*MERGED* Compare and Contrast - The Rock & John Cena

[WunNightStan619]

Honestly, i cant beleive this topic is up for discussion. You guys are forgetting that The Rock is and was a HOUSEHOLD NAME. He was adored by fans around the world in and out of wrestling. His promos by themselves are legendary and his matches great too. People who didnt even eatch wrestling knew who the rock was and knew his catch phrases. Cena doesnt even have any....Unlike cena, the rock could actually put on great story telling matches consistantly and with anywun. besides that, the rock came up during a time when wrestling was extremely popular so more ppl remember him. i'll give cena his credit where its due, but theres no way ur telling me that anything cena has done holds a candle to the Rocks greatest moments. hell ppl who dont watch wrestling anymore will still reminse on the Rock and his glory days, and they look at john cena like wtf.... Also unlike Cena, the no longer needs wrestling to buld his career. He walked away and never looked back, but look at him now. wun of the biggest names in hollywood. If cena were to walk away now, where wud he be?....Rock has a legendary legacy and its lunacy to even think that john cena wud have a bigger/better wun....

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I think this is a much more difficult question than "who is the better performer or entertainer?" The Rock has one of the most prestigious careers in history in the record books, and there's also a VERY slim chance he'll return some day and add more to that legacy. Again, it's somewhere between "NO CHANCE IN HELL" and "HIGHLY DOUBTFUL"...but he's not old. He's still in shape. And he'd sell better than the entire Raw roster put together, and make a shit ton of money while doing it. But let's just say that the Rock's career in wrestling is over on the full-time front, for the sake of this discussion.

Now, John Cena has had a career almost as long at this point. I think he's been the clear face of the company for longer than the Rock at this point, but he still hasn't hit the level of popularity held by all the fans just yet. Cena will always have his haters, no matter what he does. Cena will never be a better in-ring performer, but in terms of Legacy that won't matter as much. What matters in the end are the classic, unforgettable moments. The impressions and marks he leaves on all of us to remember forever. For the Rock there are plenty, and for Cena there are also quite a few. I wont' go into all of them because that would take days, but I will always remember dozens of individual promos by the Rock. His work with Michael Cole, having people put t-shirts over their faces so the People could only see the Great One, and his promos with Hurricane are priceless, just to name a few. His heel turns are forever cemented in my mind, as are each and every one of his title wins and runs. His greatest opponents were Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Undertaker, Mankind, and Triple H. John Cena has several good promos that come to mind. His recent teased heel turn with Nexus was great, as was his Wendys comments about Heath Slater. All of his promos against Edge (and that entire feud) were golden. Cena's greatest opponents were/are Edge, JBL, Triple H, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho.

I'm going to give it to the Rock. But it's close.

 

[D-Will316]

Now, John Cena has had a career almost as long at this point. I think he's been the clear face of the company for longer than the Rock at this point, but he still hasn't hit the level of popularity held by all the fans just yet. Cena will always have his haters, no matter what he does. Cena will never be a better in-ring performer, but in terms of Legacy that won't matter as much. What matters in the end are the classic, unforgettable moments. The impressions and marks he leaves on all of us to remember forever. For the Rock there are plenty, and for Cena there are also quite a few. I wont' go into all of them because that would take days, but I will always remember dozens of individual promos by the Rock. His work with Michael Cole, having people put t-shirts over their faces so the People could only see the Great One, and his promos with Hurricane are priceless, just to name a few. His heel turns are forever cemented in my mind, as are each and every one of his title wins and runs. His greatest opponents were Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Undertaker, Mankind, and Triple H. John Cena has several good promos that come to mind. His recent teased heel turn with Nexus was great, as was his Wendys comments about Heath Slater. All of his promos against Edge (and that entire feud) were golden. Cena's greatest opponents were/are Edge, JBL, Triple H, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho.

I'm going to give it to the Rock. But it's close.

