RAW - Electri-THUD!!

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Some of the guys in this thread are proving one of the most famous theories passed around on wrestling forums, correct.

The theory says that one reason why both the Hulkamania era and the Attitude Era worked so well was that the IWC was not so prominent. There were fewer guys around who would bitch about every single thing: whether good or bad. Maybe even the current era would work better without the IWC.

Seriously what was wrong about this week's Raw. One of the biggest stars of the industry got a great tribute complete with an awesome video package and also had the crowd eaating out of his hand inspite of there being little for him to work with. Is it The Rock's promos that you feel are unappealing? Well wake up, have some coffee and go back and watch some videos from the Attitude Era. The promos were the same and the crowd reactions were the same too. The difference is that once upon a time you were a part of that crowd and now you are nothing but a whiny bitch.

Even apart from The Rock there was a lot to the show. The R-Truth/ Morrison story got advanced. R-Truth has been migty impressive as a heel. Cena and Miz put together a very good match which was also much better than their WrestleMania match. Mason Ryan looked good and so did Kharma, which I may add has been one of the most impressive debuts that I have seen in the WWE since that of Kane. Maybe the only thing that could have gotten more time was the tag match but I am sure that you will see a lot more of all four guys in the coming weeks. Maybe that will give you something more to bitch about because it seems that that is how you guys roll.

 

[The Brain]

A 20 second stare down advanced the fued? Is that how bad its gotten these days? How about cena coming out in the middle of myas happy birthday to the rock and mugging him from behind? Now thats advancing a fued.

That would not fit in with the way the feud has developed so far. Ever hear of less is more? These are two huge stars who have captured the imagination of the wrestling audience. They have a main event match at WrestleMania set one year in advance. The feud doesn't need to be advanced much at this point. The show delivered as advertised. If this exact segment took place in 1999 people would have eaten it up.

 

[Italian9979]

People are entitled to their opinions and if they wanna hate The Rock then so be it...More often then not people that bash The Rock since he's been back are all Cena biters who don't like someone making their hero look like hot garbage...but again that's their right...

BUT...

If The Rock is no good and a has-been and all these other so called terms that have been thrown around so much lately then lemme ask...

1) Why did they ask him to come back? Let's face it...Rock is a certified movie star...his movies make a ton of money and he's rich enough and successful enough to do whatever he wants...Vince needs The Rock not the other way around...by far...

2) Why have ratings been up SINCE he has come back?

3) Why does he get such MONSTER pops everytime he appears if he's a has-been?

4) Why did he not only host WrestleMania this year and ALREADY slated to be the ME at next year's event?

5) Why did they devote pretty much an entire episode of Raw to the Rock the night AFTER Superdouche (Cena) got back the belt? It's common practice for the night following a PPV for the champ to celebrate his title defense and/or rant about winning the belt.

6) If Cena is sooooo damn over, how come he gets pushed down a notch whenever The Rock comes around?

 

[pessimism101]

People are entitled to their opinions and if they wanna hate The Rock then so be it...More often then not people that bash The Rock since he's been back are all Cena biters who don't like someone making their hero look like hot garbage...but again that's their right...

BUT...

If The Rock is no good and a has-been and all these other so called terms that have been thrown around so much lately then lemme ask...

1) Why did they ask him to come back? Let's face it...Rock is a certified movie star...his movies make a ton of money and he's rich enough and successful enough to do whatever he wants...Vince needs The Rock not the other way around...by far...

2) Why have ratings been up SINCE he has come back?

3) Why does he get such MONSTER pops everytime he appears if he's a has-been?

4) Why did he not only host WrestleMania this year and ALREADY slated to be the ME at next year's event?

5) Why did they devote pretty much an entire episode of Raw to the Rock the night AFTER Superdouche (Cena) got back the belt? It's common practice for the night following a PPV for the champ to celebrate his title defense and/or rant about winning the belt.

6) If Cena is sooooo damn over, how come he gets pushed down a notch whenever The Rock comes around?

First, I hate the Rock and I'm not a Cena fan either, so...

To answer your questions:

1) They asked the Rock to come back so they could sell a perceivably lackluster WrestleMania. The goal was 1 million buys and the WWE thought that the card they had wouldn't do it.

