Here's the facts, the rock was indeed getting stale in 2002, however he was booed twice all year, at WM18 in a hot toronto crowd against the returning hogan, anybody not named bret would've been booed out the building, and he was booted at SS02, when the whole crowd practically knew he was leaving to film the run down and hence "you sold out". Some people act like he was getting peak cena hate reactions lmao, the rock was still the biggest star in the company regardless, it just so happened that when he wanted to pursue bigger and better things, the bitchass wrestling fans acted like toxic jealous ex GFs who had just been dumped by their bf for a better woman.
I remember reading that rock was scheduled to be on the RAW after lesnar won the title off him but rock requested to be taken off the show due to the negative reaction from fans. Something to do with him being worried that the people over in hollywood wouldnt understand the reasoning for the negative reaction (him essentially leaving) and they would end up putting it down to people simply not liking him, therefore he would struggle to get roles going forward.
As its been said, fans turn on anyone thats leaving. Look at lesnar and goldberg at WM 20. The fans DESPISED those guys just because they were leaving the company. Fans generally expect wrestlers to stay forever and then feel betrayed when it doesnt happen.
overall, rock probably retired in his match at WM 20.....probably even WM 19. His returns after 2011 havnt really been the rock, its been dwayne johnson with a few rock catchphrases tacked on for old times sake. You can tell that he either doesnt remember how to play the character properly or he simply doesnt care to. Its just not the same, he doesnt commit to it fully. Ive used the comparison before but its like wanting ace ventura to show up and you get jim carrey. Its kind of the same but not really.
I remember reading that rock was scheduled to be on the RAW after lesnar won the title off him but rock requested to be taken off the show due to the negative reaction from fans. Something to with him being worried that the people over in hollywood wouldnt understand the reasoning for the negative reaction (him essentially leaving) and would end up putting it down to people simply not liking him, therefore he would struggle to get roles going forward.
As its been said, fans turn on anyone thats leaving. Look at lesnar and goldberg at WM 20. The fans DESPISED those guys just because they were leaving the company. Fans generally expect wrestlers to stay forever and then feel betrayed when it doesnt happen.
overall, rock probably retired in his match at WM 20.....probably even WM 19. His returns after 2011 havnt really been the rock, its been dwayne johnson with a few rock catchphrases tacked on for old times sake. You can tell that he either doesnt remember how to play the character properly or he simply doesnt care to. Its just not the same, he doesnt commit to it fully. Ive used the comparison before but its like wanting ace ventura to show up and you get jim carrey. Its kind of the same but not really.
It was a mixture of both. People saw him as moving away from the business and his character was far removed from the Rock of 99-2000. Gone were the flashy shirts and lingo, in was a few well worn catchphrases and coming out in one of his t-shirts.
For all intents and purposes 2002 was Dwayne Johnson playing himself with a little Rock character sprinkled in
A lot of Wrestling fans are massive douchebags who think that a Pro Wrestlers entire existence has to revolve around Pro Wrestling and they can never ever pursue any other interests and especially can never EVER EVER EVER even entertain the idea of doing anything except Pro Wrestling before they were a Pro Wrestler. I mean Mike Mizanin to this day still gets called a failed reality TV guy with zero acknowledgement of his 17-18 year Pro Wrestling career by some fans.
So yeah, some fans did turn on The Rock because he dared to leave.
not true. he was getting great reactions on every show. he got booed st SSlam because people found out that he was leaving for Hollywood. that was always the reason which is a stupid fucking reason btw.
Nah, Fans def did get annoyed at the Rock leaving and returning to Hollywood. That's not a lie. If you stay around than fans boo, it's how you react that seperates you. Austin got booed a few times leading up to Survivor Series 1999 (Raw at Washington DC November 1999). Hogan got booed in WCW and in WWE against Sid in 1992. It happens. It's not like he was becoming like John Cena from 2006-2014 or Roman Reigns pre-cancer announcement. Anyone trying to paint it like that probably didn't watch or is overthinking it.
