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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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#2,807 · (Edited)
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

Yes Brock/Rock is a big match, but not in 2012


If it's not a big match in 2012 then when it was a big match? The only other situation which would make this bigger than now is Rock 2000 vs Lesnar 2010. I don't think you're getting it. The paying audience for WM is mostly old school/hardcore fans and casuals who will watch for the spectacle. There's not a bigger match than Rock/Lesnar for any fanbase. Not only from the material available today, but for years now. Rock/Cena is a contender but they already maximized everything about it and people got everything they wanted out of it, so it's not close now.
 
#2,814 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

Dwayne Johnson ‏@TheRock
THANK YOU to our UK #Fast6 film crew - long hours, dedicated work & dirty jokes. #ItsAWrap #TeamBringItUK pic.twitter.com/X3YhqvMD

Dwayne Johnson ‏@TheRock
On jet leavin' London.. months of shooting #Fast6 & intense training/dieting/mat work for my @WWE Championship match. #TBI #PushThePace
maybe he has time to make an appearance or two before the year is out? I hope so.

(also can't wait to see Gina & Dwayne again kicking tail again, when this movie comes out)
 
#2,822 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

idk why, but i wish rock was a politician piece of shit like hogan, austin, hhh WERE, i just wonder what his actual wwf carrer would have been like if he was into politics. anyone care to comment about what they think the rocks carrier would have been like if he was into politics.
 
#2,828 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

idk why, but i wish rock was a politician piece of shit like hogan, austin, hhh WERE, i just wonder what his actual wwf carrer would have been like if he was into politics. anyone care to comment about what they think the rocks carrier would have been like if he was into politics.
TBH with his career outside wrestling, and his extreme popularity, I don't think he gave a damn about being super OVER and keeping some talented stars down. Rock made everyone look like a million bucks and was a real good move when you think about it now. Imagine if he never put peeps like Kurt, Jericho, and HHH over, or Brock. shit would be a mess. Only person he ever buried was Booker. :lol
 
#2,824 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

idc what people might think but if i was rock i would have used more politics than austin, hogan and hhh combined because i would of had that kind of power especially from 2000 till 2003, i would have loved to marry steph, 20 time worlds champion=epic, A list hollywood star/ owner of a multi million dollar company..................damn it rock why do u have to be such a nice guy.
 
#2,826 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

am serious if the rock was an asshole and a piece of shit like hogan, austin and hhh were, then damn rock would be god in wrestling.
 
#2,829 · (Edited by Moderator)
the rock is one of the nicest and smartest people in history of this sport but it still would have been cool for him to hold the belts for longer periods of time and have more wins and stuff. hell the rock never held to fking belts at once, thats a disgrace because every single face of the company has had a time when he held two titles.

he never buried booker, he did not want to do the match because he found out that hhh was gana bury booker, so he put over hurricane instead, whom was buried by hhh later on.
 
#2,830 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

the rock is one of the nicest and smartest people in history of this sport but it still would have been cool for him to hold the belts for longer periods of time and have more wins and stuff. hell the rock never held to fking belts at once, thats a disgrace because every single face of the company has had a time when he held two titles.
That's the thing, Rock's intention was to keep things nice and entertaining, he chased the title a lot which made peeps get behind him and his wins a lot more satisfying, and his was VERY popular and was transitioning into acting, so he had a mindset to making sure the peeps who were going to continue on go over. He even wanted to put over Austin @ mania 19.
 
#2,831 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

if the rock put over austin again at wm 19, and had gone 3-0, i would have killed my self, it would have been the worst mistake wwe has ever done, I would have hated vinny mac soo much. It still to this day makes me sick how many times rock lost to austin. wm15, the rock should have won then lose at backlash, wm17 ok sure the rock was leaving the next day, wm19, austin's last match, that bitch better put the rock over and he did which made me very happy.
 
#2,832 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

It wasn't about politics or being nice. When it comes to the Rock, he UNDERSTOOD something in 1998. While you could sense that Austin was insecure about Rock's rise in 1999 and you DEFINITELY knew how HHH saw him, he didn't worry about it. He KNEW he was untouchable on the mic. So while Austin needed the vehicles, HHH needed to win all the time, Foley had to fall off cages like an animal, the Rock used that mic in ways never before seen. He was too witty and too ingenius on the mic to ever be intimidated by anyone. When you look back at things now...look at the Rock in September 1999 on the mic, he could bury or destroy anyone with 3 lines and didn't break a sweat doing it. He had an answer or slick comment for everything and everyone. Go back to March 1999 before WM 15 in that Beer Bash segment with Austin/Vince/Shane and he didn't really say that much and let Austin run him down. When you THINK about it...you knew he could of said PISS on Lambs/PISS ON YOU promo and destroyed him.

But he was a genius in that capacity.
 
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#2,833 ·
Any word on Rock's return date?

With the Rumble less than two months away, and Rock likely to take the belt home, you gotta figured he's going to be returning soon.

Especially if the WWE IS going to put the title around his waist. They are going to want to build and promote that feud. One thing I could see happening would be to have Rock interfere in Punks TLC match. The story line would make sense, Punk jumped Rock at Raw 1000, Rock jumps Punk in return.

That would give the WWE 6 episodes of Raw to build their feud up to the Rumble. If the Rock wins the belt, that gives a chance to set up a WM rematch between Punk and Rock.

It should be interesting anyway, seems like Punk, Rock, Ziggler, Taker, Cena, Lesnar and HHH will all likely be those among the main events of WM. Who knows who else might return.

And to add to The Rock, what about Lesnar? You gotta think it would make sense to have him involved with Punk and Heyman. Wonder if him and Ryback could do anything worthwhile, or if it would be Lesnar vs Goldberg 2.0.
 
#2,843 ·
Re: Official The Rock WWE Championship Discussion

Austin mentions briefly on that DVD that he and Rock talked about doing another match after Mania 19, he also says Rock knew it was gonna be his last match (hence why Rock left the ring at the end of the match despite being the winner)
 
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