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Rate The Rock vs. CM Punk Feud

  • Underwhelming :punk3

    Votes: 78 20.6%
  • Decent/Good :rock

    Votes: 171 45.1%
  • 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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#8,234 ·
Isn't it past your bedtime? There is school tomorrow right?
 
#8,232 ·
How many times will Punk haters have to be told that Punk is not the reason for the ratings declining? Seriously get your heads out of your asses. During Punk's entire face run as WWE Champion, he never main-evented a PPV in 2012 and most of the main-event Raw segments had Cena in those slots. Blame it on bad booking and shit product.
 
#8,235 ·
Someone with common sense and intelligence has risen from the pack of ignorant fans ! Finally.
 
#8,237 ·
BTW the match was fine. Rock made Punk look like he was destroying him the entire match and you guys STILL bitch about it. Vince is the boss, Vince made one of his three biggest stars ever Champ again, period. Write a letter to Vince or stop watching. Punk could've done a better job carrying the Rock as another poster emphasized but overall it was a decent match.

What would you guys have rather wanted? Punk losing to Cena at Mania?

Also; IMO Ryback should have won the Rumble. They have a chance to make another huge star but they continually just f up. They did damage to punk in 2011 with Nash and HHH and they're doing it to Ryback. Punk should be put over at Mania and Cena should just begin to be phased out, but it won't happen.
 
#8,238 ·
hopefully that awful title belt gets destroyed once and for all.

Anyways since Cena won wonder what he will doing at EC and what 4 members will be with Rock/Punk inside the Chamber (if they don't Rock/Punk II one on one)
 
#8,245 ·
Agreed. Lesnar vs Rock doesn't involve anybody getting over, Cena needs his win back against the Rock.
 
#8,249 ·
It's simple Rock haters ; Cena needs the rub better than anybody else in the company. This is what the world wants to see, get over it.
 
#8,251 ·
The under 14 world, yes.
 
#8,265 ·
I understand preferring Punk to Rock (I really do), but to say he's more relevant is showing pure ignorance.
Right now he is.... I mean I'm sure there are a lot of Mark's coming back to watch The Rock now, but the only reason anybody has been watching for the past year or so is CM Punk.
 
#8,266 ·
Man these threads become so unbearable with all the trolls, gimmick posters and wannabe Scrillas like the guy a few pages back. At least try and be original or funny.

Anyway I thought the match was good, too many damn outside rest spots brought it down though and the pace was too slow for too long. The crowd wasn't as great as I hoped it would be either, I'm surprised they didn't put a divas match or something in between to give the crowd a break. Punk got more support than I expected, I said it before but it's funny and I guess sad in a way that he got more support as a heel than Cena ever did as a babyface. Wasn't too sure what to make of the pre-match promo, I liked the passion and delivery of it but I really wish Rock would tone down the crowd pandering man, I get that this feud was People's champion vs. Champion who turned his back on the people but it's so transparent and he doesn't need to doing that. Leave that stuff to Cena.

Don't mean to sound too negative though as I did enjoy it and holy fuck did I mark out when Rock won. Can't wait to find out who Cena chooses to face :cena2
 
#8,267 ·
Find out? As if we don't already know... At least you agree with almost everything else I've said.
 
#8,272 ·
Oh yeah, lets turn ADR face for a month then turn him back heel so he can face Cena for no reason !
 
#8,273 ·
So then why were his matches rarely ever the main-events of the PPVs?

People watched for reasons other than him. The kiddies and parents watched for Cena (feuding with the likes of Johnny Ace, Big Show and Ziggler), while the adult male and causal audiences watched for things such as the return of Brock Lesnar.
The fact that you listed Lauraunitus as a relevant feud for Cena backs my point ...
 
#8,275 ·
I can deal with Rock winning. I just hope this whole lights out thing is the key to keeping Punk in this feud headed toward Mania, and we aren't just going with Cena/Rock II. The clock's ticking and we're pretty much 90% there with Cena winning the Rumble (I swear Cena would be such an effective heel, I have NEVER cheered so hard for Ryback) but fuck it; been hoping against hope this whole time, might as well keep on.

I wanna watch the match again before I properly judge it, but I enjoyed it for what it was. Rock seemed smoother in the ring than when he faced Cena, but the pacing was a bit off. Not too bad though.
 
#8,281 ·
#8,283 ·
Who says I'm backing Cena? I am backing WWE. Vince knows that to the children, parents and causal fans, Cena is viewed as the top guy. They enjoy his feuds, even with non-wrestlers. So to act like him main-eventing WrestleMania against The Rock is some absurd business decision is just blind on your part.

Also, how do we know the feud is horrendous? It hasn't even started yet!
If Cena doesn't quit the childish bullshit like he pulled on Raw last week how can you have any faith in Cena/Rock being good?
 
#8,284 ·
Who says I'm backing Cena? I am backing WWE. Vince knows that to the children, parents and causal fans, Cena is viewed as the top guy. They enjoy his feuds, even with non-wrestlers. So to act like him main-eventing WrestleMania against The Rock is some absurd business decision is just blind on your part.

Also, how do we know the feud is horrendous? It hasn't even started yet!
The feud I was referring to as horrendous was the Cena/Johnny Ace feud... Rock and Cena won't even have a feud they'll go out and have a few laughs, talk about how big of a match it is, stare at the WM sign, and hell, Brodus Clay will probably come down once or twice and have a bunch of kids dance in the f*cking ring with Cena and Rock and at Mania they will become the first dual champions in WWE history when they hold hands down to the ring and announce the title isn't Dwayne's or John's but that it is the WWE universe's title.
 
#8,286 ·
I honestly dont see how anything WWE is going to do helps get anyone over.

Punk looses the title then will probably lose to Taker at Mania

Rock won the title but will lose to Cena at Mania

Cena won the Rumble when he didnt need to, then will get to beat Rock which he doesnt need, and get another title run which he doesnt need.

Out of all this who really comes out looking better? It wouldve made far more sense to have Rock against Punk at Mania with him going over to make him the new face of WWE.
 
#8,289 ·
I honestly dont see how anything WWE is going to do helps get anyone over.

Punk looses the title then will probably lose to Taker at Mania

Rock won the title but will lose to Cena at Mania

Cena won the Rumble when he didnt need to, then will get to beat Rock which he doesnt need, and get another title run which he doesnt need.

Out of all this who really comes out looking better? It wouldve made far more sense to have Rock against Punk at Mania with him going over to make him the new face of WWE.
When people realize that this fucking company revolves around John Cena and has been for the last 8 years and will continue to in the foreseeable future, then these decisions can be understood a bit better.
 
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