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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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#8,542 ·
Thank you Rock for finally ending that abortion of a reign. Worst WWE reign of all time, easy.

Loved the way Punk "won" just to fool the smarks:lmao

Punk fans have had things there own way for too long....they deserve to suffer for once

Hopefully Punk will be depushed and buried now
 
#8,545 ·
Have no problems with Rock winning, but I would have hoped that a 430+ day reign as champion could have withstood a singular people's elbow. This match just made Punk look weak, I'm sorry. Match with this build needed some near-falls, I mean Jesus, Punk withstood 3 AA's from Cena regulary.

Sometimes simplest is best. They should have let them have a match with Rock winning instead of all that fuckery with
the Shield and Vince. Didn't they learn their lesson from Miz/Cena at Mania?
 
#8,547 ·
I actually thought they made Punk look strong. The Rock dropped TWO Peoples elbows on him, took advantage of his damaged knee, applied The Sharpshooter on him and Rock Bottomed him on the outside.

It took one powerbomb through a table for CM Punk to pin The Rock. I thought Punk looked the better of the two in terms of who looked stronger through out the match.

What I don't buy though is Cena will be going up against The Rock, someone who beat Punk for the belt. John Cena can't even beat CM Punk, and he didn't beat Rock last year so we are supposed to believe that he can this year? It's bullshit. This isn't 2005.
 
#8,548 ·
This match had an ok result. I don't mind The Rock being the WWE Champion. But the match needed more. I mean come on: No GTS? No Rock kicking out of something? No Punk kicking out of finishers? The only good part about the match itself was the submissions. And then The Rock who can't stand up but ends winning with The People's Elbow... yeah... That was short. I would have seen after Punk won that there will be a rematch at EC or something. But this...with Cena winning the RR... It's gonna be a long 2 months.
 
#8,556 ·
You must be jocking. Punk carried Rock most of the time. Yeah the table falling was funny and things like that. But you're telling me that The Rock didn't do much because of Punk? that the ending was so bad because of Punk? Booking was stupid. The match could have been good if we have seen some finishers here and there.
 
#8,551 ·
I got a bit to emotionally invested in this match (i was really hyped for it), which is a big mistake no matter how big the match is, and thus i didn't enjoy it so much. However it wasn't a good match by any standards, whether there was lots of hype or no hype.
 
#8,552 ·
So instead of the red-hot Punk/Rock feud, we get a repeat of last years match. Ugh.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME!... twice in a year. :cena2

If the rumored Lesnar/HHH and Taker/Punk matches happen as well then... wow. The three main event matches 2 of which are rematches and of the 6 competitors, only 2 wrestle full-time. That says a lot.
 
#8,553 ·
So instead of the red-hot Punk/Rock feud, we get a repeat of last years match. Ugh.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME!... twice in a year. :cena2
If Punk would have retained then it would be Punk v Cena at WM for the millionth time.

And I wouldn't call the feud "red hot", the match sucked I have no desire to see these guys in a big match again.

Rock v Cena >>>>>>>>>> Punk v Cena
 
#8,554 ·
The People's Elbow is easily in the top 3 most over moves of all time, how does it bury Punk if he's pinned by it?

The casuals BUY INTO IT as a threat, they respond to it, it's a big time move no matter how ridiculous it looks.
 
#8,555 ·
I thought this was an OK match; not as good as the tag match Rock had with Cena at Survivor Series 2011 or Rock/Cena at Wrestlemania, but it was still a decent match. I think the WWE would have been wise to maybe put The Rock into some tag team matches on Raw or Smackdown the last 3 weeks to maybe shake off some of the ring rust as well as improve his in-ring conditioning because as others have said, he clearly looked gassed 5-10 minutes into this match.

As for the ending I can't help but think it was done that way for a purpose. While it stunk for the match last night, I think it finally leads to what has been believed all along and that is that the Shield is working for CM Punk. I can easily see CM Punk calling out The Shield tonight, they start beating up on Punk, The Rock comes out to make the save and then all of a sudden it becomes a 4-on-1 beat down where they appear to "injure" The Rock seriously that it will appear he's at a significant disadvantage in their rematch.
 
#8,557 ·
i don't remember things from the attitude era so crystal clear, but did the rock beat other top tier guys with the people's elbow? i thought he only beat scrubs with that and always beat top guys with the rock bottom. i thought it made punk look weak. he won basically using a signature move that isn't even his finisher. bullshit. the match was pretty good, but not great. def a lot better than cena/rock at mania. not to blame or defend anyone, but the one common denominator here is the rock was involved in both matches and he's the guy who's not a full-time wrestler anymore. i thought the finishes of both the rumble match and this main event match were pretty crappy.
 
