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Rate The Rock vs. CM Punk Feud

  • Underwhelming :punk3

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  • Great :punk:rock3

    Votes: 130 34.3%

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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#8,593 · (Edited)
I just hated that Rock won with The Peoples Elbow. Now i know Rock has beaten many wrestlers with it but i dunno to have Punk lose his title after holding it for over a year to just an elbow seems stupid. I would rather him get beaten by The Rock Bottom like Rock said he was gonna beat him. Remember his whole promo on Raw "Your gonna get a Rock Bottom and when you get right here your gonna pause time will stop and you'll think to yourself, its over" so yeah with that promo it would have been more fitting to end with a Rock Bottom.
 
#8,594 ·
Like many have already said, i didnt like the ending. It should take a lot more than a spinebuster to people's elbow to beat the longest reigning wwe champ. Also as much as im a rock fan, hes not the same wrestler as he was in his prime. I didnt see any samoan drops, tornado ddts, drop kicks, arm drags, kick ups, etc. all things rock used to do in a match. Hope punk gets add to the rock-cena match to take some of the load off the rock at wm.
 
#8,598 ·
Why the hell did WWE make CM Punk succumb to just a People's Elbow

The match could've been great if the WWE would've made Rock counter CM Punk's GTS and then make CM Punk counter Rock bottom and vice versa until Rock hits Punk with the Rock bottom and quickly rushes to give people's elbow for a pin..........back and forth combos like that.The Rock could've done that,I was happy with the Rock for taking brutal bumps in the match so why couldn't they do the finish properly?What was WWE's exact point behind making CM Punk fall to just a people's elbow?
 
#8,601 ·
I thought it was very underwhelming. It was slow paced and Punk (for some reason) dominated most of it. Not to mention The Rock was noticeably gassed in about 5 minutes. Seriously, you would think after having about 3 matches in the span of a year he would have worked on his cardio so he doesn't look like he's fuckin' dying out there. Plus we probably got another two matches with him this year.

The table spot though, that said it all. The match was definitely not up to my expectations.
 
#8,613 ·
Re: Why the hell did WWE make CM Punk succumb to just a People's Elbow

John Cunting Cena wins that fucking rumble and your worried about this?
Yeah, and having the RR match before the title match spoiled it for real! When I saw Cena winning the Rumble I just turned off the TV, it was obvious that The Rock was gonna win the title.
It's good for business you know... Bullshit company is bullshit and bullshit booking is... guess what? That's right, bullshit!

I hope Punk leaves this year so that way I will finally have a reason to stop watching this product!
 
#8,611 ·
Kicking out of finishers is usually a face thing to do
Punk 2011 MITB was being booked as a face, not the cowardly heel he is now

The finish was a cowardly heel getting what he deserved

Honky Tonk Man held the IC title for 15 months and then lost it in a 2 minute squash to UW - was that a bad thing?
 
#8,615 ·
idk to me it should take a main finisher to beat an opponent like punk was made out to be (longest reigning champ, beat all the current top stars, etc.) sure the people elbow is one of rocks finishers but the rock bottom is the main one. its like the undertaker, sure guys lose to him by the chokeslam and last ride but for the top guys it usually takes his main finisher the tombstone to finish the job.
 
#8,619 ·
don't know why people keep shitting on the match since yesterday!
i rewatched and was a good match with great selling from the rock and great storytelling

anyway this Jason powell from prowrestling.net opinion
WWE Royal Rumble Hits

The Rock vs. C.M. Punk: A very good main event. I know some people hated the restart of the match. I wasn't paying close attention to the time, so I bought into the possibility that they were going with the surprise finish of Punk going over. I knew there was a chance Vince McMahon would restart the match, but I also wondered if they were going to shock everyone by stripping Punk of the title. Once the match was restarted, it was pretty obvious where things were going, but I still enjoyed the overall ride they took us on.

It's cool that Punk can claim he was wronged because he scored the pin on Rock and the referee couldn't call what he did not see. It's even cooler that he controlled so much of the match. Punk never flinched with Rock during the buildup to the match, and he got a huge portion of the offense of the match. He may have lost the match, but he was treated like a star in the process. That won't be enough for some fans who are acting like they can't live in a world where Punk doesn't hold the championship. We'll miss you.

The only thing I really didn't care for was the People's Elbow finisher. I'm not a hater of the comedy move because it gets such a good reaction, but it's just not a WWE Championship finishing move. Why not go with the Rock Bottom or have Punk tap to the Sharpshooter? I hope they weren't going for the symbolism of The People's Elbow finishing off the man who said the people don't matter. Time stood still when the table collapsed and Rock appeared to injure his knee when the table collapsed. The hearts of everyone from Vince McMahon to John Cena to producers of Rock's upcoming Hollywood projects (if they were watching) must have skipped a couple beats.
 
#8,625 ·
I know what you mean, this has to be the most obvious and predictable WM main event ever. Soon as Cena won the Rumble i just knew Rock was winning the WWE title, which confirmed Cena vs Rock 2 at WM. We all know Cena wont lose twice to Rock so Cena will win the title. I'm usually pretty damn excited for WM but i already hate the main event and know who's winning. I just hope the rest of the card is really great to make up for the shitty predictable main event.
 