2) The ratings haven't gone up THAT much... i've yet to see anything over 4.0 since the Rock came back. Plus, to say any ratings jumps are due to the Rock, you're doing the rest of the roster a disservice.

3) Why does he get "monster" pops everywhere? Plain and simple.. nostalgia. Many WWE fans long for the Attitude Era, so, seeing a star from the Attitude Era is obviously going to get a reaction. And, if you don't believe that this is all due to nostalgia, compare to Hulk Hogan's WWE return in the early 2000's. He was receiving monster pops too for a while.

4) Why did he host WrestleMania this year? See above. As for the main event next year, The Rock being in the Main Event is most likely a condition put forth by the Rock to both go into the Hall of Fame (in his hometown) AND to ensure that WWE holds WrestleMania 28 in Miami... a topic for another day. In addition, I think the WWE is attempting to do another "Icon vs. Icon" things like the one from WrestleMania X8. Plus, I'm sure they believe Rock vs. Cena will turn out the most PPV buys ever for a WrestleMania.

5) They devoted an entire episode to the Rock because A) it was his birthday; B) it was in his hometown of Miami. Truth be told, I think the WWE is just trying to kiss the Rock's ass so he'll be more inclined to do whatever WWE wants.

6) Admittedly, Cena's not on the same level as the Rock, but I completely disagree with having a CURRENT roster member who has busted their ass for a long time to get where they're at play second fiddle to a man who left WWE for Hollywood and didn't look back for 7 years. (Yes, it's his right, but to completely ignore both where you came from AND the fans for those 7 years makes him a sellout).

 

[The Mighty Tiger]

Originally Posted by pessimism101

First, I hate the Rock and I'm not a Cena fan either, so...

Well I'm a fan of the Rock's & I question some of your opinions cause they seem a little off the wall.

The ratings haven't gone up THAT much... i've yet to see anything over 4.0 since the Rock came back. Plus, to say any ratings jumps are due to the Rock, you're doing the rest of the roster a disservice.

True the ratings haven't been crazy high but for you to imply that the ratings jump had anything to do w/the roster when it only jump up when Rock came back is a disservice to The Rock. The ratings didn't move tell The Rock & other legends came back. So how is the roster even in the equation of a ratings boost.

Why does he get "monster" pops everywhere? Plain and simple.. nostalgia. Many WWE fans long for the Attitude Era, so, seeing a star from the Attitude Era is obviously going to get a reaction. And, if you don't believe that this is all due to nostalgia, compare to Hulk Hogan's WWE return in the early 2000's. He was receiving monster pops too for a while.

I would agree the pops Rock get is because of nostalgia, but lets be foreal do you really think he wouldn't get those pops anyway if he hadn't left. Rock would be the # 1 guy getting all the cheers still if he never left so it doesn't matter what the reason is because he would get them anyways.

As for the main event next year, The Rock being in the Main Event is most likely a condition put forth by the Rock to both go into the Hall of Fame (in his hometown) AND to ensure that WWE holds WrestleMania 28 in Miami... a topic for another day.

What you may as well explain this shit now, you mean to tell me that you think The Rock got so much pull that he can dictate not only where Wrestlemania is going to be but also can tell Vince when he wants to be put into the Hall of Fame ? I'm one of his biggest fans & I don't even believe that shit. He would have to be the greatest wrestler ever in history to be able to come in after being gone for years & tell the owner where there going to have Wrestlemania & to tell him when he is being put in the Hall of Fame.

Admittedly, Cena's not on the same level as the Rock, but I completely disagree with having a CURRENT roster member who has busted their ass for a long time to get where they're at play second fiddle to a man who left WWE for Hollywood and didn't look back for 7 years.

John Cena is the champion for a 10th time where is he playing second fiddle to The Rock. Hell no one care about Cena & Miz's match at Wrestlemania tell Rock got involved. Not to mention John is more then likely winning at Mania so that would mean Rock is playing second to him.

 

[ocekit]

I'll admit I'm one of those people who wanted him back, but has been overly critical of him. But I realized I've been too harsh on him and this week I have no complaints.

