Loss Posted February 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 It is. This working is really on John Cena. He may need to take more control if he's given bad material and go with his instincts. I do think Cena could keep up with Rock, but not the way he's currently portrayed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 I'm dubious about this. Rock'll be gone in a month and Cena will still be here to carry the company, albeit in a terribly damaged form. If this is the way they finally turn him (or really create a Bret situation where he's a heel to any male over 14 and a face to anyone under, explicitly), then that's one thing, but it's like bringing in the travelling NWA champ in the 70s-80s and having him make all your local guys look like worthless chumps instead of contenders that JUST missed the goal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Just watched it. Amazing promo, just amazing. He *killed* Cena and had me rolling with the U can't C me part. Always thought it was cheesy as hell. Gotta love how he talked about Austin and himself, but no mention of HHH as an iconic star... Well, I don't know where they will go, but it's obvious The Rock is a much bigger star than anyone on the roster, even Cena who's been head and shoulders abover the rest for years (as much as I know from watching WM only every year). That's kind of a big problem... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 I think it was obvious that The Rock would outclass the whole roster in his comeback. It's also obvious that unless they pull the trigger on a heel turn for Cena (which I highly doubt after they rushed the Cena in Nexus angle and the subsequent firing angle) that Rock will somehow put over Cena to close WrestleMania. Problem is I don't think that's the ending the hardcore WrestleMania live audience will want to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Call me gullible, I suppose, but I do not think it is out of the realm of possibility for the Rock to not only wrestle but return to WWE full-time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 The Rock has zero reasons to work even one match with WWE. He doesn't need the money at all. Returning full-time is not happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 The Rock has zero reasons to work even one match with WWE. He doesn't need the money at all. Returning full-time is not happening.The rush? The fans? The love of the business? You could make the same argument for making movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 There aren't very many guys Rock could work with because they don't have any genuine stars anymore. Rock vs Cena would be huge. I'm not sure what other matches they could build to that would be worth his time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 I'd love to see Rock Vs. C.M. Punk and Rock Vs. Alberto Del Rio but I see your point. Those are the two that I think will be huge for the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 The Rock has zero reasons to work even one match with WWE. He doesn't need the money at all. Returning full-time is not happening.The rush? The fans? The love of the business? You could make the same argument for making movies. The love of the business would require a whole lot of money from Vince to get The Rock back on the road and bumping again after years in Hollywood. Making movies and working WWE is not exactly the same thing. And like Loss said, really, the only new guy he could work with would be Cena. He would dwarf anyone else and make them look like a bunch of jobbers. The only other match I can think of is a Rock vs Taker, but really, who want to see that in 2011 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 I find it interesting that Rock supposedly turned down all WWE offers because he wanted to be "family-friendly", then he returns and cuts the dirtiest promo (in WWE) in years. Â If all he's going to do is be a "guest host" or special ref or something, why bring him back so far out from the event? But if it's to wrestle, somehow I can't see him spending all that time getting into 'wrestling' shape for the sake of one match. But would he really go from "I won't do anything" to wrestling multiple times? Â Great coup by WWE, nobody can tell where it's going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 I could see Rock and HHH having one more money match, but that's a moot point, as HHH is about to finish up. Â Rock vs CM Punk would be fantastic, but I think they'd need to build Punk up for a year before that match, not doing any jobs at all and winning decisively, and getting a ton of promo time, and they don't seem willing to make that type of investment in anyone at all anymore, which is why they are in the shape they're in. Â Rock vs Orton might have meant something at one point, but Orton's stock has plummeted since he turned babyface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Rock vs CM Punk would be fantastic, but I think they'd need to build Punk up for a year before that match, not doing any jobs at all and winning decisively, and getting a ton of promo time, and they don't seem willing to make that type of investment in anyone at all anymore, which is why they are in the shape they're in. It seems like they don't want stars anymore, they believe the WWE brand is the star. Then Rock shows up on Raw, and you see the difference it makes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 If The Rock was genuine in his promo last night, it sounded like he was back to me. He said he wasn't leaving and was not there just to promote a movie, blah blah blah. Granted, he could have very well just been in character and telling the fans what they wanted to hear, or I could have just been hearing what I wanted to hear. Now he has an official The Rock Twitter account too and his Facebook has blown up. If nothing else, people know he's around again and that can't hurt. Â There's other matches that I would like to see, like Vs. The Miz, Vs. Dolph Ziggler, Vs. Wade Barrett, I just don't think they would mean anything. Â Now all I need is for Big Dave to come back and I would be golden! Â (I'm such a mark) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Meltzer also noted that ever since The Rock tore his Achilles tendon while filming "The Game Plan" that he has said repeatedly that he will never wrestle another match, so add "injuries" to the thousands of other reasons why The Rock would never, ever return full-time. I can see him being more of a guest star than he has been in the past seven years, but not full-time and certainly not as a wrestler full-time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 If The Rock was genuine in his promo last night, it sounded like he was back to me. Which is also why it was an awesome promo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 RAW RATINGS, NOT WHAT WWE HOPED FOR By Dave Scherer on 2011-02-15 18:11:07 The 2/14 edition of Raw did a 3.1 rating and 4,761,000 viewers, which is a major disappointment considering the build up that they did for the WrestleMania 27 GM being announced. Of course, now the next test is what they do next week, now that the world knows The Rock is back. The show did hours of 3.03 and 3.25. The 2/12 edition of AM Raw did a 0.31 rating with 353,000 viewers. Lets see how Rock did on the overrun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Rock has three movies in various forms of production/development, probably more:  Fast Five (04/29/11 release) Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (09/23/11 release) Arabian Nights  The last may be filming currently: a piece on Anthony Hopkins from January at The Rites was released indicated it was filming.  