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Rate The Rock vs. CM Punk Feud

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Official The Rock vs. CM Punk Discussion Thread

823K views 9K replies 1K participants last post by  Nimbus 
#1 · (Edited)
wwe.com said:
Perhaps the parade was premature. Perhaps the celebrating, the humble tweets to The People and the legions of Team Bring It, and the proclamation that FINALLY, The Rock was WWE Champion once again jumped the gun by just a bit. Maybe, just maybe, The Rock put the horse before the cart when he celebrated his latest triumph on Raw Roulette, because CM Punk is not done with The Great One by a long shot.


How could he be, either? When a Superstar holds the WWE Title — Punk’s “life’s work,” in his own words — for 434 days spread across three calendar years, he does not just simply throw up his hands and call it a good run when the prize is taken from his clutches. So it was of no surprise when, during The Rock’s celebratory address to the WWE Universe as its new champion, The Straight Edge Superstar himself declared would be evoking his rematch clause – “granting” Rock a rematch was how he earned it – at Elimination Chamber. It was also of no surprise that The Rock gladly accepted.

But once again, maybe Rock is counting his proverbial chickens too early, because for all CM Punk’s feverish boasting in his final days as champion, he was right about one thing after the Royal Rumble: Hedidpin The Rock. It was one-two-three in the middle of the ring, although it took a sneak attack by who we can only assume was The Shield to weaken The Brahma Bull enough for Punk to make the pin. And it was only after Mr. McMahon restarted the bout that The Great One found enough of a second wind to silence CM Punk and put The Straight Edge Superstar to sleep, claiming his eighth WWE Championship in the process.

So at Elimination Chamber, the most brutal pit stop on The Road to WrestleMania, The Rock will face his own personal demon yet again. And The People’s Champion will have to be very, very careful, because CM Punk does not make the same mistake twice, and he is very, very angry. The very real opinion exists — depending whom you ask — that Punk should still be WWE Champion. And with it, the very real possibility exists — should The Rock think one victory equals winning the war — that The Brahma Bull’s parade could end as soon as it began and that CM Punk will be champion again, with history in his hands for the third time.


Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson said:
Over 100 years of Heavyweight Champions.

3 generations in my blood.

New WWE Champion.

My honor. TEAM BRING IT.


wwe.com said:
Attitude Era original Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will compete in his first World Title match in more than a decade when he challenges WWE Champion CM Punk, the longest-reigning WWE Title holder of the past quarter-century, at Royal Rumble on Jan. 27.

The WWE Universe has anxiously awaited The Great One’s return to the WWE Title picture since he announced his championship opportunity on Raw 1,000 last July. Though there was no guarantee at the time whom The Rock’s opponent would be, the always-confident Punk fired an opening salvo that night, cutting down The Rock with a clothesline before knocking him out with a picture-perfect Go to Sleep. The following week, The Voice of the Voiceless defended his actions by suggesting The Great One, having been “gifted” a WWE Title match, viewed victory at the Royal Rumble as a foregone conclusion.

Whether a real or perceived slight, the implication that The Rock places himself on a higher plane than the current WWE Champion was seemingly all the motivation Punk needed to make sure he would still have the title on Jan. 27.

In the half-year since Raw 1,000, The Second City Saint stunned WWE fans by aligning with Paul Heyman and ratcheting up the vitriol of his speech. More important than either of those details, he has — by hook or by crook — maintained possession of the championship gold. Having turned back challenges by John Cena and Ryback in recent months, The Best in the World now looks ahead to testing himself against the seven-time former WWE Champion who vowed in 2012 to regain the title.

For The Rock, an A-list Hollywood action star and third-generation Superstar who has sports-entertainment coursing through his veins, the Royal Rumble title match represents the start of a potential career renaissance inside the ring. Since March 2004, The Most Electrifying Man in All of Entertainment has competed in only two sanctioned WWE matches, teaming with John Cena to shred The Awesome Truth (The Miz & R-Truth) at Survivor Series 2011 and overcoming the Cenation leader at WrestleMania XXVIII.