This so far is the only response making me want to change my opinion.. but I'm stubborn. So my response to that is that Cena's career isn't over yet, he's got plenty of time to make bigger impacts.

 

[ForThePeeps]

Even though I would always prefer The Rock over Cena, I will say Cena will have the bigger legacy, why? Its simple, because The Rock left before he could kind of finish in my opinion and all the little kids that are going to grow up will best remember the annoying name that is John Cena.

 

[KoC417]

The Rock. Cena can't hold a flame to what Rock did for the WWF/WWE when it counted. Right now WWE has no competition.

September 4, 1995, to March 26, 2001 were "officially" when the Monday Night wars were going on. What a coincidence! that's pretty much when the Rock was growing and helping the WWF. In my honest and sincere opinion without the Rock WWE wouldn't be what it is today. Might not even be AROUND.
The first time WWF beat WCW in ratings in a long time who was in the main event.. THE ROCK.
Who was battling giving off great matches when the WWF was down? The Rock. Yes I realize there were a TON of other superstars helping, however since this thread is about Cena vs. The Rock I'm only speaking about the Rock.

Cena SUCKS to put it simply. This whole SuperCena bulls*it is getting out of hand. It's pathetic that he can take a monster beating the entire match then leap up and boom Attitude...no f*ck it.. he hits the F*ck You and the match is over.. Such a joke. With the Rock's matches they were essentially back and forth BOTH opponents hit finishers and BOTH opponents put on a highly competitive match...

Want to see what I'm talking about? Get your @$$es on YouTube and watch Austin vs. Rock WrestleMania matches. Not just WM matches though Rock also did the same bit on Raw and SmackDown. It was never this garbage of oh let's have the guy get beaten down for 10minutes..not get in 1 offensive maneuver then he hits 1 move and its over.

And for those of you that are going to single out the Rock's 30second match we can all safely agree that was a garbage match.

in the 8 or so years that Cena has been in the WWE how many times has he essentially been beaten on and beaten on and beaten on only to hit the F-U and win. Yeah. His BEST match IMO was Cena vs. HBK and that's only because HBK was there. HBK's matches are ALWAYS show stoppers. Cena's are garbage.

I 2nd the E-C-Dub fans
"Cena Swallows"
"You can't wrestle"
"F-ck You Cena"

I'm not denying that John Cena has played a big part for the WWE. I'll give him his credit where credit is due. He has done a lot for being the face of the WWE. But I just don't think he's on the same playing field as the Rock. That's not to say he won't GET there. It's just to me he is not there yet...

 

[CenaNumber1Fan]

It's gotta be Cena... The Rocks biggest rivalries were Stone Cold, Mankind, and Triple H and if you look the matches he had with Austin they were 3 Wrestlemania matches and one backlash 99 match... Don't get me wrong they were classic matches but they were no specialtie matches just regular one on one matches... Cena's rivalry were bigger and the include Randy Orton, Edge, Batista, Kurt Angle, Triple H, JBL, Umaga, Sheamus, and Chris Jericho.... The matches he had with those guys were TLC, Elimination Chamber, Hell in a cell, No holds barred iron man match, lastman standing, table match, first blood and I quit matches and they were all classic matches... John Cena will have a bigger legacy than the Rock...

 

[ForThePeeps]

John Cena will have a bigger legacy than the Rock...

Even though I said Cena because most of the fans are little kids and will grow up remembering Cena, your answer was no shock due to your name lol

 

[The Decrypter]

