty, mighty thin now (it was funny at first, but man talk about beating a dead horse). I swear that guy talks himself in circles... it's the same thing everytime. He can make countless promos by just simply mix and matching (cutting and pasting) his 100+ catchprases he has... even then you can tell when he runs out of things to say, it's like he hits the rewind on the tape and starts over again. That shit was cool back in 1998 but damn that same tired ol' schtick is tiredsome today... it shows you that the Rock cannot evolve his character. He's gonna be 55 years old and still doing the same thing. But people eat that shit up on a plate for some odd reason, I personally just don't buy his schtick now. I'll give my vote to Cena, he's always been gold on the mic. Especially 'Dr. of Thuganomics' Cena and even Cena of today (but oh wait, Cena evolved his character... something Mr. Crock can't do!).

 

[Smackdown Hotel]

I respect that. However IMO could the Rock be the Rock in todays PG landscape? No. He couldn't. Absolutly not. John Cena has been electrifying the crowd (talking about heat as well as pops) in TV14 AND PG WWE for the last 7 years. Thats why I pick Cena. He can adapt and still remain the best in the business. I bet if the WWE went TV-G he could still do what he does better than anyone...... Love him or hate him boys, were stuck with him..........

If you're truly a good promo guy, it doesn't matter what rating a show has. Are you seriously saying that The Rock, arguably the most charismatic wrestler in history, wouldn't be able to adapt to a PG rating? It's not fair to Rock for Cena to get extra points by default because of this. People also seem to forget that Rock from 02-04 wasn't close to being as edgy as Rock 98-00.

Austin never had the chance to work fulltime in PG WWE either. I guess that means Cena's better than him on the mic as well?

 

[Smackdown Hotel]

The Rock today sucks on the mic, to me he's stale and repetitive. Sure he can "captivate" the crowd and blah blah blah but he's terrible with coming up with any new material... he's like a one-trick pony of sorts. I think since Rock came back on Valentine's Day I've heard the words "most electrifying man..." at least 1,656 times. Surely "whup your candy ass" was said at least 2,437 times. I think I counted "jabroney" 862 times, "know your role" was said frequently, and "if you smell what the Rock is cookin" was spewed 5,988 times!!! and on and on and on... oh and his new personal favorite Fruity Pebble jokes are wearing mighty, mighty thin now (it was funny at first, but man talk about beating a dead horse). I swear that guy talks himself in circles... it's the same thing everytime. He can make countless promos by just simply mix and matching (cutting and pasting) his 100+ catchprases he has... even then you can tell when he runs out of things to say, it's like he hits the rewind on the tape and starts over again. That shit was cool back in 1998 but damn that same tired ol' schtick is tiredsome today... it shows you that the Rock cannot evolve his character. He's gonna be 55 years old and still doing the same thing. But people eat that shit up on a plate for some odd reason, I personally just don't buy his schtick now. I'll give my vote to Cena, he's always been gold on the mic. Especially 'Dr. of Thuganomics' Cena and even Cena of today (but oh wait, Cena evolved his character... something Mr. Crock can't do!).

The Rock uses his catchphrases because the fans, aka the people who make Vince McMahon money, want him to. It's a method Rock uses to encourage crowd participation in his promos, which is exactly why he is getting the loudest reactions in WWE to this day. Take away all of the catchphrases from his recent promos and they're still very solid imo. As evidenced by his face to face with Cena last week in which the Rock hardly used any catchphrases.

 

[Jackal960]

I respect that. However IMO could the Rock be the Rock in todays PG landscape? No. He couldn't. Absolutly not. John Cena has been electrifying the crowd (talking about heat as well as pops) in TV14 AND PG WWE for the last 7 years. Thats why I pick Cena. He can adapt and still remain the best in the business. I bet if the WWE went TV-G he could still do what he does better than anyone...... Love him or hate him boys, were stuck with him..........

