Why does WWE favor Stone Cold to The Rock?

[pratrullz098]

I am a huge Austin and Rock fan. These are my two, along with Shawn Micahels, are my three personal favourite wrestlers of all times. I couldn't rank one aove the other.

but WWE favours Austin more than the Rock, simply because he deserves it. He was always THE guy, and Rock was always the OTHER guy. Rock is a much much bigger star today, but not in the wrestling world. In the wrestling world, Austin is still ahead of The Rock.

Everyone says it, everyone knows it. Austin was the top guy. Show me one wrestler/wrestling personality who says Rock was the top dog or who says Rock was more popular than Austin. No one says it. Everyone calls Austin as the star of the WWE in the era in which Rock was also there. Even Chris Jericho said that Austin always got a slightly bigger reaction from the crowd than Rock did.

Austin is always referred to as the leader of the era, simply because her was. Austin was number one, and Rock was number two. And there is nothing insulting about it.



This is an extract from a forbes magazine From the year 1999

"But for all his might, he has roughly the same control over his career as Homer Simpson. Titan controls William's fate -- whom he fights, whether he wins -- and it's Titan owner Vince McMahon who arbitrarily determines his weekly bonus. Williams says the Stone Cold persona that sold 12 million T shirts last year is an extension of his own personality. Yet Titan owns the character's trademarks".

Yes, 12 million t-shirts in one year. Let that sink in.


And I also found this
"At an average of $20 a pop, his T-shirts accounted for nearly half of the WWF's $500 million in merchandise sold in 1998."

250 million. Now to put that to perspective, Cena recently said in an interview that the John Cena brand gets WWE $100 million annually. Yes, now let that sink in.

 

[pratrullz098]

People keep talking about Austin being turned heel in 1999. I call bullshit. This is just something Rock fans have made up to make themselves feel better about Rock.

The original idea, even before WrestleMania 15, was for Austin to face Big Show at WrestleMania. Later it was supposed to be Austin VS Triple H, and it was supposed to be this right untill Austinwas injured. Ateast that is what I have come to believe. I could easily be wrong. I haven't heard this from a reliable source, but it seems feasible.
A heel Austin VS face Rock is completely bogus. McMahon wouldn't turn their hottest babyface heel. No way. Did he ever turn Hogan heel? Is he turning John Cena heel? Vince McMahon was even against turning Austin heel in 2001. There is no way he would have turned Austin heel in 1999.
I wont believe it untill I see it come from a reliable source. So, either someone provide a proof of some sort about WWE wanting to turn Austin heel, or please stop throwing this out there like a fact.


Also, ideas get thrown around WWE all the time. Maybe the idea of turning Austin heel was thrown around too. But it was probably shot down fairly quickly.


And yes, Austin VS Hogan was the original plan. Austin has said it, and Hogan has too. But they couldn't agree on the way the match would go. Hogan wanted a particular amount of offence, and Austin disagreed. Soemthing of that sort. Anyway, Austin backed out and ended up losing big time. Rock stepped in and made history with Hogan.
Point being that Austin was always the first choice to wrestle Hogan. Just listen to Jim Ross' podcast. They talk about the whole situation.

 

[rage72]

Austin didn't leave the company at the height of his popularity for Hollywood and stay away for 10 year's like the Rock did. SCSA gave everything he had to this business and only left because he physically couldn't wrestle anymore while the seemed to use the WWE to help him accomplice a totally different goal.

 

[GameOver]

Rock was never plan B as you say.

Austin was scheduled for a heel turn in late 99 / early 00 if I'm not mistaken and the plan for WM2000 was Rock vs Austin with rocky going over. I think Austin mentioned that in an interview (turning heel before he left for surgery).


Also you're completely mistaken about the Hogan/Austin thing.

It was never the plan.

I asked Kevin Nash PERSONALLY in the Q&A session in the last nWo tour, he said that Rock vs Hogan was the plan all along.

I think Austin said in his last DVD that he wanted the match with Hogan but it got passed over to Rock.

Austin can be pretty bipolar at times.


Anyway, when you look at the age Hogan became the face (31) and Austin became the face (33), I think WWE wanted Austin to be their present and Rock their future but Rock surpassed him in 2000 and WWE didn't think Rock was going to leave this soon.