By 2002 the Rock was getting a bit stale but was still by far the top star in the company overall, but in terms of character did have a change, this started after he returned on July 2001 after being "suspended" by Vince (was at that Raw in Philly. great times). The deep voice went, he spoke faster, etc. But even with that he still got huge pops (face pops, not "reactions" that are used to make excuses for Cena and Reigns in the 2000s and 2010s) and had good promos (NWO, Making fun of HHH after winning the rumble, etc). Rock vs Hogan as an announcement live on Raw got a bigger reaction than Seth Rollin's ever got aside from cashing in MITB at mania 31.
That said, I think one of the most underrated aspects of The Rock/Dwayne Johnson was his ability and willingness to adapt if needed. That's what made him different. During the X-8 match, he (and Hogan) adapted to the crowd. The Rock acted heelish at times (check the mannerisms as the match goes on) during the match despite being face because he was feeding off the crowd. Rock got booed at Summerslam because the smarks knew he was gone and grew tired it, hence the sold out comments.
Also about Mania X-8:
The only man in wrestling history who would not get booed facing the biggest name in the history of the business returning to the PPV he's known for after being away from the company that he helped make iconic, a decade later, in Canada, which was already a huge smark wrestling haven, would be Bret Hart making his return for the first time since the screwjob in 2002. That's it.
This 1000%. I dislike the fact that many people seem to have this notion that the rock was not getting great reactions from fans in 2002, people thinking he was getting booed every week. Yeh it is true that rocky was no longer as popular withing wrestling as he had been 2 years prior, but was still far and away the biggest star in the company. The ovation he got when he made his RR02 entrance against jericho is one of the loudest ever, when he won the undisputed title at vengeance he got another massive reaction, during the build up to SS02 he was still getting huge reactions, global warming in Australia when he defended the title against HHH and lesnar, what a reaction he got. Also, I watched this match not that long ago, Michael cole called the rock "the most popular sports entertainer in WWE history" Vince really hates the word wrestling doesn't he.
By 2002 , every single WWE superstar in the company was stale. Taker, Austin, Rock, HHH, Kane, Jericho...the tag team triangle(E&C, Dudleyz, and Hardyz). The whole product was stale. With Rock, "Staleness" wasn't the issue, this goes back to mid '00 when he took time off to film The Mummy Returns,...up to that point he never got a mixed reaction as a babyface, but after that, when the news broke out that he was making the transition to Hollywood, he slowly started losing momentum. If you compare his pops from early 2000 to his late 2000 pops, you'll see the difference. He clearly wasn't as over...and of course, a lot of smarks didn't take it well...and places like Long Island, Toronto, and Montreal were/are full of smarks.
It was both. Fans were getting sick of the "here again, gone again" treatment because there's no real reason to get emotionally invested in someone if they're just gonna be gone again in a few months anyway.
He disappeared after Mania 17 to go make The Scorpion King, was back by July.
He disappeared after Mania 18 to do press for the same movie, was back by June.
He disappeared after Summerslam '02 to go make The Rundown, was back by February.
He disappeared after Backlash '03 to go make Walking Tall, only returned for the tag match at Mania 20 almost a year later.
After he came back from doing press for The Scorpion King, people were just getting bored of the same old thing. He was already getting boos starting at Mania 18 against Hogan, and he only got some of those back at the end when he shook hands with Hulk and people knew it was a torch-passing moment.
It didn't help Rock's popularity when he was suddenly gone again after Mania, so when Brock Lesnar started coming up and got a title match by winning King of the Ring, followed by Rock winning the title a month later at Vengeance, I think that people saw the writing on the wall and decided to back Brock all the way in that match at Summerslam.
Where's the lie? That was the main reason fans were booing The Rock because WWE fans are selfish and felt they owned The Rock. Fans were probably hoping he would fail(much like the WWE)so he would be forced to come back. That was the whole reason Hollywood Rock was created.
I remember The Rock being booed a few times but never like that Summerslam match in 2002. The Sports bar I was at was booing both guys a lot. It all led to Hollywood Rock which was fucking fantastic. I just wish it would have lasted longer or he would have turned up every once in awhile. Funny how the crowd was totally with him when he had his match with Goldberg.