I get what you mean but it would be unfair to Rock for 2 reasons:

1)We didn't watch a PG Rock, maybe he can't do it, but maybe he can. Since he came back, if he didn't say ass, anus, bitch etc it would still be fun to watch him. It's more about him reacting with the crowd, not the x words he use.

2)If you get rid of all his catchphrases because it won't go with PG environment, then probably we would have different catchphrases that don't imply anything bad but still make you laugh. It's not the catchphrase, i can come out and yell if you smell what i am cookin, and not a single leave would move. It's making the crowd react to what you are saying. You can't help but sing along with the Rock, when he yells "the millions" the crowd 365 times a year, in 365 different arenas would crack the roof yelling "and the millions"... You don't need PG, TV-14, 18+. You only need to get the crowd react to what you are doing

 

[RicSpade]

I love how people try and compare the two, so what if the Rock has 100 catchphrases that he has in order to fill his promos, he uses them because he know it works, and the fans love it, think of it as like in the 80's-90's when every backstage promo cut by Hogan had the word brother or dude every 7 words. Or when Ric Flair would go MENE WHOOO GENE! I mean really Cena is no different with the exception of his raps, his heartfelt speech he does is the same one every week but with different words "Whether you love me or hate me I'm here because I love doin what I do infront of all of you" "Whether you cheer me or boo me thats not important whats important is I am here for each and every one of you" I mean thats what Cena does. Its ok though Cena is trying to be truthful to the fans, and the Rock cuts a promo that makes you laugh but makes you want to watch him whoop someones ass.

But really it doesn't matter its a promo I wouldn't try and compare apples to oranges because really its all about one thing entertainment.

 

[Jackal960]

I think since Rock came back on Valentine's Day I've heard the words "most electrifying man..." at least 1,656 times. Surely "whup your candy ass" was said at least 2,437 times. I think I counted "jabroney" 862 times, "know your role" was said frequently, and "if you smell what the Rock is cookin" was spewed 5,988 times!!! and on and on and on... oh and his new personal favorite Fruity Pebble jokes are wearing mighty, mighty thin now (it was funny at first, but man talk about beating a dead horse). I swear that guy talks himself in circles... it's the same thing everytime. He can make countless promos by just simply mix and matching (cutting and pasting) his 100+ catchprases he has... even then you can tell when he runs out of things to say, it's like he hits the rewind on the tape and starts over again. That shit was cool back in 1998 but damn that same tired ol' schtick is tiredsome today... it shows you that the Rock cannot evolve his character. He's gonna be 55 years old and still doing the same thing. But people eat that shit up on a plate for some odd reason, I personally just don't buy his schtick now. I'll give my vote to Cena, he's always been gold on the mic. Especially 'Dr. of Thuganomics' Cena and even Cena of today (but oh wait, Cena evolved his character... something Mr. Crock can't do!).

That's right for some odd reason he was doing something on 1998, the crowd was getting excited on every time he said the same thing, and today he still gets the crowd excited after 13 years with the same words. Maybe all the millions and millions of Rock fans are wrong and you are right, or maybe, just maybe, you should respect him and say " maybe i don't get it but it doesn't matter what one person thinks, it's the crowd that counts"

 

[Smackdown Hotel]

Pretty much. Half of Rock's catchphrase lines are corny as hell, but he made them work simply by the way he delivered them.

If the Rock can do Disney movies, he can be PG as well.

 

[sharpsh00ter23]

Here is what people seem to be forgetting. The Rock's promos around 98-00 were founded on his genius catchphrases. (Yes, I say genius, b/c it shifted the winds of pop culture) Once we hit around 2001 and on, he changed his promo style quite a bit. There is no way in hell that John Cena, although a beast as the Dr., that he is anywhere better than The Rock.

You want to talk about a heel promo...check the one the Rock did on Canada...that's crowd control. For those who want to whine about his "too many" catchphrases, check how vital they were to his character then and now in The Rock makes fun of Big Show. Cena may be the commander of his continent of Cenation, but the Rock was always the Commander of the crowd and controlling it.

