vanhalen2007 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 This guy has changed wrestling in 20 days, can he become the 21st century Austin in terms of relevance, popularity and everything Austin was in 1998? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King Of Swing Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanhalen2007 Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 Well, hes just probably got MITB a huge buyrate, ran up 53 million impressions on twitter, and has dragged people back into the WWE that wouldnt have bought a show or cared for years(myself included), knocked wrestlingobserver.com, pwtorch and others offline for a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawz Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Probably not as big as Austin, but he can eclipse Cena. He's a much much better guy to base the company on, its sort of Austin like as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefallenangel Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Depends on if he gets killed on Raw tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fye Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Punk can become a big fish in a small pond, Austin was a shark in an ocean. Â Punk wouldnt transcend to the mainstream like Austin did, its a different time and place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.PeterVenkman Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Voted No, not a knock on Punk or even WWE in general but just don't see WWE becoming as big in the mainstream as it did in the late 90's again so he'll never be able to be as big as Austin, let's just hope we get more shows like last night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ Impact Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Wont mention MITB just in case, but he seems to have sparked something with the masses which is great and kinda unheard of these days, with his fresh and 'real' style of promo's he has gotten a 'Austin 3:16' type of anti-hero following. Â After the PPV who knows where they'll go but I reckon if given the ball and hopefully by his recent work has put any internal doubters to rest I could see him running strong as a heel that get some cheers/boos, him vs Cena is/could end up being kinda like Austin vs Bret of 97 Â His look is very current with his tattoos, attitude, decent but not ott body etc compared to Cena (or most bodybuilder types) who is harder to relate to, so he could end up being a new type of anti hero but prob not as popular as austin but thats not an easy feat anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King Of Swing Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Punk can become a big fish in a small pond, Austin was a shark in an ocean. Punk wouldnt transcend to the mainstream like Austin did, its a different time and place  Pretty much sums up why I went with no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted July 18, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted July 18, 2011 You're having a bubble. In this day and age no one can produce the kind of merchandise and buy rate dollar did that Stone Cold did. It's a different world, and it's certainly a different industry. Steve Austin transforming into a foul-mouthed renegade anti-hero captured the imagination during his (rapid) ascent from upper mid-card heel to babyface main eventer because it was something no one on the big stage had done before, and when he arrived at the top the emotional investment was so strong - with the right antagonists to work with, I should add - that he was able to ride that wave to three years of successful PPV title matches. Â CM Punk has created a few weeks of great TV and one great PPV match off the back of pseudo-shooting (which has been done before, admittedly it can be argued not with this much finesse) which has a limited shelf-life, and an "is he leaving or not?" storyline which surely is nearing it's end. To be honest, I believe most of the positive reaction to the last few weeks of TV has been backlash to the company hierarchy and the forcefeeding of Cena to us all, and less to do with Punk, other than that his delivery of the material has been first class. He's been in and out of the main event, mostly out, for the last two years and I doubt anyone watching would have actually thought of him as a "main eventer" until the latest turn of events. Â Just out of curiosity, did you copy this question from Gabe's Twitter??? He's asking the same question. He's the kind of guy I think of that imagines Punk could be as big as Austin was. Â Â For the record, CM Punk is my favourite WWE wrestler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnum Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I don't think he or anybody in wrestling today has the potential to be as big as Austin, primarily because I don't see any of them crossing over into the mainstream the way Austin did. Â I do think he's got the potential to be the biggest star they've created since Cena though, and I think/hope he could finally be the one they have enough faith in to make a concerted push towards that #1 babyface spot so they can finally turn Cena. The last person to have that kind of apparent potential was Orton in early 2009, but Punk has the versatility on the mic that's always eluded Orton and prevented him becoming a real megastar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanhalen2007 Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 Didnt copy it off Gabes twitter, have seen a lot of people mention it in the last 24 hours is all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanhalen2007 Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 I know its a bit of a crap comparison but Capitol Punishment thread, 112 replies and 7,036 views. MITB thread 24 hours after, 405 replies and 22,684 views Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members bAzTNM#1 Posted July 18, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted July 18, 2011 As other people have said here, no way Punk shifts as much merchandise as Austin. Punk is incredibly popular, but no way he eclipses Austin's WWF career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tenta Blues Explosion Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 The thing about pro-wrestling's breakout stars is that they've always been vaguely indicative of wider trends in pop culture. So back in the 50s, Gorgeous George tied in to that golden age of Hollywood glitz and camp. In the 80s, Hulk Hogan really did some like one of your larger-than-life cartoon action heroes in the Arnie/Sly/JCVD manner. Stone Cold represented the nu-metal era when violent outsiderdom was mainstream and people could wear jeans shorts in public without being laughed at. Â I think this is why Cena's never really meant anything outside of wrestling: what does he look/sound/act like that resembles anything outside of wrestling? People say he's like a kids' cartoon, but kids' cartoons today are like "Adventure Time" and are full of weird hipster irony flushes. Â Does Punk tie into anything in the wider world outside of wrestling right now? Well... he's probably gotten the first piece of real wrestling coverage in the media that wasn't either a) wrestler you liked in the 80s dies b) female wrestler gets baps out in Playboy c) wrestler texts physical location to Chavo Guerrero and William Regal in ages. Fucking GQ Magazine and US sports websites and whatever getting a semi out of his promos and actions. But does it mean anything on a wider scale... at the moment, no. Does Punk have the social skills/personality/charisma to cope on that scale? Possibly. Does WWE want to chase that kind of "reads Onion AV Club/Thinks Community is the best sit-com on TV" audience? Almost certainly not. Â So, in summary, I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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