Hollywood. For some reason, after his first Hollywood film, his mannerisms, the way he spoke started to change. The fans especially the smarks picked up on it and noticed it very fast. And with no Austin to feud against it became apparent that there was no way for him to go but further down. A lot of people were overexposed by that time too, I find it funny that while I've read so many complaints about this era when the era back then wasn't a lot different except for a few things, I guess it had a lot to do with how they booked things back then or the superstars that made up those rosters in the past.
In 2002, it felt like it was Dwayne Johnson cosplaying as The Rock. Then again in '03 he was able to reinvent himself once more but it was short-lived. Everyone else knew that he's not gonna be in the WWE forever. Had he stayed longer though, there's a possibility that the fans would have totally turned against him and probably have the same reaction as with John Cena in the past.
Regarding The Rock no longer playing the same character he did in 2000, a lot pf wrestling characters evolve over time. When Austin makes appearances today, he is far different from the Austin we knew in 97 and 98. Shawn Michaels evolved. Cena evolved. Edge evolved. A lot of guys do. A lot of fictional characters in tv shows in general evolve over time.
Casual fans were leaving and the base was becoming more hardcore wrestling fan. The crowds in 01 started to change and kind of started to resemble what we see today instead of what they were in 98/99. A bunch of losers chanting dumb things (what) and following their own wrestlers. Rock could get booed pretty heavily against a Jericho or RVD at times and in general would get a few boos. Personally I think it was more the crowd than him. If the 01 crowd was around during the AE that side would lose the war in seconds. What, what, what. The product was going back to the booger eaters.
It was a combination of two. One The Rock was taking too many breaks to film movies. So people realized his priorities. Second - he was getting a bit stale. Mind you, he was still massively over apart from a few occasional boos. Again nothing in comparison to current stars. That is also true for Hogan & Austin.
Having said that, this lead to the birth of Hollywood Rock in 2003, the greatest heel in WWE history. Everyone fell in love with that character and wished it stayed longer. So who can complain?
Both Austin and Rock was getting stale by 02 like The Rock in not that charismatic owning everyone on the mic
And Austin no anymore the toughest SOB and not a lot of stunner or he’ll raising moment so that’s is the reason but I think The Rock could’ve continued after Hollywood Rock was entertaining once again charismatic he could’ve used the theme music he used from 2011-13 and could’ve pulled off mor years at least up to 05-06
It was no doubt because he was leaving for Hollywood. Like Buster said, the fans were selfish and felt like they were personally attacked by their favorite wrestler that he was leaving them for something better, and that Dwayne "owed" them something.
It's the same thing with Lesnar and Goldberg at WM20. When they both announced they were leaving the company after that match, the crowd turned on them and boo'd the fuck out of them to the point they didn't even want to give them a performance. If the crowd were still hot and cheered both men despite them leaving, I guarantee they would have tried to put on a decent match.
The simple fact is that the Rock in 2002 was not the draw that he had been in 99-01. Even as early as late 01, him and Austin couldn't even sell out MSG for a title match when that would have been unthinkable a year prior (they didn't sell out Survivor Series 01 either). It's because all the top guys got overexposed and it killed their star power. It's pretty easy to see why Rock decided to cut loose: business was hurtling downwards with him as the top guy and it would reflect badly on him in Hollywood if it continued. His advertised appearance at KOTR 2002 says it all, the show didn't do a good number and they canned the KOTR concept right after. He wasn't moving the needle the way he used to.
I was at one at the Skydome in March 01 and there were a LOT of "Rocky Sucks" signs. I recall hearing that WWE had to confiscate many of those signs the day before WM 17 because the Austin support was overwhelmingly high. I also remember Rock getting booed on a RAW in Albany against Austin not long before Mania so there's definitely merit to that.
There's a distinct difference between Rock in 98-99 to 01-02 that much is obvious, He felt like a real star character shot out from a movie compared to the more watered down version of himself later on, As for him being booed I only remember him getting that kind of reaction against Hogan(Understandable), Flair match on Raw and again at Summerslam against Brock, The heat wasn't exactly overbearing to warrant a concern.
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