He seems to be upping the pace of his movie work as well.  He's not coming back to the WWF. We haven't even gotten to the point where Rock can do a TV series.  Jeffrey Donovan gets $200K an episode for Burn Notice. Granted, it took him 5-6 seasons to get up there. But Dana Delany is making $150K an episode for her new series. Sellack is making over $100K. The great thing about TV like that is that once you get in, you tend to get a lot of tries. Look at Simon Baker, whose now on his third series: three seasons, quick bomb, three seasons. Or you can do shorter seasons in cable like Donovan (or the White Collar guys), and do a movie in the off seasons.  Could the WWF toss more money at Rock for a Special Match at Mania? Sure. But he's not broke, is still making money in Hollywood, hasn't remotely tapped all of it out (I keep pointing to Don Johnson doing *six* seasons of freaking Nash Bridges), and doesn't have to put up with the insanity of nut jobs in the WWE.  John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I dont really get why he wouldn't do a match. You see celebrities and athletes from other sports doing it. Why wouldnt Rock take a couple of million and do something he has done thousands of times before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomk Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 There aren't very many guys Rock could work with because they don't have any genuine stars anymore. Rock vs Cena would be huge. I'm not sure what other matches they could build to that would be worth his time. Â Shortly before the WWE failed to re-sign Rock, he had rejected their proposal of a showcase match with Michaels and had instead suggested working a showcase match with Rey in San Diego (Rey's worked hometown). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomk Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Except apparently HHH is the guy behind the pushes for ADR, Ziggler, Miz, Barrett, etc...go figure, right? He certainly has more appreciation of the history of the business than the alternatives who could have come to power. Russo always also positioned himself as the biggest pusher of the NJ3 and Samoa Joe/Aj Styles, etc. Konnan works the same "I'm the guy behind everything that works and will get a postive response from sheet writers" shtick too. Â Konan also has a similar love of tapes and wrestling history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodySave Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I don't expect The Rock to wrestle and still think it's wild that the biggest draw for a $55 PPV is to see a former wrestler simply "host" the event (whatever that means).....but aside from Rock vs. Cena, I think The Rock vs. The Miz would be the perfect match for WWE to get mainstream media attention. Â The Rock is legitimately recognized by the general American population thanks to his movie work/TV appearances in recent years and having a memorable nickname he took from wrestling. He rarely is interviewed by anyone on TV even now without being introduced as Duane "The Rock" Johnson. Â The Miz, on the other hand, is clearly no stranger to TV appearances and is great on the interview circuit and carries himself extraordinarily well. Â Set those two up in a match and then send them out for 2-3 weeks appearing on every morning/late night talk show available to hype the hell out of the event. Â This is the best chance the WWE has to have someone appear on Ellen talking about a wrestling PPV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 The Rock won't wrestle, but if I was booking WWE and could get him for a single match I agree that Miz is the ideal opponent. I actually think Rock v. Miz and Cena v. Taker as dual main events would do a great number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve T Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I think it was obvious that The Rock would outclass the whole roster in his comeback. It's also obvious that unless they pull the trigger on a heel turn for Cena (which I highly doubt after they rushed the Cena in Nexus angle and the subsequent firing angle) that Rock will somehow put over Cena to close WrestleMania. Problem is I don't think that's the ending the hardcore WrestleMania live audience will want to see. I don't think they wanted to see Rock go over Hogan at WrestleMania 18 either but it worked because they did it well (the match at least, IIRC the buildup was bad). I think something similar would work here with smart build up that makes Cena seem like he is on the same level as the Rock. They probably need to get together before any shared segements and hash out exactly what they are going to say because I think the Rock will just make Cena look bad if they go off the cuff. Then the match would be very similar to WM 18 in that both guys would hit all their signature stuff, Cena would kick out of a Rock Bottom & People's Elbow then go over with the FU. After the match there would be a handshake or some sign of mutual respect while Cena celebrates. Â It seems simple but I have no faith that they will be able to execute anything that helps them out in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 When I said put over, I didn't mean put him over in a match, as there's no plans for Rock to wrestle. More like your post match scenario, a handshake or a mutual sign of respect after Cena's match with The Miz, where Rock may help stop Alex Riley's or Nexus' interference, after teasing the opposite. I'm not sure how well that will go down with the live audience, when a lot of them will probably be rooting for Miz to beat Cena. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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