This was pretty good for one of RAW's "party"
episodes. Sure the backstage bits were corny and expected, but it's like that any time they have a party. Anyone expecting superb conversations back there was unrealistic.

The matches were pretty good. I was so happy to see Kharma on my TV and thought that whole segment was done nicely. Mason Ryan was built up well. JoMo/Truth wasn't blown off to soon. The only thing that confused me was why Swagger and McIntyre teamed up, but even then the match was decent. I also liked the video tribute at the end. Overall, the episode was actually better than what I was expecting.

 

[Morpheus101]

Wow. So Rock is the most, or in the case of last night the least, electrifying man in all of sports entertainment. Was anyone else bored out of their skull with the opening skit last night along with all of the corny back stage skits through the show? Shoot, it had to be close to 30 minutes before the first match even got under way. The most exciting part of the show had to be Kharma coming out. Though I will give props to Cena / Miz even though that match belonged in a PPV. Definitely match of the night. But Rock, electrifying? More like a fizzling power line right before the transformer blows it out.

Agreed 100%!

Monday's Raw was one of the worst in a long time. Rock did nothing but bore the shit out of me to be honest. That whole birthday celebration thing was the biggest crock of shit I've seen in a while. Rock did nothing but pander to the Miami crowd, which may have been entertaining within the confines of the "305", but I'm sure that the rest of us were bored out of our minds.

Kharma's Raw debut and Ryan's amazing spear were the only great things to come out of what turned out to be a lame-ass Raw.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

When I think about it, I think the worst part was the celebrities. I hate LeBron, the lady who sang his birthday had that annoying way of over pronouncing the Bs and ts, the rapper in all white fuckin sucks AIDS infested uncircumsized dick, Paul Walker, Jimmy Fallon, George Lopez, "Award Winning" Tyle Perry?. A majority of the celebrities they had make me hate my television for burning my brain with their images.

The celebrities, with few exceptions, were a "who's who" of shitty mainstream "artists". I think maybe that's what made it suck so bad.

 

[Reincarnated09]

Don't Understand Why Rock Get's A Birthday Celebration.. None Of The Other Legends Have Ever Got That Kind Of Treatment.. I Mean The Rock's Promo Wasn't As Good As The One When He Came Back.. At Wrestlemania His Opening Promo Cost Alot Of The Matches To End Up Being Shorter Then They Should Of... The Way I See It Is To Much Time Is Given To Rock.. After A Great PPV At Extreme Rules... Raw Didn't Follow Up With A Great Show The Best Part Of The Show Was The DIVAS Match When Kharma Comes Out And Destroys Maryse

 

[RJJ]

LOL!! I see jealousy! Some people need to understand that whether they they like it or not, rock is ARGUEBLY the greatest superstar to ever step in the wwe ring. He's up there with hogan and austin. Hell he's the most dominant superstar ever, no one has accomplished what rock accomplished in only 6yrs as an active wwe wrestler, not even hogan. Hell he didn't even reach his full potenial, he left when he was 30yrs old. He paved the way to all those young talents to become BIG early in thier career. For example: Brock lesnar, randy orton, and of course john cena. If it wasn't for the rock these guys wouldn't be that dominant earlier in thier careers. Lesnar became the youngest wwe champion ever and a 4times wwe champion in only 2yrs career, orton became the youngest world champion ever, and cena...well...he's an 8 times wwe champion and he's like 34 or 35. Rock broke the whole age thing rule down, you don't have to be an 8yrs veteren to win your first world title anymore.

To whine about him leaving 7yrs ago is really pathetic. I thought vince refused to extend his contract, believing that they can move on without him, and 3yrs ago when vince knew he's fucked up, he blame it all on rock, trying to do anything to get him back and includes his boy cena talking trash about him LMAO. The funny thing is nobody's talking about austin when he "took his ball and went home" because things didn't go his way, or hogan when he signed with the wcw and pulled every dirty trick to run the wwe outta business, and now he's with TNA.

guys don't be jealous because rock is out shining your boy cena, it's not his fault that rock is levels above him, that's just the way it is.

 

[Mustang Sally]

This is purely entertainment, and WWE has made "wrestling" a curse word.

