Regardless of how easy the shoot style is, The Rock finds it difficult to respond to. Sure, it's like cheating but that is like someone complaining that Rock gets all the best lines written for him every time. You need a ton of conviction in your voice to carry off a shoot promo and get the crowd to believe what they have never even heard of. Punk has that skill. The best thing that Rock would do in such a situation is respond with a genitilia joke which will get the crowd rolling but it will be a poor counter regardless.
And that more money line, also can be responded to in a number of ways. You know what would also draw a ton of money? Getting Shaqiulle O'Niell to wrestle Big Show. Getting some popular celebrities involved. Really this line is much worse than you actually think. If Rock would have responded with something like me and Cena will create a moment that you will never be able to replicate, then that would have actually been more difficult to reply to.
It is not about Rock getting the last word. Even his replies to Cena's barrage, which he did get a chance to do were poor. Cena even mauled him in his own game with his great rap. And how does PG and non PG matter? Had this been a non PG setting Rock would have probably added an expletive before his genitilia joke at best. No amount of expletives can help you counter an intelligent promo. And remember Cena too can handle himself in a Non-PG environment.
It was hardly an ideal world scenario that I was talking about. HHH would never be booked to lose to Punk in a promo war. That was supposed to be a promo war between two badasses and both guys were supposed to look equally good coming out of it but the scripting was shoddy and it even looked as if HHH and Punk had not consulted each other before the promos. Each and every line that HHH said could have been very eassily replied to.
While all the superstars you mentioned are great superstars, the one thing that Rock benefitted from was that all these guys pretty much came up at the same time along with Rock. Their rise to stardom was almost parallel to that of The Rock. Hence, as Rock was a superstar on an equal footing with these guys, he was often booked to win his promo wars.
Punk has come up in an era where he has been a comparable nobody compared to some of the bigger names. Punk has had to fight his way up the card more than Rocky. Bigger names generally protect their reputation to stay on top for a long time. They cannot let some greenhorn destroy them. That hinders Punk's rise and hence he has been booked a bit weakly in his promos from time to time. All things given I think that the difference between Rock and Punk is as great as it seems from rose tinted glasses.
"that is like someone complaining that Rock gets all the best lines written for him every time."
Accoring to Orton?! The same guy who said cena is ten times better than rock in the ring?! lol come on..
"You need a ton of conviction in your voice to carry off a shoot promo and get the crowd to believe what they have never even heard of."
All you need is to go out of character in order to make it work. Everyone knows xpac sucked on the mic, but because it was a shoot people look at the promo he did in his return(1998) as a 5-star. Same thing with paul heyman and vince segment before servivor series 2001, I can't help but notice how the crowd start cheering when paul while paul was laying down the truth. The whole edge-hardy fued(Became the main focus), triple h shoot interview in 1999(The night after, "the game" signs are everywhere). Austin's shoot promos in ECW... you see, there is no secret, the fans love to see superstars break kayfabe.
"The best thing that Rock would do in such a situation is respond with a genitilia joke which will get the crowd rolling but it will be a poor counter regardless."
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and countless of rock-hhh segments prove that rock can respond to those kind of shoots.
"And that more money line, also can be responded to in a number of ways. You know what would also draw a ton of money? Getting Shaqiulle O'Niell to wrestle Big Show. Getting some popular celebrities involved. Really this line is much worse than you actually think."
Then why not make it shaq vs cena at WM 28?! Come on you're smarter than that.
"If Rock would have responded with something like me and Cena will create a moment that you will never be able to replicate, then that would have actually been more difficult to reply to."
That means, he'll go completly out of character, and not only that, it will also hurt thier wm build-up, since the whole thing is about rock HATES cena.
"Cena even mauled him in his own game with his great rap. And how does PG and non PG matter? Had this been a non PG setting Rock would have probably added an expletive before his genitilia joke at best. No amount of expletives can help you counter an intelligent promo. And remember Cena too can handle himself in a Non-PG environment. "
It does matter. In 1999 rock didn't care about "tear him down, and build him back up" rule. He used to go out, and make his opponents look like complete idiots. He used to destroy them verbally. Billy gun is a great example. Rock literally killed his push after delivering the "billy talks to god" promo. He was supposed to be a main eventer, but not after that. Undertaker, change his entire character to adapt in the attiude enviroment, and his last fued with rock and sock(before the transformation) was a big reason for that. Rock made him look like an ass, week in and week out.
"It was hardly an ideal world scenario that I was talking about. HHH would never be booked to lose to Punk in a promo war. That was supposed to be a promo war between two badasses and both guys were supposed to look equally good coming out of it but the scripting was shoddy and it even looked as if HHH and Punk had not consulted each other before the promos. Each and every line that HHH said could have been very eassily replied to."
You're kidding me, right? Punk was tearing the shit out of hunter the whole fued, and hunter never had the chance to respond up untill thier last promo before the match, and guess what happened, HHH, verbally, put him in a figure-4-leg lock.
"While all the superstars you mentioned are great superstars, the one thing that Rock benefitted from was that all these guys pretty much came up at the same time along with Rock. Their rise to stardom was almost parallel to that of The Rock. Hence, as Rock was a superstar on an equal footing with these guys, he was often booked to win his promo wars."
That maybe the case with hhh, jericho, and foley, but it's not with austin. As great as austin was, he couldn't hang with rock on the mic. You disagree? watch their build up to WM 15 and WM 19.
I've always said, rock as a heel is unbeatable on the mic.