It's hands down The Rock. But I'm sayin' this from a logical standpoint. I will give credit where credit is due. Cena has carried the WWE for the past 5 years, without a doubt. He gives good promos, quality matches, and has had decent feuds. However, The Rock was the face of the WWE during the WWE's golden era, and absolutely most mainstream/popular one. His feuds were amazing (i.e. The Rock vs Stone Cold, WM17 will ALWAYS be brought up by fans of the A.E.), his promos were the best in history, and his matches were quality. He also brought the WWE consistently high ratings. The highest rated WWE episode EVER was due in part to the promo with The Rock and Mankind, which brung in an "8.1" I believe, if memory serves me right. Look it up for yourself, I know my mind is is still good, lol. Episodes today get NOWHERE near that rating. The highest rating as of late was when Shaq guest hosted, which brung in like 4.1. But thats all due in part to Shaq. Cena fails to bring in ratings in comparison to The Rock. They both have amazing charisma, but The Rock was more of a natural and believable. Cena doesn't need to go back to his rapper gimmick, but he needs to go back to something along those lines. And it is kind of Cena's fault, because he was the one who convinced Vince McMahon to aim more for the kid market/turn to PG (correct me if I'm wrong, but I read my stuff from legit sources).

Who will have the bigger legacy? The Rock, hands down. Yall need to get yall heads out of your asses and come to this realization. # of WWE title wins and shyt like that is kayfabe, get over it. Edge has 9 World title wins. Will HE have a bigger legacy than The Rock? No. Cena still has a chance, but he's REALLY goin' to have to prove himself over the next few years.

Question has been decrypted. ^_^

 

[Nada]

There is no debate to even be had.

The Rock was and is a mainstream star, the same way Austin and Hogan are/were.

Do you know what that means? It means that even people who didnt watch wrestling knew who this guy was, the biggest boom in WWEs history in terms of viewership and exposure, The Rock was one of the main attractions.


John Cena is not a mainstream star, most people on the street do not know who or what a Cena is, he has simply not crossed over the way WWE wanted him to.

Go ask into a random forum, not wrestling related, say gaming or movie related and most people know who the Rock is, they watched wrestling back when WWE was doing 7 and 8s. Not alot of them know who John Cena is.

Where would John Cena fit in had he been around WWF Attitude era? Would he be a main eventer? Would he be a silly Vanilla Ice knock off midcarder heel? We dont know

What we do know is that WWEs ratings plummeted after Rock went to film movies and Austin walked out. What we also know is that since The Rock left, WWE has been struggeling for years now to get even above a 4.0 rating. Something they did easily when the Rock was champion.

Thats all we have, numbers, because its pointless to argue who was better in the ring, better feuds, its all down to opinion. But there is no opinion to hard, cold, numbers.


The reason Hogan, Austin and Rock are at the top of the iceberg when it comes to wrestling icons is because they all pulled major ratings and carried WWE (and WCW in Hogans case) into mainstream to such high ratings that they became household names.

My parents do not know who John Cena is, most of my friends have no clue who this guy is regardless of how talented he may be or how hard he works.

Thats the part Cena is missing, he has sold alot of merch, he has carried the company, but he is simply missing that credential where he can say "i took the WWE, and carried it to mainstream popularity".

My favorite wrestler of all time is HBK, and i have immense respect for Bret Hart, but neither of them could do that, when they were on top, wrestling was in a slump (for alot of reasons).

Triple H, HBK, Bret Hart, John Cena, all talented guys but they are simply not able to do what Hogan, Austin and Rock did.

Thats the bottom line, Triple H was all over 2003 and the ratings plummeted, Cena has been main eventing for years now and WWE is still stuck.

 

[mvalley]

People forget that the early version of John Cena would rap with lyrics that well....weren't family friendly. Furthermore, just recall the names of his finishers....

Cena has been a fine champion and wrestler. His legacy will be huger than the Rock's because of his wrestling accomplishments. Just the fact he held the world title over a year during an era where two or three month title reigns were the norm should say something.

 

[Chris Kennedy Himself]

I think it depends on Cena. Cena has never had classic match, the Rock has tons of 'em with Stone Cold, Mankind, Triple-H, Chris Jericho, he even carried The Hulkster and made him look good again. With Cena, there is no passion. He gets all super Cena'd and then wrestles like a bum for 5-20 minutes.
As it stands now, if Cena stays at the level he is now, he would need to be in the WWE for about 15 years to match the excellence of The Rocks 8 years.