What I find funny is how people are like piranhas waiting to masticate at the Rock vs. Cena mic wars. Rock has done what's needed to help elevate the ratings. Cena looks like he wants to cry most of the time when it comes to a serious promo and the full demographic is not behind it. Besides The Rock hasn't even come close to unleashing his full mic capabilities on the new generation. Rock by a landslide.

Just so I don't end on a totally negative note about Cena...I have developed a new respect towards Cena on how he was able to conduct himself against The Rock...others would've fallen apart.

 

[Kiefer-Zeus]

Ya know Rock is good at the insults but John Cenas good at the come backs like last week on Raw "Hahaha fashion advice from the tooth fairy" I pissed yself at that line, an to me showed Cena could handle his own, so i say John Cena takes it for come backs but for insults The Rock takes the cake!!!

 

[hollowpoint]

I have to give respect to Cena. I still think Rock is the best out of the two, Cena is probably the best to go up against the Rock on the mic other than that guy named Austin. He hasn't flinched or backed down. He's shown that he can throw insults with his Dr. of Thuganomics gimmick and put on a serious promo like the one he did before WM27. I applaud him and this shows the effect that The Rock has. It's obvious that he raised the level of Cena's work and brung the best out of him. I hope this is a step forward because IMO Cena kinda hit a wall. However, going up against the Jabroni beaten (lalalalalaow) pie eating, trailblazin', eyebrow raisin, ....you know the rest, it's always going to be a loss. If you smell... what the Rock..... is cookin..*eyebrow raised* ( I just pumped myself up!)

 

[Rampage Bentley]

I can't believe this is actually a thread....

There is NOTHING you can say to defend a notion that Cena is anywhere near The Rock. Cena isn't even the best on the current roster (that would be CM Punk) nevermind comparing him to The Rock.

I won't even waste my breath arguing with people who go with Cena, that's so moronic that you can't reason with that.

 

[The Champ]

The question, to me, isn't as clear cut as many people would like to believe. Both guys have their strengths and weaknesses on the mic, and in both cases, their promo skills have been a driving factor in getting them to where they are in terms of popularity and success. The Rock is often put in a category of his own because of his comedic talents, wit, and ability to hilariously insult his opponents. All of that praise is certainly deserved, as he makes things that would sound stupid said by anyone else, sound amazing. Cena, however, is equally amazing at cutting serious or intense promos. He knows how to get the crowd hyped up and invested in whatever he's doing, which often extends to his in-ring talent. A great example of this was his promo with Rock a couple of weeks back, right before WrestleMania. He didn't try to counter Rock's insults too much, instead choosing to speak from the heart and clearly state his case as to why he doesn't deserve the criticism that he was (and still is) getting. Rock didn't have a response; now, you could say it's because they had to get Miz in there, or whatever, but his next few words after Cena was finished certainly weren't the best comeback. However, he delivered them with conviction, and that is really Rock's biggest strength on the mic; he says everything like it's the greatest thing ever, and as a result, "The People" believe it.

 

[The Hardcore Kid]

To me its comparing apples to oranges. I don't even like Cena at all, but I can recognize he's great on the mic. For those who say The Rock is bad on the mic because he just says his "100 catchphrases", that's the point. that's his character. An arrogant, larger-than-life guy who captivates, "electrifies" the crowd with what they want to hear. Even he calls it "Sing-along with The Rock", and it works. It's great. Cena, on the other hand, is very articulate, can convey his emotions very well, and lays it all out there in a great fashion. They're two different styles. Doesn't mean one is better than the other.

That said, I'd rather listen to the Rock cut a promo than Cena. So my vote goes to Rocky. But I would never discredit John Cena as credible on the mic.