But by vying for the most treasured prize in sports-entertainment, The Rock is committing to more than another appearance as a “special attraction.” Rather, he is setting his eyes on again becoming WWE’s gold standard.

Hell-bent though The Rock may be on introducing a new generation of WWE fans to The People’s Champion, there is no discounting Punk’s deftness once the bell rings. Controversial endings to several high-profile title defenses may have tarnished The Second City Saint’s reputation in the eyes of some critics, but they have done nothing to change the fact the WWE Championship still sits around his waist. Before his seedier side came into focus in late summer, Punk spent much of 2012 disposing of WWE’s best and brightest, ranging from Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan to Dolph Ziggler and Kane. How will the WWE Champion match up against one of the pillars of The Attitude Era?

As the WWE Universe excitedly counts down the days until Jan. 27, the back-and-forth between two of WWE’s most compelling talkers is bound to pick up steam. It will not be until the Royal Rumble, however, that the trash talk gives way to the gravity of a game-changing WWE Championship bout, the likes of which hasn’t seen in years. Will Royal Rumble mark the rebirth of a championship Brahma Bull, or will it only underscore what Punk has claimed all along, that he is untouchable and in a class by himself?
The Rock explains why he wants WWE Title

WWE part-time star The Rock revealed why re-capturing the WWE Title is important to him in a new interview with WWE Magazine. It's a statement that has been missing from WWE television leading up to the Royal Rumble PPV.

"It starts with recognizing what the WWE Championship represents to me," Rock said in the February 2013 issue. "Every time I hold that title over my head in victory, it not only signifies the fact that I have delivered the absolute best entertainment that I could to the WWE Universe, but that I'm taking a moment to live an experience that all the generations of wrestlers in my family strived to achieve.

Rock continued, "There is no other award that I could receive that's as deeply ingrained in my blood and history as the WWE Championship - and that's why it means so much to me."

At the same time, Rock said that after his first WWE Title reign - which came in 1998 - he decided that he would never allow his possession of or lack of the WWE Title define his career.

"After my first WWE Championship run came to an end, I made a conscious decision that night that I would work harder than any other Superstar in the locker room to become the type of WWE entertainer who, if I never had another championship run again, it would not define my career. I never wanted to rely on a title run for success."

Rock's next statement reflects his recent approach to mixing "entertainment" with "seriousness." Rock concluded, "My goal was to get to a place where I relied only on what I could bring to the table in terms of being entertaining and having a one-of-a-kind - and electrifying - connection with all of the WWE Universe."

[ FYI: Rock's interview is part of a cover-feature on Rock in the latest WWE Magazine. ]

Link - http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_68014.shtml














 
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#628 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

Everything is staged and a work and deliberately put together by forces for the sake of their agenda.

It's like politics but a little bit more fun, and far less destructive.
 
#629 · (Edited)
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

CM Punk: “It’s been a frustrating year. Not just for me but a lot of other Superstars. The Rock waltzes in and he wrestles two days a year. Rock says this place is family, well, I hang out with my family as often as I can.”

The Rock:“I strip away all the BS that can be fostered in the locker room with some of the guys. Strip away all that, because I don’t hear all that, it’s all noise, and it’s all bull**** to me.”
It should be frustrating for them watching a guy comes back after almost a decade and kicks them 3 calibers to the ground while he raises the standards just by his presence. As for all the BS he said, it wasn't a work in any way as he talked about it, then changed his tone, then did it again while crying that Rock didn't say "Hi" to him(and LYING that Rock just walked to the ring without talking to anybody when it's on camera that Rock is hugging and talking to HHH/Show/Pat/JR etc even when he had an insane schedule that day and didn't sleep for 3 days)until Rock threw him a bone and they talked before WM. There was nothing to "work" here, he was a babyface and was NEVER going to work WM with Rock. I can't remember the Observer report about it but he basically confirmed the locker room BS, Meltzer then ranted for 15 minutes on the roster. It's on YouTube somewhere. I can see the interviews with Del Rio and things like that in March before the match as a work, but with everything I heard from Punk, it wasn't. Punk is just not a very bright guy, he's one of the uneducated kids in the locker room who thinks wrestling is a school trip, he proved in the past that he has no clue what drives the industry. On the other hand, you see smart people like Rhodes and Sheamus(Which also kills the argument that it was a "work" because Sheamus praised Rock a lot)who gets it so it's not completely hopeless. But whatever, I'm not going into this shit again.

