Was CM Punk Right About The Rock?

[Trill Co$by]

People are delusional if they think that The Rock is the sole reason for people ordering WrestleMania last year. What about the fact that Miz was putting on the best promos of all time and was getting a lot of hype? What about the return of Trish Stratus to the WWE Ring? What about Jerry Lawler finally getting his WM match? What about the fans who bought the replay JUST because it was Edge's last night as an active WWE competitor?

There is no way that people can put a wrestling promotion's full success on ONE person. Even in the 80s, when Hogan was the lead profit, there were still OTHER people like Ultimate Warrior pulling in merchandise sales as well. John Cena, Miz, and Orton this time last year were selling t-shirts and probably a significant part of WM 27's draw as well.

Face it, CM Punk WAS right. If you're going to say that The Rock selling out MSG on a PPV is something to be proud of, then give CM Punk and JBL their credit for selling out MSG in a fucking house show.

 

[ae_wrestler123]

People are delusional if they think that The Rock is the sole reason for people ordering WrestleMania last year. What about the fact that Miz was putting on the best promos of all time and was getting a lot of hype? What about the return of Trish Stratus to the WWE Ring? What about Jerry Lawler finally getting his WM match? What about the fans who bought the replay JUST because it was Edge's last night as an active WWE competitor?

There is no way that people can put a wrestling promotion's full success on ONE person. Even in the 80s, when Hogan was the lead profit, there were still OTHER people like Ultimate Warrior pulling in merchandise sales as well. John Cena, Miz, and Orton this time last year were selling t-shirts and probably a significant part of WM 27's draw as well.

Face it, CM Punk WAS right. If you're going to say that The Rock selling out MSG on a PPV is something to be proud of, then give CM Punk and JBL their credit for selling out MSG in a fucking house show.

Did the rock claim to be the reason for 1 million buys??? Or are they attributing him being there bumping up the buy rates to a million, a figure that it never had. Cuz i remembered reading on this site that Vince brought the rock in hopes of bumping up the buyrates to a million.

For the SS issue. Were there anyone thinking that the rock would do anything more than a rock bottom there?? SO why would someone spend 60 bucks to see the rock do a rock bottom and people's elbow when they saw it for free on the raw before??

No one thought the rock was gonna have any kind of participation in the match expcept for a hot tag and a pin. Therefore in these hard times i would personally save the money to pay for wrestlemania instead to see the rock one on one. And now we know it's gonna be a good wrestling match cuz dwayne still got it.

If dwayne cannot draw how the hell he got Cena's face on millions of fruity pebbles boxes???????? Can Phil brookes do that???

 

[Rampage Bentley]

People are delusional if they think that The Rock is the sole reason for people ordering WrestleMania last year. What about the fact that Miz was putting on the best promos of all time and was getting a lot of hype? What about the return of Trish Stratus to the WWE Ring? What about Jerry Lawler finally getting his WM match? What about the fans who bought the replay JUST because it was Edge's last night as an active WWE competitor?

There is no way that people can put a wrestling promotion's full success on ONE person. Even in the 80s, when Hogan was the lead profit, there were still OTHER people like Ultimate Warrior pulling in merchandise sales as well. John Cena, Miz, and Orton this time last year were selling t-shirts and probably a significant part of WM 27's draw as well.

Face it, CM Punk WAS right. If you're going to say that The Rock selling out MSG on a PPV is something to be proud of, then give CM Punk and JBL their credit for selling out MSG in a fucking house show.

I really can't speak for the other 999,999 people who bought WrestleMania, but The Rock was the reason I bought it last year.

I haven't missed a WrestleMania... ever, but I considered not getting it just because the card was one of the weakest in WrestleMania history. Miz was actually a HUGE reason as to why I considered not ordering it, he never has pulled me in or in any way made me believe he was a champion. Honestly you could have put Kofi Kingston in that match against Cena and it wouldn't have made a difference to me.

While Trish Stratus returning is cool, it's not enough to make me want to shell out $50 to see it.

Lawler vs. Cole was an abortion, and I figured it would be going into it.

I am so glad I ordered it to see Edge's last match, but by the time he got checked out by the doctors and announced his retirement, the replays had stopped showing.

Rock wasn't the only reason I ordered it, I wanted to see Taker/Triple H and Punk/Orton, but once again it wasn't enough to make me want to shell out the money...

Rock was what tipped me to the "buy it" side of the fence.

