What if Stone Cold's neck never got reinjured/The Rock didn't go Hollywood?

[Toroc102]

Now ya'll can choose to answer as if I was just asking about Stone Cold or The Rock but it kind've goes hand in hand.

TBH, I feel that if those two hadn't had to leave the wrestling business we would probably still be going on with the attitude era right now, and combined with HHH, they were pretty much the 3 brightest biggest stars to come out of the WWF during that time, and HHH is still probably the biggest star in the company.

In the long term view of things, both The Rocks and Stone Colds stays at the top were very short in comparison to your typical stars such as Hogan/Savage/Flair/Sting, I mean pretty much every star ever had atLEAST a ten year stay at the top, as HHH has had now, Stone Cold and The Rock were supposed to be a part of that.

I feel like I started to really hate HHH precisely because there was never a face on his level to trade with him. Stone Cold always had a bunch of great heels to feud with, when he was a heel the Rock always had Stone Cold or Mankind or HHH himself. There was no brandsplit at the time so there was no talent dilution and of course there was always you're mainstay in The Undertaker.

By the time Trips had become truly dominant The Rock had moved on to Hollywood, Stone Cold had become too incapacitated, the brand split hit(and for some reason Angle and UT were always kept seperated from HHH), and there was never someone that HHH could really call his rival or his equal, and it should've been one of those two.(and y'know what the Brand split should've never happened, or Raw should've remained the CLEAR #1 show, I'll have to comment that on the next brand split thread someone makes).

So what do you guys think, would the Attitude Era still be going strong today? Would the brand split have happened? Would it have been conceived differently? Would HHH still have dominated the new millenium? Could the WWE still have gone PG and stayed true to two of their biggest stars? I always thought that it would take one of those three going to TNA to really help that company(all due respect to your Christians, and Angles who just aren't on the same level) and I feel Stone Cold might've tried TNA out at one point if he'd gotten genuinely unhappy with the WWE. What do you all think?

EDIT: I now know there's a somehwat similar thread on this same page but I think this is asking a different question and going to get different answers.

 

[Stone Cold Steve Austin]

There's a running joke between me and my brother where anytime we see something in WWE that is dumb (i.e. Hornswoggle, John Cena as a face, the PG rating, etc.), we say "Damn Owen Hart and The Mummy Returns." Of course meaning if Hart hadn't given Austin that piledriver that nearly killed him (and Hart never apologized to Austin [see Austin's DVD]) and if The Rock hadn't been seen as a breakout star in his role in that film, then maybe the two of them would still be in WWE.

 

[pguib]

Happy Thanksgiving.

Which was the bigger deal (losing Austin or Rock)? That is what this makes me ponder. The Rock would have had more years had he not left, but I think there is a certain coolness to the way Steve Austin's run went in that when he even felt it wasn't right he had both the pull and the will to bail as a performer since he was no longer a wrestler. If Stone Cold was still in the biz', if he couldn't perform in the same way, then, how would he come across well in a way that did not defame the prior.

Again Happy Turkey Day from an old wrestling fan

 

[FabulousFreeByrd]

I think this is something every wrestling fan has thought of.... The big what if? Here's a question for you though. Let's say, the rock and stone cold were still around, add Lesnar, Angle, Gurrerro, and Benoit. Would we be seeing Orton, Punk, Cena, and Edge as world champions today?

Then we have the draft? My personal opinion of the draft is that it was to create competitve enivroment that the WWE was so desperately needing since the demise of WCW. WWE was it's prime when the WWF vs. WCW monday night wars was going down without WCW we were stuck with only what was given to us. I think Vince or whoever knew that, hence the brand split.

Do I think the brand split should continue?? Absolutely not! Since the birth of TNA I thought they should have remerged. If anything it's making the product over all come off as being dull and repeatative. Not to mention it takes away the value and prestige of the titles and it's holders. I know two divisions are lacking in value are the mid-card titles and the tag team titles.

So getting back to the question of what the company would look like..... It would be much like the days of old, Hard R Product. How can you make a PG Rattlesnake and Brahma Bull? It's not possible. Not too mention they're not expendable, they're not ones to bite their lips if they don't like something.

 

[rockyr]

If Stone Cold was still around today he would be still the forefront of the business and trying to aid John Cena become the number 1 guy. If the Rock was around well he would easily been a 20 time World Champ by now. The guy had 9 World heavyweight titles when he retired. John Cena wouldn't be were he is right now if Rock was about. Simply the rock is more charasmatic, entertaining and a real actor. Rocks matches were always better than Cenas.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

What would've happened? ... Well for one we'd be damn bored of seeing them?

Let's face it... the Attitude Era lasted..like what? 4-5 years? Maybe 6? MAYBE even less. In this business...that's not a lot.

We didn't have the same writers...we didn't have the same people running the company..Vince was still sane and all that stuff...

Tell you what, If Austin and Rock were still around doesn't mean that The Attitude Era would live on. Hell no. THe attitude Era wasn't ONLY Austin, Rock, Triple H. There was Biker Taker. There were the hardy boyz, Jericho, Benoit, 3D, there was heel King, there was face JR. The shows were a lot more entertaining..

Now? It's 2009. Look at RAW/SD/ECW. Top notch technology, HD, awesome fireworks, it looks great! But I STILL miss the old cheesy WWF Titantron and the sloppy fireworks. I miss the hard rock heavy metal intro songs that made me turn down the TV just so my parents won't hear I'm watching this brutal wrestling thing on TV..