Austin had a huge role in WWF winning the MNW and that's why Vince loves Austin so much however Rock in 2000 broke many records and led WWF to an unprecedented wave of success, and that's pretty impressive considering Taker wasn't there the first couple of months, Foley retired at mania and Austin missed most of the year.



WWE will always portray Austin as superior to Rock.

Its mainly because of sour grapes from Vince's part which is normal considering he lost a Mega star like Rock

I wouldn't believe anything that comes out of Kevin Nash's mouth specially if he's apparently spilling backstage information to any jabroni, he wouldn't know anyway he talks crap all the time. Austin i have no doubt is a bit bipolar but in one of the latest JR podcasts on the same channel that Austin has his podcast he said that the match was pithced to him but he didn't want to do it cause he thought it would suck visually two punch and kick guys going at it and both being limited due to injuries, Hogan wanted to have the match but Austin did not and he has no issue, The Rock got the match and helped make it epic. I don't think personally it woulda been anywhere near the same if it had been Austin vs Hogan at that time. The Rock was the Hogan clone at the time. Austin was on his way out

as for the question at hand, it's simple Austin vs McMahon saved there ass, The Rock was the next best thing but he was never money wise on the same level of success Austin's era drew. Either way both o them are not favoured anymore IMO they both left the WWE floundering, Austin due to selfishness and injuries (his own words there) and The Rock to pursue outside interests and the only reason they have been brought back is because it's good for buisness from a rating point of view not because they think they want them.

I don't blame either for wanting out, they more then busted there ass in the time they had as top draws and had earned there right to step away before they were possibly crippled.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

Austin brought it back to that stage. You're insane if you think WWF 1993-1996 was at all popular.

Rock was in the highest rated show in history. Awesome.

Some of you look at Rock being the headliner when WWF was at it's peak and credit him with that. Was Rock REALLY the reason? Or was that already a company surging?

Think about this, most CEOs get compensated based on growth. If Apple has huge sales next year, are people going to say that Tim Cook is the reason Apple is so big? Or is Tim Cook just the guy who took over after Steve Jobs made it amazing and carried it a bit further?

You can't look at it in a vacuum. Austin took it from near failure and took WWF to the top. Rock took it from the top and brought it a little higher, then Austin and Rock together made them unbeatable.

You can use stats all you want, but use them correctly. You can't attribute the WWE's enormous numbers to Rock when they were getting big (and growing) numbers before him under Austin. If a quarterback leads a drive from the 1 yard line and gets his team to the other team's 1 yard line. Then a running back rushes in the touchdown, you can't say "wow, look at that running back, he's the reason for the score". Without the QB, the running back had no shot. Same with Austin/Rock.

Also, by your logic, Mankind is a bigger draw than Austin (he was apart of the overrated as fuck this is your life segment).

Was it Rock or the company was surging?

Then you said Austin took WWF from near failure?

Yeah because NOTHING changed during that time, huh?

WWF Attitude, Raw is War, all of that, nothing changed, huh?

You completely contradicted yourself.

 

[pratrullz098]

Rock vs Hogan was the original plan. Of course Austin won't say Rock was the bigger star.

Nope. Austin VS Hogan was always the original plan. Austin has said it, Hogan has said it, Jim Ross has said it. I dont know what else you want. Why would Hogan say it, if it weren't true? Just to give Austin's popularity credit? I doubt it.

Ofcourse Austin wont say Rock was the bigger star. True. But has any other wrestling personality ever said that Rock was a bigger star? Anyone ever? Nope. No one said Rock was more popular than Austin. No one claims that Rock was the top dog during that era. You know why? Cause he wasn't.
Everyone has said Austin was #1. Right from Vince McMahon to Jim Ross to Chris Jericho.

I dont see why it is that difficult to understand.