#8,561 ·
And exactly how I tought, The Rock is no longer a wrestler. Punk worked hard to put a decent match (thing that it's exclusive his merit) but Rocky is just a tool to earn some occasional fans due to his acting carreer. There's some mistakes that prove that:
- The suicide dive, the wrestler that receive the move have to help the other to not fall too hard. He don't make any counterweight and Punk receive a hard strike.
- Same with the jump outside the ring doing a kind of axe handle or something like that.
- He repeats the same mistake he had with Foley, the Rock Botton in the announce table. Are you fucking stupid? you had that mistakes and you continue charging your weight in the same point.

I knew that wasn't the kind of match for a guy with his features, but fuck, you are good paid and doesn't matter how you do it? A same that a great WRESTLING worker like Punk had to resign to lose one of the greatest reigns in wwe history to a hollywood star. The fact gets worse when he face people like Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, even John Cenam that are great workers.
 
#8,568 ·
And exactly how I tought, The Rock is no longer a wrestler. Punk worked hard to put a decent match (thing that it's exclusive his merit) but Rocky is just a tool to earn some occasional fans due to his acting carreer. There's some mistakes that prove that:
- The suicide dive, the wrestler that receive the move have to help the other to not fall too hard. He don't make any counterweight and Punk receive a hard strike.
- Same with the jump outside the ring doing a kind of axe handle or something like that.
- He repeats the same mistake he had with Foley, the Rock Botton in the announce table. Are you fucking stupid? you had that mistakes and you continue charging your weight in the same point.
I knew that wasn't the kind of match for a guy with his features, but fuck, you are good paid and doesn't matter how you do it? A same that a great WRESTLING worker like Punk had to resign to lose one of the greatest reigns in wwe history to a hollywood star. The fact gets worse when he face people like Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, even John Cenam that are great workers.
The table gave away because Punk's skinny fat ass was standing right in the middle(the soft spot). Rock done the same spot a dozen of times, and most of them were success.
 
#8,563 ·
Ok, whoever thinks punk/rock had a better match than cena/rock is on fucking crack and just flat out hates cena.... Punk/rock will be the biggest disappointment this year
 
#8,565 ·
How fuckin sad is it that its got to the point now, that people are on the internet complaining that their favourite wrestler didnt get beaten in a specific way!? Im confident it wasnt like this 12 years ago. whats happened!?
 
#8,566 ·
I thought the match was about as good as expected. I would have liked a surprise or two, but the rock has never been a great wrestler, and Punk is good but needs somebody just as good with him to work a great match.

And LOL at people acting like Punk was buried. His been champion for 400 days, stop acting like he is a misunderstood and mistreated talent since his been on the biggest push of any superstar in a long time (excluding cena ofcourse)
 
#8,576 ·
Disclaimer. I am in no way complaining about the end result of the match. I ahve no issue with The Rock winning the title at all. I do however have an issue with HOW the ending happened(and if this has been discussed i apologize)....

The longest reigning WWE champion of the modern era was ended by ONE (People's) elbow? ANd there was not one GTs or Rock Bottom sucessfully hit during the match? In just Punk's 3 matches with Cena over the past 18 months he's kciked out of Cena's finisher multiple times in a match., but ONe elbow drop and Punk is down for the 3? That jsut seems wrong to me and insults the intelligence of the fans. I know its not a big deal, but if the WWE is wondering why they can;t get heels to stay over, last night Rock/Punk match was exhibit A.
 
#8,580 ·
The impact of it or the fact it was a 'botch'? Because if it's the second it's being forgot because a table gave way, not the wrestlers faults, who cares.


As far as the match goes I totally agree someone needed to end Punk's reign but what grates on me is the fact this is seemingly all leading to a Cena title win at Mania and what also bothers me as neither the Rock (from the Shield attack) or Punk (from the People's elbow) kicked out and were shown as 'unbeatable'. Super Cena would've been booked to kick out of both/either.
 
#8,585 ·
No problem with the Rock winning it, aside from not building any new stars, but that ending really killed everything. I'd rather have seen Punk take a clean loss than that overbooked clusterfuck. It was just so stupid and made everyone involved look like idiotic jack asses.
 
#8,588 ·
You know what I'm sick of? Finishers not finishing.
Kicking out from a finisher shouldn't be expected, it should be a surprise.
I think we need to go back to the days when one finisher was all it takes.

Anyway Rock uses the Spinebuster before he drops the elbow, people have used the Spinebuster alone as a finisher in the past.
 
#8,589 ·
Coming in to that match I was rooting for Rocky, but seeing him again just like in mania where he couldn't catch his breath was just annoying. I was sure he worked on himself and that he got in shape for the match, poor shame Punk's reign is over. Have to stay for RAW to understand where this whole thing is going...
 
#8,591 ·
Well that was underwhelming. Wouldnt have minded a Rock win if the match itself wasent so average. The Rock really shows he just cant deliver inring wise in the big matches.


Has restart finished EVER worked? They always suck. There was zero chance The Rock would lose again when the match restarted. Its just a waste of minutes until you know what happends.
 
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