Oh man, I like that! Maybe the term will become popular and be used in other expressions that typically contained obscenities or threats, such as:


"You're a stupid mother-wrestler!"

"Wrestle it out your ass, you wrestlin' asshole!"

"All right, Sheriff, we're fixin' to wrestle you now."

"Wrestle you, you stupid son of a wrestler."

************

I still think RAW was a good show this past Monday. Originality is the spice of life.....and the show had a lot of spice. Occasionally departing from the traditional format is a good thing, though many of you obviously disagree.

 

[Xemmy]

Rock was indeed boring last night. It seemed incredibly stupid, and very self-promoting.
It's very rare for the Rock not to entertain me, so I'm willing to let it go. The only reason it was like that though, was because the show was in Miami. So hopefully that bullshit ends for a while. I hate it when someone steals the show without actually being entertaining.

However, the show overall was fairly entertaining, Miz, Cena, and Kong helped make the show worthwhile for me. So Rock didn't necessarily ruin the show for me.

 

[Kenny Powers]

I was a huge Rock fan as a teenager, but now I know why so many people (myself included) can dislike the Rock. It was the man's birthday on Raw in his hometown, so I cant blame him for feeling good about himself. I was looking forward to the show, but I wasn't a fan. The matches weren't bad on the show, even Cena vs. Miz was better then their Wrestlemania match. I just couldn't take all the pandering and love to the Rock.

If you loved the Rock then maybe you liked it, but if you hate or only marginally like the Rock then you probably hated the show. I think the show would still have been good if Rock wasn't in every segment practically. Nothing much was really set up for next week to get excited about.

I'm afraid WWE will go into overkill mode and get more people to boo the Rock then cheer him. It will work out great for Cena. I didn't mind the silly skits, but after while you have to say can we get on with the show now? It's great the Rock is celebrating his birthday on Raw, but the entire show doesn't have to revolve around him.

I know its sad that most of us couldn't wait until the Rock returned, and now some are already sick of him. I'm still glad Rock is involved, and I hope WWE can keep the momentum going into WM 28. I just don't need to watch Raw dedicate half of the show to how great the Rock is. We know he is a superstar, we don't need to do everything but perform ******io on him in the ring to prove that.

 

[Italian9979]

I disagree with a lot of what you had to say but I will break it down as to why...

1) They asked the Rock to come back so they could sell a perceivably lackluster WrestleMania. The goal was 1 million buys and the WWE thought that the card they had wouldn't do it.

It wouldn’t have come close...Vince pulled every Attitude Era trick he had left in the bag to make it an even mildly entertaining Mania...You had The Rock as guest host...Stone Cold as Guest Enforcer...HHH vs. Undertaker in what was the match of the night...Trish Stratus came back to team up with Snooki...for all the people that hate the Attitude Era it shows a lot of what Vince thinks of the current lineup that he needed to bring people back to make the card complete...

2) The ratings haven't gone up THAT much... i've yet to see anything over 4.0 since the Rock came back. Plus, to say any ratings jumps are due to the Rock, you're doing the rest of the roster a disservice.

What you see as a disservice I see as a fact...see the above comment...WrestleMania is the event used to showcase your finest available talent...but because of such a lackluster roster...he relied on too many legends to bring credibility to the show...face it...when your Champion is reduced to a third wheel in his OWN title match to a guy that wasn’t even wrestling...there’s a problem...

3) Why does he get "monster" pops everywhere? Plain and simple.. nostalgia. Many WWE fans long for the Attitude Era, so, seeing a star from the Attitude Era is obviously going to get a reaction. And, if you don't believe that this is all due to nostalgia, compare to Hulk Hogan's WWE return in the early 2000's. He was receiving monster pops too for a while.

It has nothing to do with era...it has to do with the wrestler...guys like Hogan and The Rock...when you think of them you think Wrestling...sure Rock has been gone 7 years and sure Hogan is way over the hill but it says a lot about what fans want when you see the reactions...you don’t see too many of those reactions for current wrestlers which if you can see the theme here is the main problem...