#8,626 ·
Disappointing match. It was a bit slow and plodding, and needed more back and forth rather than Punk controlling 70% of the offence. Bummer about the table spot, hate it when that happens!

Also a huge waste of the shield, if they weren't technically part of the rumble they should've kept storming the ring and beating people up.
 
#8,628 ·
The hate about the finish is downright retarded. The People's Elbow is a finisher.

A lot of people point to HHH/Rock at Backlash 2000 as a awesome, and a pivotal Attitude Era match. Hey, remember how that ended?

Spinebuster/Elbow. And there was a looooong pause before HHH was counted out.

Honestly, the Internet never ceases to scour every piece of footage and bitch like Jewish broads at the hair salon.
 
#8,631 ·
Im actually loving how many people are complaining. Don't want cena to win this dont want Rock to win that. Yet u ask for fresh entertaining programming. So yeah if Ryback beat Cena and punk won cleanly you would complain. Think some of you are way way too serious about it. Actually loling right now

Oh and i really enjoyed Royal Rumble. Hate me.
 
#8,634 ·
Live Fan Perspective For The Rock vs CM Punk Match
The big match feel was evident with C.M. Punk taking on The Rock. The crowd was more split than I expected for a Rock match, but the Punk group was a more vocal minority than a full half.

- The entire arena, all the way to the back row, was standing as Punk and Rock were introduced in the ring. Pardon the phrase, but it was electric.

- I never thought I would have the opportunity to see The Rock wrestle live again. It was a real treat to sit back and soak it in as a fan.

- This match used more of the bells and whistles Rock had available to him in the Attitude Era than Rock's match with John Cena did. It fit the build better and Rock looked better in this match because of it.

- I loved Punk's coverup for the announce table breaking pre-maturely, but its ultimate untimely collapse was a scary moment and seemed to hurt the flow of the match a little bit. Rock and Punk recovered beautifully, even with the odd moment.

- Seeing a Rock match focusing on working a body part was new for me. I liked the build into the Sharpshooter and was amazed at the pop the Sharpshooter generated.

- Even most of the pro-heel fans (including a group of people in Dolph Ziggler shirts) were cheering for The Rock in this match. I can promise you there was never a moment where the crowd was flat.

- When the lights went out, it was The Shield that came out and Rock did fully take the triple Powerbomb through the announce table. I was surprised to see this occur in total darkness, since it was a major bump and a big spot.

- I appreciated the effort to continue the Punk and Shield story, even with them being banned from interfering. The next chapter of this story should be very interesting.

- The Rock going down and staying down for The Shield's big Powerbomb really helps the group seem like a threat.

- There was an aura of confusion as Punk celebrated. The arena as a whole seemed disappointed and actually angry at the interference.

- The pop of the night went to Vince McMahon, who once again caused the entire crowd to rise to their feet. I can understand certain qualms about the booking of this match ending, but the reaction definitely sold me on it. It also gives Punk a pinfall over The Rock to brag about, which may be important going forward.

- The Rock asking for the match to be restarted after taking a serious beating further reenforces him being in full on babyface mode on this night. It's nice to see a star who was made in the "shades of grey" era of booking take on being the babyface and do it so well.

- The match ended a little too abruptly after the restart for my tastes.

- While I was surprised to see The Rock win the match with The People's Elbow, it harkened back to his greatest career victory, at Backlash 2000. He won his match against Triple H with the People's Elbow as well. It was odd, but not completely unprecedented.

- The Rock's pinfall and celebration were like a party in Phoenix. I don't know when the show went off the air, but I doubt it was before the fans stopped applauding. This was a crazy moment to be a part of.

- After the show, The Rock celebrated specifically for Phoenix. He thanked the fans, his family, and all of the WWE Superstars for creating such a magical night. He didn't speak for long, but he closed with the crowd pleasing "If you smell" line and sent everyone home happy.
WWE needs to invest in better audio equipment because on tv it sounded like the crowd was dead, but come to find out they were very much alive which is not a shock since this match was really good.
 
#8,636 ·
I apologize if the point I'm about to make has already been made but I've been busy at work and I haven't had a chance to really browse the forum. I notice that a lot of people seem to really have a problem with Punk jobbing out to the people's elbow. You know what? I understand. It was never really the world's most devastating looking maneuver and I think most people always assumed it was just a signature move, not necessarily a finisher.

But you have to remember that one of the main "plot points" of this feud was that Punk supposedly didn't care about the people, and that he accused Rock of being nothing but a big phony in the way he catered to the audience and the fans. In that regard the finish was more than fitting. In the end, Punk got beat by the people's elbow. He wasn't just defeated by The Rock, but by the people as well. It was a message.

Don't get me wrong I think The Rock's pandering is borderline offensive, but I truly believe that's the reasoning behind the finish. Silly or not, I think that was the intention.
 
#8,637 ·
Interesting take. The People's Elbow being symbolic for the People's Champion taking out the champion who turned his back on the people. It was still a bit of a surprise because in their go-home Raw promo Rock made it clear that he was going to use the Rock Bottom and at that moment Punk would realize it is over. Guess not.
 
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