I was meaning to do this with respect to one of Sly's earlier posts, but since The Rock was once again mentioned, I'm going to leave my two cents on this now.
For once more, I completely agree with Sly on basically everything he said. It would seem that a lot of people seem to believe only because WCW went down the drain and WWE survived in the end, that WWE was inherently, at all times, the better product - which is simply put, not true; as has been pointed out time and time again. WWE at the time Hogan started the nWo was at a loss for ideas, they were losing their audience, and had NO CLUE whatsoever to do in how to get them back. And seriously, no one can tell me that it was not he nWo angle, with the Heel Of Heels Hulk Hogan as its leader, that introduced the entire spirit of what would make the much later Attitude Era so great.
The fact that the nWo wouldn't abide by any rules; the fact that they would do and not do what the hell they ever wanted; that they would attack authority figures (the then-still face Eric Bischoff), the way WCW finally managed to blur that line between fiction and reality in their "invasion" angle, which happens so seldomly in wrestling but which ultimately works best - does that not reek like "DX"? When the "rebels" HBK and HHH were making fun of Vinnie Mac week in and week out, when they were "invading" WCW with a tank, or when of course Stone Cold Steve Austin would literally kick McMahon's butt week in and week out - no one could possibly deny that all of these things, WCW and nWo had done 2 years before.
Did the WWE do it better? Well, that is a matter of opinion. To some extent, they definitely did. But mostly because they had more options and more free reign to do it. Vinnie Mac was desperate at the time, and desperate men take desperate measures. He saw that the WCW/nWo's "attitude" was working, took it, turned the volume up, and then basically passed it as his own creation - except that the ideas had already all been born in Bischoff's, Hogan's and whoever else was in WCW creative, head then. He had great guys to run with, especially of course Austin, but also, and this is where I want to lead this post, The Rock.
Now while Austin to this day still gets huge pops when he makes his one-off appearances a couple of times a year. But he, maybe even more so than Hogan, just continues to live off this reputation he built in his heyday, through his feuds with the McMahons. He does nothing new whatsoever. Just comes out, Stunners people, drinks beer. No story, no sense, no purpose. Just to elicit a cheap pop (albeit a tremendously huge one) at that.
However, Hogan still gets those pops, and even in his last appearances against HBK and Orton, he still was up to creating a nice storyline to go with it, to give the feud some reason. Even if it were never great stories; still, Hogan put more effort into it even if he needed it less than even Austin. And for that reason, I still take any Summerslam appearance of Hogan in 2005 or 2006 over Austin's random run-ins and appearances for no particular reason on any given day.
However The Rock is a whole different story. While I do think that Austin was a capable wrestler, and more importantly the right guy at the right time, I daresay that Rock would have been the right guy at ANY time. Simply because he is THAT good.
While Austin definitely was good on the mic - Rock was stellar. And Rock had something that even Austin lacked. For while Austin was playing his role to the best extent possible, and while he was doing all he could to make it work (and it worked big time, no doubt about it) - the Rock simply oozed charisma naturally. Of course he sucked as "Rocky Maivia", but how old was he at the time?! 24? So I believe everyone will excuse him for not being great from the get-go. But considering how quickly he rose to superstardom, being possible the greatest active star of his generation when he had his last official match in WWE, you have to give him all the credit in the world. Hardly anyone else could have done that. Except maybe for a Hulk Hogan, who also had achieved something similar. But that is because Rock, just as Hogan, just had that certain something that would make them work, and work well, in every type of environment.