 

[pratrullz098]

That would be a good argument for a guy like Undertaker but not with Austin. Austin didn't leave WWF because he didn't want to. He worked for WCW and was fired. He worked for ECW too before he moved up to WWF. He didn't stay with WWF because thats where his loyalty lied, it was because he had a vendetta against WCW. If anything Rock was more loyal because he stayed in WWF when they were making him take a backseat to Austin

Actually, no. None of them are loyal in that sense. Rock signed his WWE contract in the second half of 1996. It was a 3 year contract. Which meant that by the time his contract was up, it was already the second half of 1999.
WWF was completely kicking WCW's ass by then, and Rock was getting paid handsomely. Why would The Rock leave?

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

The WWE had their backs up against the ropes at the time that Stone Cold started his push towards the top. The NWO was taking an insane amount of viewers away from the WWF, which at the time was still doing cartoonish stuff and had people like Todd Pettingill on television. They needed to re-vamp their entire product in order to prevent going out of business.

Stone Cold was the #1 reason the WWE was able to turn the corner, and take back the audience they lost, and pick up an audience who never watched wrestling.

The Rock was the next guy after the Rock to reach that level.

So it's really just a matter of chronology here. If Austin didn't blow up, I'm sure the Rock would still have been a big star, but Austin was just "more important" to history because he was the top dog when the ratings tilted over to the WWF after a year and a half of getting their asses kicked.

 

[wwewz]

People here trying to put down Rock's success as "Austin got the ball rolling"...WHAT?
Okay then, Austin took over when the last person got the ball rolling. Or no, there were a lot more adverts promoting WWF just before Austin got hot. See how easy it is to make excuses??
WWE was huge when Austin wasn't there, The Rock was the top babyface, the main event, the biggest draw. There are no excuses. "but if Austin was there..." HE WASN'T!

Rock was more mainstream. Rock has Smackdown named after him. The games named after him. Rock was clearly starting to take over in 99 before Austin was gone. He excelled while Austin was gone. He came back in 2001 and became the number 1 face again. 2002 he was put in the match with Hogan because that was always the plan as every person involved has said so. Your logic... They wanted Hogan to beat Austin so Austin wouldn't do it, so instead they let Rock beat Hogan.... Genius!
Someone on here said, Austin, Hogan and JR said it was the plan... Prove it! I guarantee you can't find the proof because it's not true!
In 2003 Rock's heel turn was the stand out.

It all comes down to Austin was there first. Austin couldn't make more money outside of WWE. And he was "forced" to leave.
Rock had a shorter career which he chose to leave, where he's become a bigger star, and making more money than WWE could offer him.
And fans can't stand someone that picks anything over wrestling.
If Rock wrestled until he was "forced" to leave... that's another 10+ years on his career... He would be by far the biggest name in wrestling.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

I was under the belief that Hogan was offered to Austin first who declined on the basis he didn't trust Hogan. The reason he did not trust Hogan was because he knew Hogan was a master of manipulation. Look at the end of WM6 and how he stole the spotlight from Warrior. Hogan himself said "I left the ring and 60,000 fans looked on at Warrior and nobody cared" in his book (or words to that affect). He did the same at WM18 - he played like a Face and not a heel and the crowed boo'd the hell out of The Rock. Stone Cold did not want to be tricked - so he side-stepped it.

I always found the WWE booking in 2002 so strange anyway (it was in 2001 too). They gave the Rock and Stone Cold vs NWO away for free on Raw!

As for who the WWE favours - I don;t see Stone Cold on tv much at all these days. Yet the rock was on the WWE a lot between 2010 and 2013.

 

[James Greiga]

People here trying to put down Rock's success as "Austin got the ball rolling"...WHAT?
Okay then, Austin took over when the last person got the ball rolling. Or no, there were a lot more adverts promoting WWF just before Austin got hot. See how easy it is to make excuses??
WWE was huge when Austin wasn't there, The Rock was the top babyface, the main event, the biggest draw. There are no excuses. "but if Austin was there..." HE WASN'T!

Rock was more mainstream. Rock has Smackdown named after him. The games named after him. Rock was clearly starting to take over in 99 before Austin was gone. He excelled while Austin was gone. He came back in 2001 and became the number 1 face again. 2002 he was put in the match with Hogan because that was always the plan as every person involved has said so. Your logic... They wanted Hogan to beat Austin so Austin wouldn't do it, so instead they let Rock beat Hogan.... Genius!
Someone on here said, Austin, Hogan and JR said it was the plan... Prove it! I guarantee you can't find the proof because it's not true!
In 2003 Rock's heel turn was the stand out.