 

[RJJ]

Ya know Rock is good at the insults but John Cenas good at the come backs like last week on Raw "Hahaha fashion advice from the tooth fairy" I pissed yself at that line, an to me showed Cena could handle his own, so i say John Cena takes it for come backs but for insults The Rock takes the cake!!!

That's exactly how I knew it was all about elevating cena. From 1999-2004, I've never seen anyone get a shot at the rock without getting owned, however cena did and he even got away with it, not only that but he interupted rock while he was speaking, back in the day that's something you don't do with the rock, the very least thing rock pre-return would say is "Know your role and shut your mouth!".

And for all those he say that cena handle his own against rock(before WM), correct me if I'm wrong, but there is two words to describe his speech, ASS KISSIN'.

 

[smalltownfan]

Tough one. Rock is the better trash-talker by far and he gets the crowd to react much better than Cena. Cena is the better storyteller, though. In fact, I will go as far as to say that Cena needs to be strong on the mic because he's not the best wrestler in the world. As far as who's better on the mic, they both are. They are the best in their respective eras. Today, I will go with The Rock in a very slight lean, but tomorrow I may pick Cena.

 

[[cL]]

Can't believe this is even a topic. The Rock owns Cena on the mic. Period. Cena's no wimp on the mic, but he's not even in the Rocks league. Lest we forget one of Rock's "100 Catchphrases" got turned into a Friday Night WWE product. I'm not gonna front, I did enjoy Cena's first response to the Rock when he rapped. That was funny. BUT time after time, the Rock owned him. He's good, but the Rock came back and showed everyone how inadequate they really are. I'll tell you what, I guarantee that all of these cats are going to get better because they have to now. You can't be around that kind of greatness on the stick and not want to get your mic skills together. its either that, or they are REALLY going to have to become better wrestlers...lol

 

[xcoN]

The Rock by miles on this one. Hes not as good as he was back in the day and i'm sorry to say but PG is holding him back a tad but he's still much much better than Cena. Cena is very repatative and i'm not talking about catchphrases or anything, but he tends to say the same stuff over and over and over again. The same tone, the same words, everything. The Rock came back and used his old school catchphrases, created new ones which were just alright but could talk pretty well still. Maybe its because we've been forced to listen to Cena's "never give up" speeches for so long but I dunno.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

It's hard to vote against Rock when it comes to mic skills even though Cena is pretty good. The Rock is someone who does not need to be a part of a feud to cut a great promo. He could go on for an hour just insulting anyone he feels like, talk only in catchphrases and nothing else and the crowd will lap it up like the second coming of Jesus.

The Rock does have a slight weakness on the mic though, and that weakness just happens to be Cena's strength. The Rock is not the best at serious promos. In fact at this game there are quite a few guys better than Rocky most notably Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and also John Cena. Cena is pretty good at serious promos and you tend to believe that he really means what he is saying. Problem is that I think that WWE kinda fancies him as a funny guy but he is not at all funny. His jokes are really corny but that might well be due to the constraints of the era as he was pretty good as a rapper.

But The Rock is in a different league when it comes to the funny stuff. You might say that it is all catchphrase and no content but you cannot deny that it works. If you come to watch pro wrestling to be entertained then, at least on the mic, you know that The Rock will not let you down. The Rock can own anyone right from Michael Cole upto Stone Cold Steve Austin. Rapper Cena was just as good in my opinion but the current version of Cena is just about passable in my opinion. Given a good opponent and a good feud he can entertain us but with The Rock it just did not matter who he was fighting.

 

[Lion's Sacrifice]

The Rock by miles on this one. Hes not as good as he was back in the day and i'm sorry to say but PG is holding him back a tad but he's still much much better than Cena. Cena is very repatative and i'm not talking about catchphrases or anything, but he tends to say the same stuff over and over and over again. The same tone, the same words, everything. The Rock came back and used his old school catchphrases, created new ones which were just alright but could talk pretty well still. Maybe its because we've been forced to listen to Cena's "never give up" speeches for so long but I dunno.