As for Rock/Punk match, if it happens, it's going to be for two weeks anyway, Royal Rumble is in 1/27, Rock is probably coming back on the 20 years RAW special, you got only two Rock promos promoting the match and the fact that he's wrestling for the WWE Championship after more than a decade. The repetitive WWE material shouldn't be a problem here. I hope we get one Rock/Heyman interaction:

2:40


:rocky
 
#633 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

Tri.Moon is awesome, doing a great job for a long time now.



Besides his Rock vids, he also has the rare packs like Superstars 98-99 and the off-air segments after the show or between commercials.

It's just me or WWE are taking down many YouTube channels now, just saw that they took down one of the best highlights channels for no reason. It was all 98-04 content anyway.

Some of Cena's part in the Rock/Cena DVD. HHH on that people always saying that Cena would have been a mid carder in the Attitude Era, truth. And HHH looks like he's in agreement. Also Cena saying that the golden boys before him were Brock Lesnar, Batista and Orton:
 
#634 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

Tri.Moon is awesome, doing a great job for a long time now.



Besides his Rock vids, he also has the rare packs like Superstars 98-99 and the off-air segments after the show or between commercials.

It's just me or WWE are taking down many YouTube channels now, just saw that they took down one of the best highlights channels for no reason. It was all 98-04 content anyway.

Some of Cena's part in the Rock/Cena DVD. HHH on that people always saying that Cena would have been a mid carder in the Attitude Era, truth. And HHH looks like he's in agreement. Also Cena saying that the golden boys before him were Brock Lesnar, Batista and Orton:
I don't buy that for a second. His look, the spinner belt, and his act translates to straight cash in any era.

He'd start as a mid carder but he'd get over in a heart beat.
 
#639 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

I think Cena would have been an awesome character in the AE. He'd get over as a rapping heel but I don't know if that translates into the ME.
Really it just depends on how they'd use him. If they put him in pink underwear and had him valet for PMS obviously he's toast. It is possible WWE could screw him up from the start. But if they gave him a chance he'd be over with women from the start just like he was in 03. Vince would not ignore that. At the very worse he's going to get Edge type booking.

From there if he does get the rapper gimmick and busts out the tricked out mid card title belt that's another thing that gonna set him apart and give him some uniqueness.

I see no reason why he couldn't rise to the top during the Attitude era. The only question is where does he fit in and when does he get the opportunity to be a prime player in the mid card scene which was pretty weak for a good portion of the Attitude era.
 
#637 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

John Cena would have been a mid-carder in the Attitude Era which is 100% truth. He's just too clean cut for the 90s and the only thing he'll have going for him is the rapping character which was just a basic mid-card act for the extremely high standards that was set back then.
 
#638 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

Cena would have probably gotten over as an upper-midcard heel in the Attitude Era. The reason he was watered down after his face turn was because WWE got complaints regarding the things he said and in 2004, he was no longer allowed to cut his 'off the dome' raps anymore which further led to him becoming more kid-friendly and shit. In the Attitude Era, such a problem would not have been present at all. I think he could have gotten the occasional title shots, though, and once the Rock's and Austin's would be retired, he would continue where they left off in the main event with a more serious character. Kinda like how it actually took place, only difference being he would be considered an AE guy and his stupid ass haters would not get at him as the "PG guy" he's known as today despite being the oldest member of the roster (not necessarily by age) along with Orton if you exclude the AE left-overs (Kane, Christian).
 