We won't have that...wrestling moved on. Right now we'd be chanting "Rocky Sucks" and "Austin Sucks" if they were around because... Austin would be a LOT worse...and Rocky would be the Cena of today. The Rock is a very very smart man for doing what he did. He saved all his money and his legacy in WWE.

People got bored of HBK during the mid 90's at some point. I MEAN HBK IN HIS PRIME!

Also... it's A LOT more easier to get into wrestling these days, and that's not good. Look at Cena...went to wrestling school, got his ass handed to him in a couple of places, bim-bada-bum he's in WWE and he's champion. WWE is FILLED with wrestling peepsqueaks that know nothing about cutting a decent promo, wrestling properly OR how to work backstage and get yourself pushed. 99% of them would much rather play on their GameBoys and not work out and train and get better.

Attitude Era - Over.

Rock/Austin - Over.

I believe that the new Era of wrestling in the Main Event scene crawling with athletic, agile and fast guys. Crazy moves + good story = New Era of Wrestling.

If Vince wasn't a 800 years old idiot he would've figured out that we're been watching 300 pound guys kicking and punching in the Main Event for over 20 years know. It's time to move on...

Rock - Go back to your movies.

Austin - Live a happy life...

 

[Poop Master Flex]

They both would of went the way of Hogan. Eventually the people would get sick of them, they would lose their appeal and eventually of gotten moved out (we would of had a few more strong years with both though). Everyone gets stale eventually (except the Undertaker, but thats because he has reinvented himself quite a few times), I hear people getting sick of Austin right now, and he's only on RAW once or twice every few years. With that said, they probably would still be on top because those 2 as midcarders would be like Hogan being a midcarder, people just don't see them that way, they are main eventers for life.

The IWC would be bitching about the Rock and Austin like they currently bitch about Cena and HHH. Why do they always win? Why won't they push new talent? Why isn't Cena champ yet? Why did the Rock cause global warming? ect. Essentially the IWC would be doing the same thing, just with different guys.

 

[Toroc102]

I dunno, I consider HHH(DX)/Stone Cold/Rock to essentially be the attitude era, along with UT because he's basically the WWF, you could've put any other supporting cast around those 3 and the attitude era would've been just as successful, The Hardy's weren't a big part of attitude, neither were the Dudleys, I wouldn't say the people got sick of HBK, I'd say he broke his back, if he had not been injured it would've just been one more main-eventer they could've used, although it was probably for the best since Shawn was a crazy prima donna around then.

Anyway in my mind, I feel like Vince did a lot of things differently precisely because those two left. I mean in the time since they've been gone can you honestly say that anyone on their level came in and took their place. I guess at this point that would be Cena and Orton, but it just doesn't feel the same to me, I guess thats because I actually wacthed during the attitude era, I still feel like HBK/Taker/HHH are more over than your biggest stars of the current era.

And yes people did get sick of Hogan but he played the same exact character for a more than a decade before he finally turned heel and it revived his entire career. Sure now everybody's completely sick of him but hes been around for 20 years now and is an creaky old man that never wants to job. Austin and the Rock had relatively short reigns at the top compared to guys like Hogan and Flair(who has more respect than anyone in the business).

Maybe they could've used Stone Cold and Rock to pass torches, I mean, Stone Cold got a good rub from HBK(maybe unwillingly) and Bret Hart(the biggest WWF star of his generation), HHH got it big from HBK, The Rock was amazingly talented and able to capitalize on wrestlings popularity at the time, and they all helped each other become huge, unfortunately they were never really able to give it to anyone else. It would've helped Cena/Orton a lot more if they had been able to feud with Stone Cold or The Rock and beat them don't you guys think? If they were willing to put others over(and it seems like Rock always has been, don't know about Stone Cold I know he didn't want to put Lesnar over when Rock did)I think they'd be more Ric Flair than Hulk Hogan.

 

[Schoolboy-Chris]

Whatever the circumstances with injuries and stars leaving there is no chance that the attitude era could still be going on at this stage. It was a boom period for wrestling, where it became extremely in style, pretty much everyone was a wrestling fan because it was the cool thing to be. That period is over now as we know, and all the Rock’s and Stone Cold’s in the world couldn’t keep it going, it’s just the circle of life.

As for if the Rock and Stone Cold were still around, I have no doubt that they would be stale and not the stars that they once were. They could still be on top in the manner of Triple H in terms of high profile matches but I suspect that they would be blasted on forums like these for refusing to give younger stars a chance. Neither superstar had a huge moveset, especially Stone Cold, and if they hadn’t adapted with the times then they would just be floating along on past accolades.

I think if the Rock returned now however, it would be a huge deal, at least for a short while. If he came back with the same moveset and catchphrases however, I think the novelty would soon wear off and the complaints would begin to stream in. The same goes for Stone Cold, there are only so many spontaneous stunners and “Hell yeah” moments that could still be had, especially since I don’t think his character would receive the same reaction from today’s audience.

 

[2rowdy4u]

well for dam sure cena and bastia wouldent have had hat many tittle riengs. i think rock and austin would be used to evalute upcoming stars like cena, edge, orton. austin would prob be gone by now and rock would be in the same situation that taker is in. big face on sd but always takin time of and having short tittle runs