It all comes down to Austin was there first. Austin couldn't make more money outside of WWE. And he was "forced" to leave.
Rock had a shorter career which he chose to leave, where he's become a bigger star, and making more money than WWE could offer him.
And fans can't stand someone that picks anything over wrestling.
If Rock wrestled until he was "forced" to leave... that's another 10+ years on his career... He would be by far the biggest name in wrestling.

You want proof of that Austin/Hogan plan? Listen to JR's podcast where Austin is the guest. They say it all there. Also, I don't ever remember saying Hogan had a problem losing to Austin. The plan was never to have Austin lose. Austin didn't refuse to job to Hogan, Austin just thought it would be a shitty match and he didn't just want a payoff. Where did you get the part about Austin losing? I don't remember anyone saying that.

 

[James Greiga]

As for who the WWE favours - I don;t see Stone Cold on tv much at all these days. Yet the rock was on the WWE a lot between 2010 and 2013.

That's because Austin doesn't want to come back. He's turned down so many opportunities WWE has offered him, it's ridiculous. Not every wrestler is like Michael Hayes or Mick Foley who can't let their careers go and are itching to be signed with WWE. Austin didn't want a return, Rock did. That's not a matter of who WWE favored, that's just a matter of who wanted to come back and who didn't.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

Nope. Austin VS Hogan was always the original plan. Austin has said it, Hogan has said it, Jim Ross has said it. I dont know what else you want. Why would Hogan say it, if it weren't true? Just to give Austin's popularity credit? I doubt it.

Ofcourse Austin wont say Rock was the bigger star. True. But has any other wrestling personality ever said that Rock was a bigger star? Anyone ever? Nope. No one said Rock was more popular than Austin. No one claims that Rock was the top dog during that era. You know why? Cause he wasn't.
Everyone has said Austin was #1. Right from Vince McMahon to Jim Ross to Chris Jericho.

I dont see why it is that difficult to understand.

Hahaha you're kidding right?

I never said Rock was more popular than Austin or that Rock was the face of the Attitude Era.

I said what is absolutely true and it's the fact that 2000-2002 Rock was a bigger star than Austin.

Hence why Rock faced Hogan.

Also, JR didn't say anything about Hogan-Austin being the original plan for WMX8.

Hogan said he don't know why Hogan-Austin didn't happen and he said and I quote "There were other dream matches such as me against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. When I came back after I wrestled The Rock, I thought that match was going to happen, because that would make perfect sense, so I don’t know why."

Key word is AFTER I wrestled Rock.

WM18 was Rock-Hogan all the way.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

Lol. Actually, I can prove it. Listen to The Ross Report with Steve Austin. Part 2, I think. So, umm yeah. You're wrong.

Of Course AUSTIN IS GOING TO SAY HE GOT THE MATCH FIRST!!

I asked Big Kev personally and he told me the plan was Hogan-Rock from the start.

Austin didn't want to work with Hogan before they signed with WWF but he was never offered the match.

 

[pratrullz098]

Rock was more mainstream. Rock has Smackdown named after him. The games named after him. Rock was clearly starting to take over in 99 before Austin was gone. He excelled while Austin was gone. He came back in 2001 and became the number 1 face again. 2002 he was put in the match with Hogan because that was always the plan as every person involved has said so.

The Rock did gain more main event publicity than Austin. Agreed.

He came back in 2001 and became the number 1 face? Well, yeah. Austin was heel. But Austin was still numero uno. To put things into perspective, Austin was wrestling for the WWF title, while Rock was wrestling for the WCW title. Not convinced?
The Rock did have the last match at his comeback PPV in 2001, SumerSlam. But after SummerSlam till the end of the year, Austin's match was the last match of the PPV.

And I've already proved that Austin VS Hogan was the original plan. So yeah, both your points are wrong.

Your logic... They wanted Hogan to beat Austin so Austin wouldn't do it, so instead they let Rock beat Hogan.... Genius!
Someone on here said, Austin, Hogan and JR said it was the plan... Prove it! I guarantee you can't find the proof because it's not true!