Austin, he could only be "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. No one cared about him when he was "Stunning" Steve in WCW, no one cared about "The Ringmaster". But "Stone Cold" worked. However nothing else would have, and nothing else would today. Hogan on the other hand, worked huge as "The Immortal", and he worked huge as "Hollywood". The Rock worked huge at being The Rock; and he, in my mind, could do anything Austin did and still add to it. I firmly believe that The Rock is/was the most naturally charismatic superstar of all time second only to Hulk Hogan - and as has been said - if he had stayed in wrestling (and he could have had another great 5-10 years even), he would have become a bigger legend, bigger icon, bigger star than Austin ever could have been. Of course people will forever love Austin for his part in the Attitude Era, and quite rightly so. But I highly doubt he could ever have reinvented himself the way The Rock could. People wanted Stone Cold, and they would accept nothing less. Austin has so been pinned down on this particular gimmick, there would be no escaping for him. The Rock on the other hand, even to his last appearances in WWE, always kept reinventing himself to a certain degree. Of course he always was "The Rock", with his catchphrases and mannerism, but he also always found new ways to be entertaining. And there is NO ONE in wrestling, past or present, who could beat The Rock on the mic, not even Hogan or Piper, in my opinion. His greatest strength, and the factor that would eventually have given Rock much much more longevity than Austin, was his adaptability. He could deal very well with any given opponent, both inside the ring and outside; he was a tremendous seller in his matches, and as a wrestler physically talented enough to make him exciting to watch, even on top of his incredible charisma and mic skills. So I for one firmly believe that had he stayed, we would now still talk about the great and funny things Rock has done a year ago, or last month. If that would be the case with Austin as well, after five more years of Stunners and beer, and nothing else; I am not too certain. Even DX did not work that exceptionally well the second time around, and people would also have grown tired of Austin's routine at some point if you ask me. And I just think that he simply would have been way too confined into his "Stone Cold" part that he would have had a much much harder time to keep himself interesting than the Rock.
Now to get back to the topic, before I get carried away too much. Many people always say how Hogan vs Rock at WM18 only happened because Austin didn't want to do it, and he would have been the true "Icon". But with respect to that I just said, I think that match was perfect the way it was. It was a "passing of the torch" indeed, and to the guy both Vinnie Mac, and Hogan too I believe, otherwise he would hardly have laid down for him twice, saw as the future of the business. And he would have been, if he had not left for other shores. No one can blame him for that, he's making a ton of money and has to work less or at least in a less dangerous environment. It is a damn pity, but I for one can't blame him - as much as I wish he had stayed.
Now to get back to the whole nWo issue... and once again I must state that it indeed was Hogan who made it work. Hall and Nash were what WWE would have in DX: heels, technically, but still people cheered them. Even when they first appeared as "The Outsiders", people remembered them from WWE, and popped. But I still remember myself to this day, when I was sitting in front of the TV, watching that now-historical Bash at the Beach that would change the face of wrestling forever... when Hogan came down to the ring in his red and yellow, pointing at Hall and Nash; everyone was ready for them to get their a**es handed to them, and then, finally... Hogan drops the leg on the Macho Man. And I freaking could not believe my eyes. I guess I was literally jumping up and down the room, thinking "He did not just do that?! He did not just do that?!". Of course I was a little younger at the time than I am now, and I believe thus still entitled to such a mark-out moment haha... but it just laid the groundwork, and it made me watch wrestling again. Simply because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. Would Hogan really become "evil", side with the bad guys? It was the unthinkable - and it happened. And that truly made the nWo the "bad guys". If they managed to corrupt Hulk Hogan - HULK FREAKING HOGAN - they must really be some bad dudes right there. And Hogan became the worst of them, disrespecting everything he had stood for for so many years; that was simply great, great wrestling programming, and it was pulled off by the only one who could have done it in such a fashion, in such grandeur, and simply make it MEAN SO MUCH. Hulk Hogan. Because it was THE Hulk Hogan who turned on everyone. No one else.
And yes, Austin deserves all the credit you want to give him. But he does not, and not even close, deserve anywhere near as much for ANYTHING as Hulk Hogan does. He took what he had, and turned it into the best thing possible. Again, VKM, together with a great star, managed to rule the wrestling world. But it is STILL Hulk Hogan who changed the face of that wrestling world. And he still did it twice. He created not one but two empires; the first he ruled himself, and the second he did too, but then he had to leave it to Austin for a short while - which was not truly his fault either; at least most definitely not only his. But he must always be remembered as being the one who created it in the first place; and if people will not give Hogan that credit, I feel that is extremely short-sighted.
Again, I'm not taking anything from Austin. He was great in his part, he was VKM's millenium version of Hulkamania, shaped rightly for his day and age. But he was not THE Hulkamania, never would have been and never coule have been. Yes, he took the "Attitude" to new levels. But no, it was not him who "invented" it with VKM. It was Hogan, together with Bischoff, who did.
So it should really be a no-brainer. Hogan over Austin any time.
