Who's the Foil I: The Rock

[S.J. Maximus]

One of the most key aspects of pro wrestling is the development of feuds and over the years we've been treated to a lot of them, obviously fluctuating in both intensity and longevity. When those goodie faces battle those evil heels we love the conflict of personality and style as well as personal issues.

The point of this new series I'm starting is for you, the IWC, to tell me who you think a star's greatest nemesis was. To start off, I'm going to use one of the biggest faces in the history of WWE:

The Rock
The People's Champion

He's headlined 3 different WrestleManias with Stone Cold Austin, feuded with Mankind on and off for over a year, feuded with Triple H for the entire year of 2000 and done even more with the likes of Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Undertaker, and Hulk Hogan. No doubt that the Rock is the People's Champ, but who is his biggest rival?

 

[S.J. Maximus]

my personal vote has to go to Triple H mainly because I think their feud was the most personal out of any other feud that The Rock as been in. It felt as if they truly just hated each other and just enjoyed beating the hell out of each other and this was feud played out perfectly in their Ironman Match at Judgment Day 2000.

 

[stmarks2002]

Trips all the way; if you need validation, read Bret Hart's book. He talks about how HHH and HBK told him he wasn't ever going to be good enough and that he was a waste of space. Its in the book!!!!!!!!! He had good moments with the mentioned guys but his matches with Hogan blew. Rock and Trips were basically the only champs during Nov 98-Apr 01; you can throw Austin and Foley in there but who did they lose the belts to.

 

[LegendKiller716]

IMO it has to be Stone Cold. They were always battling over who was #1 and #2, They had 3 Wrestlemania matches, and they were always the best of their era.

With that being said, I loved when he was feuding with Y2J. That was probably my favorite foil to the great one.

 

[itbewilly]

Would have to agree with Triple H..They both came from the mid card to the main event scene at the same time in pretty much the same fashion.Each leading a faction that often fought each other.Rock and Hunter fought over the I.C belt im pretty sure and later traded world titles...Him and Hunter had one of the better feuds i remember in the dx/nation days.

 

[gbaby_steve25]

heres how i see it

feud= something that happens off and on and can last for months at a time

rivalry= a feud that is bigger than just the matchs. carries over from the first interaction and continues on forever.

to me the rocks top rivalry is Austin without a doubt. It continues on today even as I type. It will always be austin and rock, just as wcw was always sting vs flair.

Now granted I give Rock and Triple H the best feud for the rock as it was pure hatred shown then, but it doesnt span through generations. We dont compare HHH to rock when we say who is the greatest WWE superstar ever... its always Austin or the Rock. That is why my vote is for austin.

Tear it up world, its what you do. Its only my opinion!

 

[meeks32]

I would like to say Stone Cold. Does anyone remember when The Rock was with the Corporation and he took a beer truck and shot everyone with beer? The fights they had was great. HHH feud was good with the Rock, but I think it helped due to The Nation vs DX.

 

[BTLion1990]

Stone Cold. Its not just the fact that they headlined three WM's together, but they feuded during the Alliance stages also and over the I.C belt as they were both coming up. They were never friends which made it more interesting and the fact they are bringing out a DVD called ''Stone Cold and The Rock: The Rivalry'' later this year says it all.

 

[Rammsteinerteen]

Austin obviously, but HHH was great also. I remember in 1999 and 2000, the feud with HHH was so good. It was intense and unpredictable, and the matches were good enough. But nothing compares to Rock vs Austin, that feud was awesome and electric. Their match in WM 17 was so memorably haunting.

 

[King Blitzkonic]

Any answer other than HHH or Stone Cold is automatically wrong in the eyes of most of the IWC, it would seem. I do agree those two are truly top choices. However, let me make a case for Chris Jericho.

Picture it: 1999, Monday Night Raw. Rock's in the ring running his mouth (and doing a damn good job of it too)...then the lights go out and the countdown begins. At the end the arena's completely dark and then BOOM! There's Y2J coming out welcoming us to RAW IS JERICHO.