 

[BillAlfonso]

Hands down, The Rock simply because Cena is benefitting from what The Rock and Austin did to bring the WWE to the mainstream. In addition, The Rock's put over more people cleanly from RKO and Batista to The Hurricane(shut up). Granted, he knew his career was winding down but let's see what Cena does towards the end of his career cuz, right now, no one goes over Cena clean. My question is, why do people say The Rock turned his back and not Lesnar or Goldberg?

 

[KoC417]

Hands down, The Rock simply because Cena is benefitting from what The Rock and Austin did to bring the WWE to the mainstream. In addition, The Rock's put over more people cleanly from RKO and Batista to The Hurricane(shut up). Granted, he knew his career was winding down but let's see what Cena does towards the end of his career cuz, right now, no one goes over Cena clean. My question is, why do people say The Rock turned his back and not Lesnar or Goldberg?

OMG I totally forgot their back and forth in The Rocks locker room! That was some good stuff!
"Who would have thought that the Scorpion King..has got a tiny..DING A LING!" hahaha God those were some hilarious times which is why I stand by my original post of the Rock having the bigger legacy. Rock just kind of left. I mean he promised everyone after his match with Goldberg that he would be back. But he's only made some brief appearances. As far as Goldberg turning his back. The guy is set for life. I'd rather spend time with my family then be on the road every night too. And Brock just went to the UFC because let's face it he failed miserably at everything else BUT pro-wrestling. So of course with his AMATEUR wrestling background MMA just fit naturally.

 

[Smithjoe]

I think The Rock, Cant forget the Legendary Battles he had against Stone Cold Steve Austin.And that Big Heel role he played in 2003 it was nice.

 

[Spaceman Spif]

John Cena will have the bigger legacy. It's not a knock at The Rock, he does have a huge legacy already, but Cena's will be bigger. Cena has already accomplished pretty much what The Rock did in his career, the difference is though that The Rock career in wrestling is over, Cena's isn't. The Rock loved/loves wrestling, he entertained us for years, made a ton of money and left at the peak of his career. It's not out of any malice for wrestling or it's fans he just wanted to do something different, more power to him.

However John Cena is loyal to the WWE and has said he will only do movies, music and the like that help the WWE make money. He is not going to leave the WWE for Hollywood. He's a lifer, and because of that dedication, barring any major injuries, he'll still be around for at least another decade likely, so he'll more than double The Rock's career length and will likely double his accomplishments as well, thus right there cementing a bigger legacy. The Rock is great, his legacy is great, but Cena's will be bigger and longer remembered.

 

[Rasha]

The Rock's legacy will always be bigger because he was a legend at a time when wrestling was legendary. He was a Main Eventer when RAW was drawing 5.5-6.0 ratings and being watch by almost twice the audience it is now. Not only was the audience bigger, but a much larger percentage of that audience loved The Rock and respected him as a performer. Now you have less people watching the WWE as a whole and much smaller percentage who like Cena. In fact, you have many people (like me) who've been turned off from the WWE and stopped watching primarily due to Cena. So if that's his "legacy," then how can you possible put him over The Rock?

 

[rjberry22]

Im going to say the Rock.I mean how can u compare. One can u name one promo the rock made that wasn't funny ass Hell even if he were heel or face.cena were all worth listening to when he were rapping. Two yeah rock had nine title reigns every one u wanted to watch. John cena had nine all his matches I actually fall asleep on

 

[Dave]

Right now, I think that The Rock is the definite winner of this little competition but that is not to say that it will always be that way. Sure, John Cena is wrestling in a period where the WWE is without the fan-base and interest that was obviously prevalent throughout the Attitude Era but he has basically carried the WWE on his back for the better part of 5 years and he should receive some kudos from fans of the company.