How can you really say PG is hold back Rocky, when Rock has gone outside the PG rating every promo? Think about it. His first time back he was saying ass bitch, all of it. So to say he's being held back is quite absurd. Cena's repetitive? Really? So is the Rock, "I'm going to whup someone's candy ass." "Bring it" all are things that he's said and continued to say. You can't say that Cena is repetitive, and say The Rock isn't. You take his promo's cut away the catchphrases and there's very little new material there. When ever he was facing someone he would make one liners around them, and then they'd stick and he's use it for the next six months.

I'm going to tell you what I told others, go back and watch Cena from 03-06 and tell me he's repetitive.

Force to listen? I find it funny when people say their forced to watch something when they have a remote control in there hand to change the channel.

 

[Mexican Mark Henry]

The Rock by STATES!

The Rock's promos are way more entertaining than Cena's. Cena has been in the WWE for 9 freaking years and not one of his promos has entertained me!

The Rock hasn't been in the WWE for 7 years and his return promo was better than all of Cena's promos combined!

This really is a no contest. Even John Morrison's promos are better than Cena's.

 

[Kidd]

For those who are criticizing The Rock for not cutting a serious promo, then you should look at this:

[YOUTUBE]KP3DhEmAaCM[/YOUTUBE]

This is snippets of the original but as you can hear, it was very intense. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the original promo.

That being said, both are great on the mic but i have to give the edge to The Great One. He may use 100 catch phrases but guess what? They still work. Why fix what's broken?

 

[RJJ]

I don't know why some of you complain about how bad the rock is when it comes to serious promos..








Skip to 1:28....Not even one single phrase..
[YOUTUBE]lSb63mLbaOM[/YOUTUBE]



Another great serious promo for rock, but I gotta say austin outshine rocky on that one, after all serious promos is austin's specialty..matter of fact, I don't think austin was acting in this interview, you can tell the guy was speaking from the heart..
[YOUTUBE]4RA6e9UrbrY[/YOUTUBE]


I understand that rock isn't as great when it comes to serious promos, but hey, that doesn't mean he CAN'T cut a good one. Anyway, this thread is about who is better on the mic OVERALL.

 

[Italian9979]

What bothered me about Cena's promos against The Rock were that they were contradictory in every way. Seemed like for every time he talked about how proud he was to rep the kiddie demographic, he would then turn around and slam the Rock for doing kid friendly movies. Seems just a little inconsistent doesn't it?

I thought The Rock won not only on style points but also in the fact that every promo he cut on Cena contained the same central theme. He flat out told him what he disliked about him and how he felt he was basically a pitiful clown.

Cena's promos were either inconsistent or in the case of the one leading up to Mania seemed like he was kissing ass the first half of it. The other part of it was that it seemed IMHO that while The Rock was attacking John Cena the wrestler, that Cena was attacking Dwayne Johnson the man and not The Rock. It was too much breaking down of the 4th wall for me to really engage myself in the promo itself...

Regardless of kayfabe or not, it didn't seem like Cena had much ammo to toss out against the Rock...he came off as petty and jealous of the success of Dwayne Johnson while the Rock just came out and completely tore down every aspect of John Cena the wrestler...he based his promos in more of a kayfabe manner then Cena as well.

From what I have heard and seen John Cena apparently is a nice guy in RL and gives back in the form of various charities and such and I think that is quite admirable but in reality it is John Cena the performer that just comes across as boring as hell...there is nothing I like about him in the ring at all and most times he comes out I tend to channel surf checking back every so often to see if his segment ended...he's just not interesting to me at all...

 

[realbrutha]

What better way to turn Cena heel than on the Rocks birthday? Have R-truth come out and crash the Rock's Bday party start a fight with the Rock, then Cena comes out of nowhere and hits the Rock with a chair. Rtruth hits the wassup on the Rock on a steel chair, then Cena does the attitude adjustment to the Rock.