They fight off and on, they team up once in a great while, one match was on Jericho's road to becoming the undisputed champion. Jericho and the Rock teaming up to own Stephanie during the Invasion storyline, the constant verbal battles combined with high quality matches. This on again, off again rivalry/feud (whichever word you want to use) was truly the total package of them all: Great matches, witty and great mic work, and great fan reaction. The crowd ate that shit up with a spoon and asked for extra helpings. I really wouldn't consider Rock/Austin matches to be epic, but the mic work and reaction made up for it. Trips/Rock had the reaction and the ring work but I've NEVER liked Trips on the mic. I've always felt that his Cerebral Assassin moniker got diluted by him talking about what he was going to do, even though he DID do the things he said.

 

[marklouis]

I think it has to be Austin. 3 Wrestlemania matches. That alone proves the point. When I think of The Rock, the 1st thing I think of is his matches with Austin. I know he had a good feud with HHH, but The Rock & Austin defined their era in the WWE, and you can't really talk about one without the other. Let's be honest, even though HHH has had a great career with many memorable moments, he was never on the same level as Austin & Rock. They reached a mainstream fame that few in wrestling ever reached, & their rivalry had a lot to do with that. Austin & Rock are joined at the hip for as long as people talk about pro wrestling 7 WWE in particular.

 

[WunNightStan619]

I personally think that Triple H has been Rocks biggest rival. There is nowun else who the Rock has bumped heads with more than the game. And keep in mind that they just didnt feud in 2000. They have been going at it since Rock started. Rocky wun his first championship in wwe from HHH, he had his first major feud over against triple h for the IC title in 98, then in 99, they were battling for the wwf title, then in 2000. It just seems as if this was a legit rivalry and a constant game of wun-ups man ship between them as apposed to the rock and austin where no words were really needed to fuel there rivalry. There's just such a deeper story between HHH and The Rock i believe

 

[Wicked Valentine]

SCSA

Everything the Rock wasn't yet equally as talented and popular as the Rock was during their time. They made history together and apart.

Chris Jericho, Mankind, HHH, and Hulk will live on forever because of the marks they made in wrestling history, even if Hulk is an asshole(IMO), and each had great matches and feuds with Rocky.

But they can't compare to Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin.

 

[ccotreau1]

I went with Austin simply because Austin and Rock's rivalry/feud lasted YEARS where as everyone else listed, when they feuded with the Rock, lasted what, a year tops, need I really say any more than that, seeing everyone else who went with Austin said what I would have said

 

[jobesukulele]

heres how i see it

feud= something that happens off and on and can last for months at a time

rivalry= a feud that is bigger than just the matchs. carries over from the first interaction and continues on forever.

to me the rocks top rivalry is Austin without a doubt. It continues on today even as I type. It will always be austin and rock, just as wcw was always sting vs flair.

Now granted I give Rock and Triple H the best feud for the rock as it was pure hatred shown then, but it doesnt span through generations. We dont compare HHH to rock when we say who is the greatest WWE superstar ever... its always Austin or the Rock. That is why my vote is for austin.

Tear it up world, its what you do. Its only my opinion!

100% agree with you. I think for two guys like Rock and Austin who both look to only be considered the no1 guy of all time and who both between them pretty much define the entire pre attitude and attitude era. It goes completely beyond whether they actually like each other or not.

That's why I give Austin the vote.

But it doesn't stop HHH's stuff with the great one from being personal and entertaining beyond that of anything Rock did with Austin; as far as story and bell to bell content is concerned.

 

[Matisyahu]

Austin is probably Rock biggest foil in that they had the most intense feud of The Rock's career. Hell Rock's cousin Rikishi even ran Austin over in the parking lot thinking it would make The Rock happy and rid the WWE of Austin altogether.

