Would The Rock be successful today if he remained heel after Backlash '99?

[jayteeERA]

Now this guy is a great performer. He he has great matches. He had some of the funniest promos ever. I am talking bout The Rock.

I don't like The Rock not one bit but I do respect him. I always saw him as a heel. I saw him as a Stone Cold wanna be, a copy cat, always stealing wrestlers finishers yet he was the great one. Talks about opponents and sometimes get his ass whipped. These are heel moves. Now in 1999 after backlash PPV. Vince decides to turn Rock face. Well that lasted 1999-2003. It was successful. Fans loved him. He went to Hollywood and quit wrestling.

But even the great one had bad days. Austin vs Rock WM 17 people were booing Rock. Yea cause Austin hometown. OK Hogan vs Rock WM 18 he was booed. Yea people missed seeing Hogan. Well Summerslam 2002 Lesnar vs Rock. PPL were saying Rock sold out. Through all that he still was successful.

Go back to 1999. Rock remains heel. Lets say Vince gave HHH a face run or Shamrock a push to the top. Now Rock in HHH spot would he still be successful?

 

[klunderbunker]

I don't really think you can answer that as the Rock was just so freaking popular that it was like Austin: they had to turn him. He was so awesome on the mic and etc that he was getting pops for even his heel stuff, which eventually looks bad so they had to make the change. If he had stayed heel it wouldn't have worked as he's such a charismatic guy that you get into him and cheer for him to no end because he makes people laugh.

 

[Guyzwitgunz]

He had a few runs as both but whatever role he played he played it damn well which is probably got him into Hollywood anyway. If he had never made that turn he wouldnt have clicked with the fans and would probably have been very stale by the time he left WWE (reference: Hogan) but he still played a damn good heel but an even better face: the crowd would go nuts for him

 

[mister_b1LL]

KB hit the nail on the head. The Rock was so popular at that time that they had to turn him face. This question seems to imply that he was supposed to be heel for life after Backlach '99. It shouldn't be the case. As with all wrestlers, Rock should have tried both sides of the picture. He became face and the rest is history. But I'm off topic.

It's possible the Rock could have still been successful if he stayed heel for a little while longer, but you can't be heel and get cheers. So his face run has to be in the making at some point after.

 

[Shanks18]

I'd agree that the fans turned him face more than the writers did, it was inevitable. His persona didn't change that much, it was more of a shift in perspective in terms of his opponents. In the similar way to Austin's face turn, it was a natural progression as the character became more popular. He still retained is heel characteristics, but just focused them against heels rather than the faces. He became so popular that even if his opponent was a face, they received a heel reaction based on the Rock's promo's.

The exception of course was, as you mentioned, against guys like Austin in his hometown and Hogan, just because of the novelty.

That being said, if the WWE had insisted on him staying heel despite the crowds reaction, than I think that would of been detrimental to him. Much in the same way that the WWE continues to keep Cena face despite the crowds reaction (debatable) or Hogan before he turned heel.

 

[Y2J420RKO420]

ok the rock lost to austin at wm 15 so he was building sympathy from the fans so from the fan point of view fans liked rock to much to boo him any more ( cant be heel without boos) so backlash comes around the rock and austin have another 5* classic IMO fans no longer have any intrest in booing rock because the rock was that awesome back then.
so if he would have stayed heel it would of been a huge let down from the fan point of view (ex. randy orton right before wm 25 he should of won and gone face). and he would of sold way less merch. and if triple h went face at that time there would not be any good heels besides the rock

 

[Ferbian]

If he had stayed heel it wouldn't have worked as he's such a charismatic guy that you get into him and cheer for him to no end because he makes people laugh.

exactly what klunderbunker is saying right here.. they had to turn him, because like chris jericho, the rock was getting cheered for his heel stuff too because he was funny while doing it, and he cut great promo's.

but to some degree i think it might have worked for the rock.. afterall.. it's the rock.. if you ask me he could work any role looking at the skills on the mic he had, he just had to twist around on the things he said, insult some other people and so on, and it would work just fine from there.

so yes.. the rock could be successful today as a heel.

besides... didn't they turn the rock back to a heel guy in 2003? and he was still getting cheered even doing that again, even thou he kinda had to get boo'd at some of the stuff he did like insulting sacramento, because everybody boo the guy dissing their home-town, its natural, but we can't deny that he was still getting cheered as a heel in 2003 too.

 

[gers09]

the rock is one of the best he could play both face and heel with ease i loved watching him as both sometimes thought his heel promos were better than face one i think he was just funnier and was amazing in the ring too

would he be successful yes because he was just too good

 

[roadkill_]

The Rock ceased to be over with me after the turn. He excelled as the heel, IMO. What made it worse was they milked him incessantly.