No. Hogan was never booked to beat Austin. Who told you that? You have a tonne of wrong information man. There is no way Vince would let Hogan beat Austin at WrestleMania.

It all comes down to Austin was there first. Austin couldn't make more money outside of WWE. And he was "forced" to leave.
Rock had a shorter career which he chose to leave, where he's become a bigger star, and making more money than WWE could offer him.
And fans can't stand someone that picks anything over wrestling.
If Rock wrestled until he was "forced" to leave... that's another 10+ years on his career... He would be by far the biggest name in wrestling.

I have no problem with Rock for leaving WWE for Hollywood. The life is better, there is more glamour and the pay is much better. I might have done the same thing. Good for him.

But dont come here and say "If Rock this.. If Rock that..", that's like saying "If Austin hadn;t been dropped on his head and wrestled till 2008" or "If Shawn Michaels hadn't been injured in 1998..."

 

[pratrullz098]

Of Course AUSTIN IS GOING TO SAY HE GOT THE MATCH FIRST!!

I asked Big Kev personally and he told me the plan was Hogan-Rock from the start.

Austin didn't want to work with Hogan before they signed with WWF but he was never offered the match.

Jim Ross said it, not just Austin. And Jim Ross was the head of talent relations at that time.

Kevin Nash, sure. The guy who said in NWO he and Hall were hotter than Austin and Rock ever were. Lol. Okay.

Kevin Nash has this famous story that he keeps repeating about how in India thousands of fans were waiting for him for three hours and he just showed up for 30 seconds and left. Well, I was there. Everyone started leaving within an hour, and I myself left in like one and a half hours. By the time I left there might have been only 800-1000 people waiting for him.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Jim Ross said it, not just Austin. And Jim Ross was the head of talent relations at that time.

Kevin Nash, sure. The guy who said in NWO he and Hall were hotter than Austin and Rock ever were. Lol. Okay.

Kevin Nash has this famous story that he keeps repeating about how in India thousands of fans were waiting for him for three hours and he just showed up for 30 seconds and left. Well, I was there. Everyone started leaving within an hour, and I myself left in like one and a half hours. By the time I left there might have been only 800-1000 people waiting for him.

Actually, Steve Austin himself said that the match was always supposed to be The Rock vs Hulk Hogan.
That was also one of the reasons of him walking out on WWE in 2002.

[YOUTUBE]BqlBqtQUdTQ[/YOUTUBE]

Austin is more credible than Jim Ross lol

 

[pratrullz098]

How was Rock bigger than Austin from 2000-2002? Austin was injured, i most part of 2000, so yeah, Rock was a bigger star.

But look at 2001, Austin won the Royal Rumble. No Way Out was all about Austin VS Triple H. Austin and Rock stole the show at WrestleMania. Then Rock left.
He came back at SummerSlam, and his return match got more hype than Austin's match. Agreed. Rock main evented SummerSlam. But after that, right untill WrestleMania 18, Austin main evented every PPV.

The WCW title was always a level below the WWE title. Austin wrestled for the WWE title, while Rock wrestled for the WCW title. Just saying.

Also, look at the match at Survivor Series. A maority of the hype was about Austin joining the Alliance.

 

[pratrullz098]

Austin basically became cranky and refused to wrestle Hogan. He thought his match would be bigger than Rock VS Hogan, well he lost out.

I dont even understand what this discussion is about? Vince McMahon, Michael Hayes, Jim Ross and Chris Jericho have said that Austin was the bigger star among the two. Ofcourse it is possible that you know more about WWE than the owner of WWE, a long time backstage producer, the former head of talent relations and a long time WWE main eventer. I doubt it.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

How was Rock bigger than Austin from 2000-2002? Austin was injured, i most part of 2000, so yeah, Rock was a bigger star.

But look at 2001, Austin won the Royal Rumble. No Way Out was all about Austin VS Triple H. Austin and Rock stole the show at WrestleMania. Then Rock left.
He came back at SummerSlam, and his return match got more hype than Austin's match. Agreed. Rock main evented SummerSlam. But after that, right untill WrestleMania 18, Austin main evented every PPV.