The Rock was a great character, no doubt about it. However, during the Attitude Era, he wasn’t even the most popular superstar amongst the fans. That accolade would surely go to The Rattlesnake and not the People’s Champion. That being said, The Rock had everything good going for him. He was great inside the ring and his mic-work is probably still the best work I have ever seen. He could transition into anything and people would lap it up. He had multiple reigns all over the levels of the company and constantly changed up his move-set. At the end of the day, The Rock was a wonderful superstar but didn’t really have the same things to contest as John Cena does. The Rock has a great legacy and there is simply no wonder people want to see him back in the WWE.

However, John Cena has managed to scrape together a great legacy and will retire from wrestling with a magnificent reputation behind him. The fans – for the most part, love him and he gets such a reaction from every person who sits down at a WWE event (whether it is booing or cheering). I am pretty sure that John Cena has perhaps his best years in front of him and he could be around for another decade if he stays injury free.

Personally, I love both of these superstars but I have to give it to the Rock at this point but there is not so much of a gap between the two that John Cena will never surpass him. For the moment, The Rock has the bigger legacy of the two but Cena is closing the gap and will probably surpass him if continues with the WWE in my opinion.

 

[BigBossOfThaNorf]

I believe John Cena will. He's going to stay with the WWE until his body breaks down. He won't go chase Hollywood like the Rock because WWE has its own film division. Cena is more recent so with the new generation he's viewed as leaps and bounds over the Rock

 

[I_got_bant_for_idiocy]

everyone who is saying cena all i gotta say is loll reallly, and everyone who is saying cena has carried the company for the last 4 years whooo cares, those last 4 years have probably bin one of the worse 4 years in wrestling history, the rock carried a company while having competition with wcw, him and austin helped an almost bankrupt company and made wwe number 1.. the rock has better matches, better moments just a better career, john cena can stay with the company for another 10 years it doesnt matter, cuz what rock did in 8 years cena cant do in 20

 

[HBKevin]

Like others have said, if Cena does approach The Rock's legacy it will take him twice as long and many people will still consider Rock better. Cena has the dedication to the company but Rock just had "it" and he is the standard by which everyone else since is judged on the mic.

 

[SickJames]

Okay I wanna say if anyone thinks Cena will be or is bigger than Rock in legacy then they are saying the same about Austin because those two were very very close at the top during their time in WWE and went out around the same time, both made a huge impact in a short time and their legacies are more precious than Hogan's & Flair's for the simple fact that both knew when to let go and didnt tarnish their images/careers

So NO Cena will never surpass them even on longevity, that would mean high level midcarders would in some cases and thats not true, that's like saying will Edge surpass them and no cause he's not a bigger name. The Rock & Stone Cold are bigger names than John Cena and it still reigns true today even over Triple H, yes STILL when the Attitude Era was here and now that it aint.

To the OP, not bashing you, but I'm sick of ppl overusing this "that guy's overrated" bullshit. Rock is the best entertainer, it's obvious, he's not overrated, Austin isnt overrated, there are gonna be top guys, they just are that damn good, not overrated, Trish isnt overrated and neither is Lita.

The thing that pisses me off is ppl piss on these guys in wrestling which we all love, but ppl rarely ever say "oh Tyson is overrated" "Ali was overrated" "LeBron James or Jordan are overrated" I'm not getting into real sports vs wrestling because in any case you are good at what you are good at and I'd rather ppl say LeBron was more overrated first considering I never was high on guys being stars in a team sport. If these guys are not overrated and guys are in singles competition style sports where they arent constantly in a team like in football, basketball etc, what the hell?