 

[edgeHead1983]

Now this guy is a great performer. He he has great matches. He had some of the funniest promos ever. I am talking bout The Rock.

I don't like The Rock not one bit but I do respect him. I always saw him as a heel. I saw him as a Stone Cold wanna be, a copy cat, always stealing wrestlers finishers yet he was the great one. Talks about opponents and sometimes get his ass whipped. These are heel moves. Now in 1999 after backlash PPV. Vince decides to turn Rock face. Well that lasted 1999-2003. It was successful. Fans loved him. He went to Hollywood and quit wrestling.

But even the great one had bad days. Austin vs Rock WM 17 people were booing Rock. Yea cause Austin hometown. OK Hogan vs Rock WM 18 he was booed. Yea people missed seeing Hogan. Well Summerslam 2002 Lesnar vs Rock. PPL were saying Rock sold out. Through all that he still was successful.

Go back to 1999. Rock remains heel. Lets say Vince gave HHH a face run or Shamrock a push to the top. Now Rock in HHH spot would he still be successful?

Well first off, I could really see Hunter getting that spot but, not Shamrock. Though Shamrock was the best technican,he could not, connect with the fans. Hunter is good, but The Rock is electrifying

 

[rjdonuts]

The Rock was a great heel, but I agree that the fans turned him face. Remember, before Survivor Series 98, Rock was becoming a face. One People's elbow on HHH on the ladder at Summerslam, and all of the sudden their were Rocky chants drowning out the Rocky Sucks chants. The only reason he was heel again was for the purposes of the Austin screwjob. Even during that time, while feuding with Mankind he was doing face turns--singing at St. Valentine's day Massacre, calling out the Big Show and doing all the sing-along stuff--So after Backlash 99, I feel like WWE just let the Rock be who he already was in the fans' eyes.

His path was really no different than Austin's or DX's or the nWo's. They were so good at being bad guys, that they became fan favorites.

 

[jayteeERA]

Well my personal opinion. Yeah The Rock would still be successful as heel. But I think it was too soon for Rock to turn face after backlash 99. But he was successful and it made Austin look like the Rock daddy setting him straight after a whipping, which is why I couldn't take Rock seriously after he turn face. I feel people did felt sorry & got behind The Rock. I don't know how people can say Rock had a ERA. He needed Austin help to win the title at backlash 2000, HHH as a heel was always better then Rock. That like saying joker better then batman. He won the title off of HHH in a tag match by pinning Vince. But who really won HHH vs Rock wars? It was HHH heel & face. Thats why I say he should of been the one who drove over Austin at Survivor Series 99 or should remained a heel after backlash 99.

Austin got respect after his match at WM 13. Rock got sympathy after backlash, which is weak.

 

[Davi323]

I doubt anything could have prevented Dwayne Johnson from being a huge wrestling star, face, heel, or tweener. His natural charm and personality make him far more than the sum of his character, the Rock. Really, they could have had him do the absolute worst things ever seen, make him the ultimate heel, and it wouldn't have mattered. He would still have been a huge star, because with some guys, you simply can't avoid it. When he debuted as Rocky Maivia, yeah, the fans hated him, because he was portraying someone that wasn't Dwayne Johnson. He was portraying his father and grandfather, not himself. As long as Dwayne Johnson got to be Dwayne Johnson, his superstar status was inevitable.

 

[CyDeez]

Forcing anything never really looks so good. That's what it would have been. FORCED. WWE would have just looked stupid trying to make him have Heel tendencies and being cheered 100%.

When Austin was getting over with the crowd, it lasted MONTHS where he was still being pushed as a Heel and the crowd was cheering him. You would hear Vince say stupid shit like, "I don't know why, but they like em'!" I HATED that. It always seemed so forced that he was being cheered by everyone, yet acting like a Heel. Picking fights with full fledged faces, Bret Hart, Jake Roberts etc...

The KOTR 96 always is marked as the beginning. Truly, even though he was cheered lightly, it was still a few months after this that he began to have a lot of the crowd behind him. And he never really turned Face until after that WM match with Bret Hart in 97.

 

[LionTamer]

The Rock had the charisma to stay successful as a heel, but they couldn't keep him from turning face any longer. Look back to the Survivor Series 98 tournament when he was starting to look like a face right before his heel turn swerve, the crowd was just starting to pop for him after chanting "Rocky Sucks" for the previous 18 months. As brief as that was, I think that was a clear sign to management that he could and would go over as a face. Heel Rock was pretty amazing and I think he could have gone over successfully without the face turn after Backlash, but the Triple H heel turn at WM 15 was done pretty well and it was fresh, unlike the Rock who had been heel since he joined the Nation. So, I guess what I'm saying is that the heel Rock in 99 could have been successful, but they chose the right path by having HHH be one of the bigger heels that year instead.