4) Why did he host WrestleMania this year? See above. As for the main event next year, The Rock being in the Main Event is most likely a condition put forth by the Rock to both go into the Hall of Fame (in his hometown) AND to ensure that WWE holds WrestleMania 28 in Miami... a topic for another day. In addition, I think the WWE is attempting to do another "Icon vs. Icon" things like the one from WrestleMania X8. Plus, I'm sure they believe Rock vs. Cena will turn out the most PPV buys ever for a WrestleMania.

This is nonsense...the Rock didn’t dictate anything...people can bash the Rock all they want but here are the undeniable facts...he is one of the most popular and successful performers in WWE history and he has transitioned himself to become a very successful movie star...the man has grossed over a billion dollars and led to Vince trying to get a film division off the ground...everything the man touches is gold...he didn’t need to come back...HE WANTED TO COME BACK...big difference...

5) They devoted an entire episode to the Rock because A) it was his birthday; B) it was in his hometown of Miami. Truth be told, I think the WWE is just trying to kiss the Rock's ass so he'll be more inclined to do whatever WWE wants.

Truth be told I thought last week’s Raw sucked...I’m a huge Rock fan but let’s face it...they had no one there that could really make it feel special...No Stone Cold, No HHH, No Mick Foley...these were the guys Rock shared most of his feuds and highlights with...one of the biggest ever spots on Raw was the This is Your Life segment with Mankind...that kind of show would’ve been awesome...what we got on Monday sucked...there simply was no relevance...

6) Admittedly, Cena's not on the same level as the Rock, but I completely disagree with having a CURRENT roster member who has busted their ass for a long time to get where they're at play second fiddle to a man who left WWE for Hollywood and didn't look back for 7 years. (Yes, it's his right, but to completely ignore both where you came from AND the fans for those 7 years makes him a sellout).

I don’t...it happened the same way with Hogan/Rock....Hogan came back under the nWo gimmick and the Icon vs. Icon match made Hogan a face again...people were split down the middle during that match and that was a time when Hogan did some way over the top things such as the infamous running into the ambulance with the tractor trailer...Rock won the match but Hogan overshadowed the event...it’s what happens when a Legend meets a current Icon...and it’s no different then what’s happening now...Rock can do any despicable thing he wants between now and Mania...when that match happens fans will cheer him...

It is also like you said...nostalgia...The Rock represents the crazy Attitude Era which was like the second golden age of wrestling...when you think of the Rock you think of all the A+ talent they had then and you look at today’s watered down roster and can only look back at what you used to have...

Am I saying every current person on the roster sucks...ABSOLUTELY NOT...but you cannot tell me that a line that featured The Rock, Stone Cold, HHH in his prime, Undertaker, Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and etc etc etc. is not leagues above what you have today....if these guys could still go full time most of the current roster would be doing ROH shows...

 

[Mitch Henessey]

It was The Rock's birthday bash. What did you think was going to happen? If some of you were expecting The Rock to have a cake, blow out some candles, and quietly go on about his business, then you were seriously fooling yourself. The Rock is one of the most colorful personalities in pro wrestling history, and WWE did market his birthday party as a big bash, so you had to expect something extravagant. Yeah, he was in Miami, and the crowd was hot for him. He's considered to be a hometown hero, so you had to know he would receive a warm reception.

As far as the entire show goes, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Miz VS Cena was a damn good TV Title match, Mason Ryan's destruction of Kane and Big Show was unreal, and it looks like he's on the path for a serious push. Kharma continued her destruction of the WWE Divas, as she crushed Maryse, and it seems as if WWE is putting some real effort into R-Truth's heel turn. I thought things might be over after the match that was supposed to take place on Monday night, but Truth's sneak attack helped further this storyline.

I just don't get the majority of the IWC sometimes. So many posters on this forum complained about The Rock not returning to WWE. He was called a sellout. He didn't care about his fans. Now The Rock is back, and a lot of people are finding ways to tear him apart. If The Rock was back as a full time wrestler, then I'm sure plenty of people would find a way to bitch about that also. "He's taking up too much TV time," "he's become stale," or "he's stealing the spotlight from other young stars in WWE." WWE can't satisfy some wrestling fans these days. They can try, but it's not going to happen.