 

[boywithbluehanger]

I really can't speak for the other 999,999 people who bought WrestleMania, but The Rock was the reason I bought it last year...
...Rock was what tipped me to the "buy it" side of the fence.

This is the same for me. The moment The Rock returned and announced that he was going to host Wrestlemania, I already knew for sure I was going to buy it. Granted I was a little upset that he wasn't returning to actually wrestle but just his presence was enough for me to know for sure that I didn't want to miss the possibility of him doing/saying something vital.

Rocky marks were the reason for the decision of him hosting in the first place. Obviously no one is forced to like him but I don't see the harm in acknowledging that his being their had a great impact on the buys.

 

[WolfNyte]

let me put my 1/2 cent in here.

There are some fans , myslef included, who take a piss break when the rot comes on. Not everyone takes it up the ass from the rot. Not all are his fans some of us desipise his washed out overused repetitive catch phrases and his promos that dont say anything. I put him in the same category as Hogan a piece of crap that needs to be chanted at " Die rocky Die" once more.

His ego arrives at the building, if he even bothers to show up, 2 hours before he does. I have never liked him and never will and I know a few people who dont have the testicular fortitude to stand up and say the same. Cause the Rot humpers will jump all over them.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

But as soon as it was announced The Rock was going to be there, tickets flew and they sold out.

I actually had plans to attend WM27 live in Atlanta since I had a business trip in Indianapolis. Unfortunatley I didn't have a flight early enough on monday to get me back to work on time.

This was 2-3 weeks before WM, and I can honestly say tickets were not sold out. I still saw tickets in the $200 range (there were closer seats that I could not afford ... so i was eyeing on the $200 ticket) so even announcing The Rock was the special guest host the tickets were not sold out.

 

[silrock316]

if a Rock event turns good, it was the Rock's doing, if a Rock event turns bad, it was the supporting cast.

This is the argument you will get pages of by his fanboys, so prepare for it.

The Rock isn't drawing that huge, because even super casual fans know he's only showing up for 5 minutes an event


Drawing RAW ratings here or there isn't a big deal. PPV Buyrates are much more telling, since if the Rock was a consistent player, he'd draw much less RAW time.

blah blah fanboys blah blah fanboys.

Anyone that tries to make a case for The Rock is automatically wrong in your eyes because we are "fanboys".

I don't know the exact byrate numbers, I have no idea what the ratings look like when Rocks segments on Raw come up but WHAT I DO KNOW FOR A FACT is I have at least 25 friends that are/were WRESTLING fans. About 12 of us still watch wrestling on a weekly basis. The other 13 or so won't really watch it anymore but maybe while we are out drinking beers, they will ask whats been going on with it. Etc. etc.

What they do know, is the Rock will be wrestling John Cena at Wrestle Mania 28 and they all have said they will be watching WM28, if only just to see The Rock wrestle again. Every single one of them said, if Rock comes back or even Steve Austin on a regular basis, they would once again reserve 9pm on Mondays in front of their tvs and they WILL be ordering the PPV as I insinuated.

That is me, and that is just ONE group of friends/wrestling fans, that will adjust their fandom according to what the likes of the Rock or a Steve Austin would do.

My point is, if my group acts like that, I can almost guarantee you in other places around the world, with other people, there will be people doing the SAMETHING as my friends.

You can take your buyrates and that inconsistent theory, I will take what I SEE and HEAR with my own senses with regards to The Rock.

Would the ratings skyrocket if he came back full time? Maybe not but just with my friends alone, the ratings go up automatically if the Great One made a full time return. As I said, we wouldnt be alone either.

 

[Youngsleez]

yo real talk, The Rock was the only reason why I bought WM this past year, ok honestly The Rock and Undertaker vs Triple H. The rest of the card looked whack. Yet when I saw the Rock, I was like yooooo I'm buying this shit. I care'd less for Cena and Miz but with the Rock on the card and the build between him and Cena you knew it was a wild card to the ppv, and I thank WWE for that. And you guys talk about is The Rock a draw, yo I work at a hospital and you have young people that ordered the joint 18-25 just to see the rock because all they liked was the attitude era. You had people there who don't even like wrestling and they ordered it cause of the Rock. Sorry dude in the everyday world, the Rock draws.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

I think it's simple. I think everyone, even the casual fan or child can tell that Cena was right when he said "The Rock isnt going to ""come home"" for good."