Before reading this I always thought HHH was Rock's biggest rival because they were each others first big feud and they basically rose through the ranks together battling all the way from the bottom straight to the top. But after reading through I remembered all the moments The Rock had with Austin and some of their grueling matches and its safe to say they certainly had the biggest rivalry

 

[tripleddd]

Well to be honest there are 3 answers to this question.
1. Greatest Wrestling Feud - Triple h and Dx - fantastic compulsive viewing for the best part of 18 months.
2. No 1 Guy - Stone Cold - lets face it the wwe were blessed to have these two iconic wrestlers at the same time.
3. Verbal Battle - Jericho both could command the mic and both were very funny.
I'll also give a special mention to Hogan/Nwo - the first match the build up and atmosphere leading up to this match will never be repeated or will it Cena perhaps?

 

[psycho4ever]

a better question would be "except austin who was the rocks biggest rival ?" i'd pick hogan, they only wrestled twice 1 on 1 , but hogan is the only person who is on the rocks level, and they r very similar, both became stars beyond the wrestling world, both made some "questionable" films, they're each others generational equvilent of each other, triple h mankind and jericho never reached the iconic level hogan and rock did, end of.

 

[Zigglerfan227]

I never saw too much of his fued with Triple H so I cannot really say too much about it. I have seen some of their matches but none of the build ups or why they were fighting. I personally feel that The Rock had the best chemistry with Chris Jericho. The Rock and Jericho put on great matches. So my favorite rivalry was his and Jericho's.

I don't really know which one is the overall best.

 

[Whatsinaname696]

I went with Hogan because his match (and the build up to it) at Wrestlemania transcended rivalries, Sting may go by the Icon and Ric Flair may call himself a God, but each generation can have only one at the VERY top and Hogan and Rock were the two Rulers of the Ring (and mic "I am the God that made professional wrestling" best line EVER!) from 2 diff Generations and I think it was Hogans second best Mania match and Rocks best, really doubt something like that will ever happen again... or at least in my lifetime ...so yeah Hogans my pick although Austin is right there too but for diff reasons

 

[game3524]

Triple H is Rock's biggest rival IMO. There is more history between them then Austin and Rock, their feud was basically 5 years on and off.

 

[the_mighty_biggs]

I would say HHH ever since DX mocked the N.O.D.

sure him an austin had greater matches and austin threw his belt into the river.

but even a few years back when rock did a spot with Eugene and asked him who his favorite wrestler was and Eugene said HHH that was pure comedy.

I think HHH hates the rock cause HHH as good as he is will never be anywhere near as great as the rock people will never like him as much as the rock and he wont ever get a bigger reaction than rock..

so its rock vs HHH

Austin and rock arent rivals they are equals

 

[I_got_bant_for_idiocy]

d the fact they are bringing out a DVD called ''Stone Cold and The Rock: The Rivalry'' later this year says it all.

Really thats one i will be getting for sure.. Im say Stone cold as well... i remember when austin destroyed the NOD with his pick up truck... and than tossed the ic belt off the bridge, than rock joined the corporation these guys had the best feuds ever, i remember when the rock tossed austin over the bridge hahaha and the musical show down they had before wrestlemania 19.. Best Feud EVER

 

[hollowpoint]

HHH and Stone Cold are 1 and 2 however you look at it. My vote was actually for HHH, but if I could do a half vote, I would split it between the two. I voted for HHH because the hate between those two seemed real, which makes for a great rivalry. They came up around the same time and challenged for the I.C. and the WWE Titles. With Stone Cold, it was just magic. The Wrestlemania matches between those two were some of the best of all time. They even teamed up a couple of times to take out the likes of DX when it was headed by HHH.

 

[RJJ]

Triple H, handes down.

These guys were beating the hell outta each other since the day rock made his debut. from the NOD-DX 1997 to rock-hhh 1999-2000, they grow up fighting each other. They fought for the IC and the wwe belts. Not tp mention that they really hated each other, hell they even took some shots at each other during thier promos.

Some people believe that austin was rock's biggest rival, but IMO hhh was because it was personal between the two.