#640 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

The problem is you can't take a set of circumstances and neatly, completely transplant them to a different period of time.

John Cena's rapper character was able to take off in large part because pop culture had changed significantly from the late '90s to the early '00s. It's no coincidence that the character was formally born in the days leading up to the release of the Eminem-starring 8 Mile. Popular culture had shifted from the mid-to-late-'90s. The conditions for the rise of a marketable man with that gimmick and character were right.

But that doesn't mean Cena could not have risen to the top in the very heart of the Attitude Era. You can't prove a negative, especially when you're talking about someone who--as a midcarder, mind you--was responsible for practically 25% of WWE's merchandise revenue in the year of 2004.

The argument that Cena would be some midcarder in the Attitude Era is a questionable straw man at best. If WWE treated him and contained him within the midcard, well, of course. But if they had given him any shot at all the way they did in 2002-2004, I don't doubt that he would have found the right thing at the right time like he did (and thanks in large part to Stephanie overhearing his rapping, ha).

The problem is you can't take the conditions of say, 1998, and apply them seamlessly to 2002 or vice-versa. It was a different time. Vince knew Austin was not long for the business, and while he didn't fully know how soon Rock would be leaving for good for Hollywood, exactly, he still knew that his role in the company was changing and they were in need of new stars before too long.

Nevertheless, talent that cannot be ignored cannot be ignored. If Kurt Angle could penetrate the main event level against Rock and Austin, I see no reason to believe that John Cena simply could not. Cena didn't have the background or talent skillset Angle brought to the table but all other things being equal, Cena's impact on the industry outshines Angle's. Angle, however, was highly blessed by working top tier main event programs with some of the biggest names in the modern history of wrestling. So, again, you have to take all of these nuances into consideration if you want to attempt to find out how and where Cena would have fit in during the Attitude Era.
 
#642 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

Cena would have made it in any era imo. That much passion, dedication and his relentless work ethic alone would have got him far. The fact that he's extremely talented in all other aspects is the sealer.
Well said. Despite all the hate, a guy with Cena's talents is too good to ignore. I stand by my claim that him and Orton are the only guys from the current roster that could have made it in the Attitude Era without feeling out of place. It's also fitting that they joined the roster right after that era was over and Orton was even around before WWF became WWE.
 
#643 · (Edited)
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

I don't really buy that tbh. I think the whole work ethic argument when it pertains to Cena is a farce. Yes, Cena makes sure to do plenty of late night shows, make a wish appearances, hospital visits and other demanding activities ,and don't get me wrong he does a great job at them, but does he really work that much harder then anyone else? It just seems like WWE propaganda that has been shoved down our throats as truth through the years. Whose to say someone whose been established in the ME for over 8 years and will be the face of the company until he's done wrestling works any harder than a mid-carder trying to earn a spot?

I will say that Cena's look and talent alone could help him translate into the ME during the Attitude Era. He's an excellent mic-worker that would certainly serve as a Kurt Angle or Mick Foley type in terms of ME status.
 
#644 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

I don't really buy that tbh. I think the whole work ethic argument when it pertains to Cena is a farce. Yes, Cena makes sure to do plenty of late night shows, make a wish appearances, hospital visits and other demanding activities ,and don't get me wrong he does a great job at them, but does he really work that much harder then anyone else? It just seems like WWE propaganda that has been shoved down our throats as truth through the years. Whose to say someone whose been established in the ME for over 8 years and will be the face of the company until he's done wrestling works any harder than a mid-carder trying to earn a spot?

