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Rock only became a huge star because Austin wasn't around?

BDIA

By BDIA
in UK Fan Forum

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BDIA Newbie

BDIA

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One common belief seems to be that if Austin never was out for almost a year then Rock would've never been as huge as he

was and another one is that Austin was always more over than Rock.Do you guys believe that?

 

In early 1999 when Rock was still a heel he was already getting face pops during his entrance at PPV's like Wrestlemania 15 and Backlash.

 

After Backlash he officially turned face and on the pilot episode of Smackdown in April he came out to a BIG pop and

then Austin came out to a great reaction too.

 

So I'll say as soon as Rock turned face he was almost or close to as over as Austin.On the Raw is Owen episode they both came to equally huge pops.

 

Austin was still the default top face/star of the company but in terms of crowd reactions Rock caught up with him and sometimes Rock was more over.

 

During the Austin/Rock tag match vs New Age Outlaws Rock got all the chants.

 

When Rock mentioned Austin's name on the mic in November 1999 he got rare boos.

 

So Rock was already extremely over before Austin was out.

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NEWM Mentor

NEWM

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I'll waffle about this a bit because I actually have some views on this that sort of relate to the OP and it wasn't long ago that I watched it all back. I've come to believe a massive reason WWF in 2000 was so awesome was because Steve Austin wasn't there. I'm not saying he wasn't still a huge draw, but almost from the instant he left to the moment he came back the entire roster benefitted. Rock was obviously more than ready to be the standalone top face, but it was more the heels and midcard that really got to strut their stuff.

 

Austin as a character in 99 and upon his return devoured fucking hours and hours and hours of promo and segment time mainly due to the fact that for the most part, he had warranted it. However, the second he left, a bunch of heels would spend a year avoiding 16 Stunners a night, and the whole show was actually allowed to be "fun" again. Austin's character pretty much meant that if you weren't a bad ass babyface, you were weak, and he was going to stun you and the crowd didn't care. I think of Too Cool as an example of this. Put them in a 6 man with Austin in 99, and he would have stunned them and drank beer to celebrate the team victory. Put them with The Rock in 00 and they would have looked as though they belonged in the top match and The Rock would have nodded small approval to them as well.

 

Similarly, midcarders (heels especially) were allowed to breathe a bit. E&C doing the goofy shit in 99? Stunnered all the way back to The Brood for sure. This pattern actually occurs in a literal sense in 2000, as Austin goes on the hunt for his attacker. Yes there's a context to it, but there's a definite return to the old ways upon his return, and noticably less people got a window to shine in his presence.

 

Ultimately, as great as he was, by late 99, I think his character was so inflexible compared to the rest of the roster around him, that some respite from having to book him gave the company a chance get creative with so many others, and thus 2000 was as good as it was. Most people love large parts of Austin's 2001 heel work because he deviated from the norm, but obviously him and the company panicked about a downswing in business (and I'd wager - his t-shirt sales) and bottled that in November. The less said about his last wrestling days from then on, the better.

 

Luckily, The Rock's so fucking great that none of that was relevant to him. The Rock deserves even more credit for getting over, in my opinion. Randy Savage and Randy Orton respectively had to get over as top faces at the same time as the industry megastar of the time. It's clear neither were able to match Hogan or Cena, but Rocky easily got to Austin's level (and often beyond) and never left. Just because the business was hot, it doesn't mean there would be room at the top for two huge megafaces, but The Rock made it so. He should get more credit for that.

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Loki Grand Master

Loki

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Good post NEWM. I remember during Austin's "Sheriff" era that he really sucked the life out of the rest of the roster, as nobody was allowed to be anywhere near his level. As great a character as he is, in many ways I agree that his absence tends to lift the pall of the Stunner off everyone else.

 

I've got a lot of time for Austin, and thought he was superb on Tough Enough, but I do wish he'd come back and put a young star over before retiring for good. For all his bitching about Hogan, at least Hogan tried to do that a few times - Warrior, Goldberg, Rock. Once Austin became top dog, the only person he ever really put over was The Rock, who pretty much demanded it by being so ace.

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King Pitcos Grand Master

King Pitcos

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That wouldn't count as a rising star thing, either. Austin didn't put Rock over (in terms of actually losing to him) until 2003, by which point Rock was already a Hollywood star. He's only had about two matches since. Austin did sort of lose to Triple H at No Mercy 1999, but nobody remembers it because it was a big protective mess of a finish that didn't really do much for Triple H at all.

 

Excellent post there, NEWM, by the way.

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tiger_rick Grand Master

tiger_rick

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Agreed, excellent post by NEWM.

 

I don't think it's a cut and dried argument. Had Steve Austin been healthy, I think there is a reasonable chance that The Rock wouldn't have got the adoration he did from the audience. That said, The Rock didn't get some mega push in 2000. He played second fiddle to Triple H booking wise but made every single one of his matches and segments as entertaining as hell. I did eventually get as sick of The Rock as I was with Austin in 1999 but by that time, he'd started to wind down. Absence makes the heart grow blah, blah, blah and all that.

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Sheffbag Experienced

Sheffbag

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"How To Piss Off An Entire Forum In One Post: The BBDIA Story"

How to discourage newcomers to the forum in one post: The cobra_gordo story

 

Seriously. The OP makes their first post with what they think is post worth making and you immediately put them off from posting again by belittling them?

 

Since when do you speak for the entire forum? We should welcome new members and pass opinion, not insult them.

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simonworden Veteran

simonworden

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I personally feel that if The Rock and Austin had been co-existing into 2000 that it could have been detrimental to both.

 

really I can argue that Austin would have got some of The Rocks booking slots and The Rocks 4-5 month reign wouldnt have occured (A long reign at the time to). But Austin was starting to become stale as well so would have needed to turn heel as he did in 2001. I even think the Rock would have become more popular than Austin, just not as popular as he did either and the end of the "glory days" would have been much sooner. Off on a tanget but perhaps WCW wouldnt have gone either. I can elaborate if needed.

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