The WCW title was always a level below the WWE title. Austin wrestled for the WWE title, while Rock wrestled for the WCW title. Just saying.

Also, look at the match at Survivor Series. A maority of the hype was about Austin joining the Alliance.

At wrestlemania 17, they showed that Austin couldn't beat Rock cleanly.

Plans for wrestlemania 18 were Rock vs Austin III, WWE was trying their best to keep these two away from each others.

Austin was already WWF champion, that's why he was main eventing.

Rock defeated Austin at Survivor series 2001 however WWE were planning for Rock to beat Austin at wm18.

There were also rumors of a Austin vs Triple H match and Austin vs Benoit but those plans were nixed.


WWE wanted Rock to finally get his big win over Austin but they signed a bigger name in Hogan who officially passed him the torch.

 

[wwewz]

The Rock did have the last match at his comeback PPV in 2001, SumerSlam. But after SummerSlam till the end of the year, Austin's match was the last match of the PPV.

Yeah Austin had the number 1 belt. But Rock was still the main event at Summerslam which if you remember use to be very important PPV. Then Austin was the main event when Angle won the title. Then Austin was the main event because they're not gonna have Rock losing the title, end the show. Then Rock beat Austin at SS. Then Austin was the main event at Vengence because it made sense involving Y2J's win. So no I'm not convinced!

And I've already proved that Austin VS Hogan was the original plan. So yeah, both your points are wrong.

Where is the proof??? I've listened to the podcasts again and I can't find either JR or Austin say Austin turned a match with Hogan down at WM18.
EDIT: Someone above has posted a video of Austin saying he wasn't given the match.

No. Hogan was never booked to beat Austin. Who told you that? You have a tonne of wrong information man. There is no way Vince would let Hogan beat Austin at WrestleMania.

Where's the wrong information? I was going off forum logic I have read that people think that match didn't happen because Austin refused to job. People have said that for years.

But dont come here and say "If Rock this.. If Rock that..", that's like saying "If Austin hadn;t been dropped on his head and wrestled till 2008" or "If Shawn Michaels hadn't been injured in 1998..."

I said one if. And there's a huge difference from what you're saying. Rock wasn't forced to retire, it was his choice. That's my point, if Rock's not considered the biggest, it's because he chose not to try and add 10 years to his career.

 

[jholcomb22]

At the end of the day WWE has had 3 main eras...They were lead by Hogan, Austin and now Cena. Besides being the faces of the company during their reigns, what do those three men have in common?

They all lost to The Rock at WrestleMania.

If thats what constitutes being the number 2 guy in the company at a certain time, sign me up. And I bet every other wrestler would say the same thing.

Comparing Austin to the Rock is pointless. It's a matter of opinion and most everybody is not changing there mind now. They are 2 of the greatest of all time and will be that way forever.

 

[James Greiga]

At wrestlemania 17, they showed that Austin couldn't beat Rock cleanly.

Plans for wrestlemania 18 were Rock vs Austin III, WWE was trying their best to keep these two away from each others.

Austin was already WWF champion, that's why he was main eventing.

Rock defeated Austin at Survivor series 2001 however WWE were planning for Rock to beat Austin at wm18.

There were also rumors of a Austin vs Triple H match and Austin vs Benoit but those plans were nixed.


WWE wanted Rock to finally get his big win over Austin but they signed a bigger name in Hogan who officially passed him the torch.

Rock didn't beat Austin at Survivor Series. Team WWF defeated the alliance, not the same thing and it wasn't even a clean win. Austin didn't beat Rock cleanly not because they wanted to push Rock. HOW MANY TIMES DOES A HEEL BEAT A FACE CLEANLY??? How many times did Hogan lose clean? Or Cena? I can't remember many times Austin lost cleanly either so you have no point. And just because Austin was WWF champion that means something? Why didn't they just have Rock take the belt off him? Also, I call bullshit on the Rock vs. Austin claim for Wrestlemania 18. The second WWF bought WCW, Vince wanted Austin/Hogan (or Rock/Hogan as many people claim). Most wrestlers just couldn't get out of their contracts with Time Warner until after the Invasion ended. I've mainly heard the original plan was HHH vs. Austin at WM 18 which would make sense considering The Two Man Power Trip storyline.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