I mean there are movie star good at what they do, just acting, but no one says "Will Smith is overrated" he's made some good movies

Damnit Justin Bieber is overrated in what he does, not The Rock in wrestling or Hogan in wrestling or LOD, HBK, Taker. I've heard extreme bashing on all these guys
I think as fans we need to appreciate our stars in the thing we love called pro-wrestling more, be glad we have these stars and stop trying to downgrade them because it doesnt happen like it does in forums for wrestling outside of wrestling

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Okay I wanna say if anyone thinks Cena will be or is bigger than Rock in legacy then they are saying the same about Austin because those two were very very close at the top during their time in WWE and went out around the same time, both made a huge impact in a short time and their legacies are more precious than Hogan's & Flair's for the simple fact that both knew when to let go and didnt tarnish their images/careers

So NO Cena will never surpass them even on longevity, that would mean high level midcarders would in some cases and thats not true, that's like saying will Edge surpass them and no cause he's not a bigger name. The Rock & Stone Cold are bigger names than John Cena and it still reigns true today even over Triple H, yes STILL when the Attitude Era was here and now that it aint.

To the OP, not bashing you, but I'm sick of ppl overusing this "that guy's overrated" bullshit. Rock is the best entertainer, it's obvious, he's not overrated, Austin isnt overrated, there are gonna be top guys, they just are that damn good, not overrated, Trish isnt overrated and neither is Lita.

The thing that pisses me off is ppl piss on these guys in wrestling which we all love, but ppl rarely ever say "oh Tyson is overrated" "Ali was overrated" "LeBron James or Jordan are overrated" I'm not getting into real sports vs wrestling because in any case you are good at what you are good at and I'd rather ppl say LeBron was more overrated first considering I never was high on guys being stars in a team sport. If these guys are not overrated and guys are in singles competition style sports where they arent constantly in a team like in football, basketball etc, what the hell?

I mean there are movie star good at what they do, just acting, but no one says "Will Smith is overrated" he's made some good movies

Damnit Justin Bieber is overrated in what he does, not The Rock in wrestling or Hogan in wrestling or LOD, HBK, Taker. I've heard extreme bashing on all these guys
I think as fans we need to appreciate our stars in the thing we love called pro-wrestling more, be glad we have these stars and stop trying to downgrade them because it doesnt happen like it does in forums for wrestling outside of wrestling

I don't think Rock is anywhere close to Austin so I have no problem with saying that Cena won't have a bigger legacy than Stone Cold.

If Cena stays in the WWE until he is 40ish, then I believe that he will have a bigger legacy than the Rock. They both have the entertainment aspect covered but they're putting more stock into Cena's movies than the Rock especially since he started doing them two or three years into his career so Cena has an advantage there.

In terms of wrestling, I feel that while the Rock has had great matches the only defining match to me he had was his matchup against Hogan. Cena has had his against Michaels in London and I believe he can have more. I'll take Cena's main-event matches over the Rock's main-event matches.

 

[yyuusr]

The Rock, When its all done and said people are gonna remember who entertained the most not who stuck with them longer and that honor obviously goes to The Rock

If you look at it from a certain perspective the last couple of years of Cena matches and feuds were just plain Boring and people won't forget that so easily

 

[Super Strudel]

In entertainment circles - The Rock
In wrestling circles - John Cena

I am a Rock fan, always have been. I consider him my favourite all time wrestler. And I liked Cena, pre-falling into a vat of radioactive sludge thus turning him into Superman.
As far as worldwide goes, The Rock will win hands down. He has the movie exposure and the millions in box office receipts to prove it. This of course is working under the assumption that Cena lives up to his word of "never selling out" and going Hollywood.

But as far as wrestling goes, as much as it pains me, it will be Cena. The Rock, for his 8 years in the company will eventually be viewed along the same lines as a Macho Man - someone who was absolutely huge at the time, but over time has slowly slipped into the shadows behind his more well known contemporaries.

And Cena will be better known. Trust me, for our generation this will suck. But think about this - Cena is this generation's Hogan. He's carrying the company. He has already been in wrestling the same amount of time as The Rock and is still firing on all 6 moving cylinders.
Cena's legacy will be as a company man who "gave millions of youngsters hope" or some hokey bs like that.
In wrestling, The Rock's will be as "the most electrifying man in sports entertainment". But that will also always be tainted with thoughts of what could have been, had he stuck around.