The Rock

[streicher187]

I know most people are in love with Stone Cold and give his 3:16 speech credit for the birth of the attitude era and one of the best times in WWF/WWE History.

Watching The Rock dvd on Neflix I had forgot his speech that started the build to him becoming a star. He was a below midcarder and was thrown in with the Nation to give him something to do then Vince let him on the mic and he got everyones attention.

I would say he became a bigger star then Austin but like Jericho said on the DVD that was probably the only time you had 2 guys at the top unlike today where you have Cena at the top or the 80's where Hogan ruled.

THAT'S what I miss about that time, it's not the swearing or the blood but it was less scripted. You wouldn't have an Austin 3:16 today or the Rock getting on the mic and making people take notice. That's why when Punk was doing his thing people took notice or even Ryder on youtube.

If they took the training wheels off todays guys and let them loose on the mic how many would fail but how many would take off and make themselves stars?

 

[zee4u2nv]

Simply put!!! The rock was the best entertainer in the history of wwe! And in the top 10 wrestlers of all time! Only he and austin could sell out arenas on their own!

 

[Best in the World 79]

You're absolutely right man. I loved the speech he had in green bay. Well I'd be suckin down beer too if ya smell what the rock is cookin.

That era, you had, all in their prime: austin, rock, taker, kane, foley, hhh, laat year or so of hbk, big van vader. All guys who were main event staples.

Today john cena is main eventing every show and he's not even champ.

It's like they're so image conscious that they're afraid for most guys to get over.


They're losing fans and ratings because they're overly cautious. I'm not bitching or bashing, I'm just stating. Go back to basics. Develop good storylines and see them through. Simple as that

 

[asiatic7]

The thing that made the Attitude Era so compelling is that everyone had a storyline, from Rock and Austin to Crash Holly. Everyone had a story as to why they were in the ring that night, DX, Mae Young, Val Venis and Ryan Shamrock, The Hardcore title and McMahon's Stooges, Crash Holly...everyone had something going on. Also, that era had a roster full of guys that could get on the stick and entertain. You had, Rock and Austin of course, then you had Road dogg, Godfather, Val Venis, Mankind all entertaining on the mike. RAW back then wasn't depending on one guy and one storyline with a couple of matches spread out over two hours the way it is now. It seems like they are scared to let guys break through on their own. These guys get scripts handed to them to memorize and told how to walk and talk. It's almost as if they are training actors to be wrestlers. The Attitude Era was more organic. If it wasn't the Rock who broke through, it would have been someone else. Probably not to the sucess the Rock had, but there was a great supporting cast back then, HHH, Angle, (also good mic guys to a degree), Big Show , Taker, DX, Nation of Domination.

Now we live in an era of generic "stars", cookie cutter, no personality, six pack ab, kick pad wearing (why does EVERYONE wear those things now?) actors. It's like they come from the same mold.

We'll probably never see anyone the caliber of Rock, but we also will never know if the product keeps going the way it is now.

I'm sure if they give guys storylines and mic time, we might be suprised at who actually can entertain....

 

[HBsam31]

I am not really sure why the wrestlers of today are so scripted in their promos. Wrestling promos for as long as I can remember have been an outlet to let stars show a bit of them self, and giving them the ball to run with or drop so to speak. I think a lot of today's guys would benefit greatly from being allowed to say what is on their minds in the promos instead of just doing everything from memory. Punk's promo was so good because there was truth in it and he really believed what he was say. I wish they would just experiment with allowing them to go off script even just for a little bit, and see if the guys can get themselves over that way. Sad thing is it doesn't look like it is going to happen.

 

[RJJ]

IMO, there are three things that seperate the AE from any other era before or since. Those three things are, mic skills quality, talents charisma, and competition. During that time, most of the WWE superstars knew how to work on the mic(Austin, Foley, HHH, Rock, Road Dogg, McMahons, Taker, Angle, Y2J, HBK, Venis, Godfather, Edge, Christian, Eddie Guerrero..)and it happened that most of those superstars also had the charisma to roll with it. Not to mention that they were FIGHTING(Not performing) for their lives as pro wrestlers, doing whatever it takes to kill there competition(WCW).


As far as Rock's promo, I thought it was great, but I think the promo that really everyone's attention was the one he did on sunday night heat days before summerslam 1998. IMO, that was his Austin 3:16 moment.


Here it is:
[YOUTUBE]?v=aHLaXeNiPpw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[gasM]

If people are going to become big stars like Rock and Austin, they need to develop their own characters on the mic - it's simple.

I'm actually an actor, and I know for a fact that it's easier to play a character similar to yourself or who you can inject some of yourself into than a completely polar opposite personality. It's the same in wrestling - Stone Cold's early heel work was just an extension of Steve William's shoot in ECW and his anger at authority (Eric Bischoff, in that case).

Imagine how difficult it must be for guys like Dolph Ziggler in WWE right now. It's been widely reported that he's a loyal, down to earth, funny guy behind the scenes, yet he's forced to play a generic, narcissistic heel. And he doesn't even get much character development - he's played a similar character for years and not been allowed to evolve or innovate - and when he went off script and tried to cultivate his own character, he was punished for it. What's the point in that?