Rock didn't beat Austin at Survivor Series. Team WWF defeated the alliance, not the same thing and it wasn't even a clean win. Austin didn't beat Rock cleanly not because they wanted to push Rock. HOW MANY TIMES DOES A HEEL BEAT A FACE CLEANLY??? How many times did Hogan lose clean? Or Cena? I can't remember many times Austin lost cleanly either so you have no point. And just because Austin was WWF champion that means something? Why didn't they just have Rock take the belt off him? Also, I call bullshit on the Rock vs. Austin claim for Wrestlemania 18. The second WWF bought WCW, Vince wanted Austin/Hogan (or Rock/Hogan as many people claim). Most wrestlers just couldn't get out of their contracts with Time Warner until after the Invasion ended. I've mainly heard the original plan was HHH vs. Austin at WM 18 which would make sense considering The Two Man Power Trip storyline.

Because Austin was the WWF champ that means something? REALLY?

It means everything!!!!

It means you're the main event!!

And no, the plan was Rock-Austin III for WM18 from the second Austin turned heel at WM17.

There were also rumours of Austin-Hunter afterwards because of the reasons you stated but SCSA refused to do the job and the heel turn was an absolute flop.

Also, Austin was reportedly a fan of Benoit and wanted to work with him but he couldn't make it to WM18 because of injuries.

 

[Rocky84]

Thread has gotten a little out of control lol. It's simple guys...but a lot of people want to be bias. I'll get to the OP's question in my closing...

1. Stone Cold gets pretty much all the credit for helping WWF surpass WCW/NWO in ratings. People tend to overlook the fact that Vince was 50% of that reason. Although Austin was great and a breath of fresh ass kickin air to a dulling product, it was his fued with his boss that really blew things up. Not to mention DX...HBK n HHH were huge too. This also helped.

2. The Rock came along and started to make wrestling appealing with his gimmick...the peoples eyebrow, the $800 shirts, the catchphrases etc. The guy was getting attention from the main stream more than Austin was. That's obvious. He was getting commercial deals like crazy, his own song with Wycleff which was playing like crazy on MTV, SNL appearances, movie deals...you name it. He was HUGE in bringing in NEW fans.

Austin was HUGE in the wrestling world only...he was pulling WCW fans in but Rock pulled fans in from the street...evident by the rating tilt...Austin increased WWF's #'s and decreased WCW's....Rock just increased WWF's even more as WCW's #'s stayed the same...this means he pulled the non fans and casual fans who saw him everywhere else.


3. It's documented that Stone Cold was wary about Rock becoming hotter and decided to take time off to avoid getting stale. This was huge in keeping his character fresh since he was out ALOT either for injuries or just leaving on his own. Not to mention his character was only around at it's best from 1997-2002 (a couple months in 2003, but gone for most of 2000, and 6 months in 2001-2002.). That's like 3 full years lol. We didn't get much of him and it was in spurts so he was always fresh and we didn't tire of him. A big reason why we love him because we keep wanting more of him since we don't get much.


4. In regards to Hogan vs Austin...the video above proves it was always Rock vs Hogan. He said so himself. Kinda shows how they felt about Rock being the new #1 .


5. Mania 17....with the plan being Rock vs Austin at 16 as the reports showed until Austin was worried about how hot Rock was and how stale he was getting they couldn't do it because he elected to get his surgeries over with at this perfect time. With 17 being booked in Texas...pretty obvious you can't have Rock go over while they're both faces in Austin's home. That's common sense. Therefore they had to show Rock was better by having Austin sell his soul to win.


6. Vince loves Austin more because He and Austin have a special relationship formed on how they together defeated WCW. It's like a tag team partner you win the championship with when you were almost defeated and he helped you overcome the opposition. You never forget that, and I understand it.

Not to mention how Rock left for Hollywood for all those years. Who do you think Vince will praise more? It's pretty damn easy. All the other things being brought up about Rock vs Austin in terms of popularity is not relevant to this particular question. The answer to it is quick and easy as I made in this 6th point.