I will say that Cena's look and talent alone could help him translate into the ME. He's an excellent mic-worker that would certainly serve as a Kurt Angle or Mick Foley type in terms of ME status.
Yup,that whole argument is complete bullshit im sure even Rikishi worked harder than him on his time with the WWF,lets see he only works 1 show and house shows from RAW,promos same old crap every week nothing new and they feed him what to say,somehow he is the face of the company but the wwe is in an all time low so no mainstrem attention for him so he has spare time to go to the whole make a wish stuff and the matches :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: he gets beat down to a pulp so he can make his 6 min comeback-win-pose-leave,as for his place at the roster im sure mid card at best...
 
#646 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

I think Cena would have probably have become a Main Event Heel who could run with it till a chasing Rock/Austin beat him, the only think I could see against him was if his ring work would hold him back
 
#647 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

I think Cena would have probably have become a Main Event Heel who could run with it till a chasing Rock/Austin beat him, the only think I could see against him was if his ring work would hold him back
If Rock or Austin's "ring work" didn't hold them back, then Cena sure as hell would've never had a problem from an in ring standpoint either. Besides "ring work" does not make a great match. The match of the year in WWE so far this year is probably the End of an Era Hell in a Cell match at Wrestlemania, and that sure as hell was not a technical masterpiece.

What year "ring work" become such a big deal among smarks? Because that has never mattered in the WWE. The "WWE style" (if anyone actually gets what I mean when I say that) is based on theatrics. Most main event matches, especially on pay per view is all about Intro, Body, and Conclusion. It's all about "moments" within a match, a hard bump here, a false finish here. It may seem like other companies do that, but they don't. Most companies have nothing more than mindless matches with "Holy shit" moments that WWE is smart enough to use sparingly.

Hell Vince said it best in The Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, when he brought up how most of the matches were pretty much a visual of "let me show you guys how many buckets of blood I can draw", or "look at how many submission holds and suplexes I can do" in the case of guys like Tazz, Malenko, Guerrero etc... That's not exactly what Vince said, but that was the point he was making.

Cena does not need "to increase his work rate, add to the five moves of doom, or let his heel persona shine through" to prove how good he is.
 
#648 ·
#656 · (Edited)
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

Rock/Cena DVD should be up in a few hours. It's the same time of the FIFA 13 demo.

I honestly felt he was going to bring back the AE belt when he tweeted it a few months but that's doubtful.

Corporate Rock's look from Nov-Dec 98 with the AE belt + his first ever merchandise with the blue bull on the front and layin the smackdown on the back = gold.

On commentary from 9:15:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2yjpo_wwf-sunday-night-heat-november-29-1_sport?search_algo=2



:lmao
It can still happen, AE or the Brahma Bull belt.

Agree about the Corporate Rock, that was when Rock made the "Millions..." legit. This is always gold, after the Ladder match with HHH, WWF on the Home Shopping Network, Rock comes out pissed off, asking where the fuck all The Rock's merchandise for the Millions to buy, then on the spot gives the idea for his first shirt which was the blue "Brahma Bull", still have it somewhere BTW. What a stupid move not to do a "ROCKY SUCKS!" shirt during the peak of his Nation heel run when crowds were chanting it so loud you couldn't hear his music, could have been a huge seller. First Rock item was October 1998 IIRC.



There is a part in the Know Your Role DVD where Rock says in character that there are 3 billion of Rock fans today(99)and in a few years, probably the entire world lol. Can't find it.

Rock and Cena after the match:
Exclusive Pics: The Rock & John Cena Embrace After WrestleMania 28 Match

The documentary gives a look backstage immediately following the WrestleMania 28 match, which shows an embrace between Rock and Cena, in addition to interactions with Vince McMahon. Below are some exclusive photos of the eye-opening scene. Grab your copy of the DVD to see it all.



Both The Rock and John Cena were also briefly interviewed backstage following the “Once in a Lifetime” match up, with some of their comments making it into the documentary.
 
#664 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

wwffans123 asking this thread's most pertinent question to date.
 
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