While it was awesome seeing Rocky and he hasnt lost a step in the ring, until mania where all everyone cares about is the payoff of the one match between Rock and Cena, everyone knows Rocky isnt back for good. Everyone knows he wont win any titles, or get put in anymore story lines besides Cena/Rock (atleast not till after). We all know he is only gonna make rare appearences and even more rarely wrestle. Atleast when Jerocho or HHH return they are regular or semi-regular performers and have more of the "Idk what could happen next?" presence. Dont get me wrong. Rocky sells and I think he did help both ratings, but I dont think that was the only thing at all!

 

[TheChosenOne10]

Rock is getting credit for ppl buying SS solely because it was the only reason anyone had to buy the show. WWE is making it that way. They could have built up a great show instead of thrown together matches and very poor feuds. Im just hoping WM isn't the same. There was potential for SS and theres even more for WM, don't drop the ball and bank on ppl buying it just for Rock/Cena.

 

[Trill Co$by]

Rock is getting credit for ppl buying SS solely because it was the only reason anyone had to buy the show. WWE is making it that way. They could have built up a great show instead of thrown together matches and very poor feuds. Im just hoping WM isn't the same. There was potential for SS and theres even more for WM, don't drop the ball and bank on ppl buying it just for Rock/Cena.

BULLSHIT! CM Punk made 2011 watchable for a large amount of fans, and he was more of reason to order the pay per view than The Rock was. Hell, even Mark Henry vs. The Big Show was well worth my money. The Rock's "in ring return" was nothing but a snooze fest that killed every credibility given to Miz & R-Truth. But if that's the bubble people want to live in, that The Rock is this almighty reason to buy Mania and pay per views then have at it... but in the mean time, the real wrestling fans will be here ordering every pay per view because we'd rather watch a prime and ready CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler than to see that washed up hasbeen in the ring.

 

[Wrestling4Ever]

BULLSHIT! CM Punk made 2011 watchable for a large amount of fans, and he was more of reason to order the pay per view than The Rock was. Hell, even Mark Henry vs. The Big Show was well worth my money. The Rock's "in ring return" was nothing but a snooze fest that killed every credibility given to Miz & R-Truth. But if that's the bubble people want to live in, that The Rock is this almighty reason to buy Mania and pay per views then have at it... but in the mean time, the real wrestling fans will be here ordering every pay per view because we'd rather watch a prime and ready CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler than to see that washed up hasbeen in the ring.

Rock's not even a washed up, has been. Old, yeah. Out of his prime, absolutely. But being 39 and out of the business for 7 years will do that to you. His performance at SS was fine. Especially when people were so sold that he would be horrible in the ring, slow and botching all over the place. If he had equal amount of time in the ring that night, it wouldn't have been that bad of an overall match at all.

Also, lol at saying he killed their credibility. So are you just going to ignore the fact that WWE killed them BEFORE the damn match even happened. Its not Rock's fault at all. Even if they built them up well, he still trumps above them because of his star power. Also, wtf is "real wrestling fans" anyway. Pure ignorance at its finest and I hate when people say that. Like there is a fan base out there that is real and everyone else is fake. I support Rock, Punk & Ziggler and would gladly buy a PPV with them involved. Am I automatically fake because I support Rock? Please.

 

[dman1373]

i don't think i got my point across properly. The Rock is a massive draw, i have never denied that. But he was not a competitor at wrestlemania last year. He was a host. And no matter how good of a host you are your not going to get hundreds of thousands of people to pay 50 bucks to watch you. In one of the earlier post some guy said he got the ppv for the rock, then he said he tipped the scale cause he wasn't sure. My point being that it was a combination of that it was wm mixed with the card and the rock being host that got him in. So the rock didn't get his buy alone. I mean if it was just 50 bucks to watch the rock host, not alot of people would buy. Then i also said that snooki got more buys than the rock. And if you look at it objectively she did. Wrestling fans that already watch wrestling didn't buy it for her. The mtv crowd bought it for her. And the mtv crowd aren't the type that are too cautious with their money. They will spend 50 bucks easy, just to watch their idol who is a short chubby little puffball wrestle. You also have to understand that snooki is a bigger star than the rock. The rock has just been in lower grossing movies (besides fast five, which sucked.)

 

[shitsngiggles]

Just putting my view out there, I'm not a fan of the Rock myself but can see how well he draws, that being said you can't pin an entire buy rate for anything on a single man's shoulders EVER. Anyone suggesting WM27 was bought because of the host is blind or obviously puts too much stock in him.