Finally The Rock has come back to.......

[Guest Stennick]

I hate to use a word like greatest but as far as depth, entertainment, ability to stay fresh, think about everything that makes a character stand for all time.

 

Hogan? Come on that thing got stale by the late 80's, he's given way too much credit for everyone. He had INCREDIBLE drawing power from 84-91 after that he went down hill and just bowed out. His character was never made to last, it wasn't ever that real and never had any real depth to it. The only real great thing Hogan did was he had the ability to grab the crowd and pull him into his promo's and matcbes. Thats the biggest talent Hogan had in my eyes.

 

Austin? Austin had a ground breaking character, we had never seen it before, it was something everyone could indentify with, but after a while of seeing some guy beat up his boss its going to get old. In Austin's case it got old right after he took his first big long break. right around 2000. He sold more merchandise and more ppv's than Hogan but was he really a bigger draw? I think more people came to see Hogan alone than Austin. When Hogan was hot that was one of the VERY few things the WWF had going for them. When Austin was hot that was just the icing on the cake, the whole WWF in general was on a roll like never before. Austin was hot from 96-2000 and thats it. Four years, Hogan lasted seven. I don't think Austin will ever be able to garner the reaction he got before he left the first time. People have seen his stuff before and although his heel turn was great, it was short lived and came at a time when there wasn't much else going on in the WWF so will most likely get over looked and considered a mistake when really all it needed was more sense behind it. He's against the WWF and its fans from WM till Survivor Series, then after that I'm not sure what changed. McMahon still hated him, the only difference was Vince was being an asshole now.

 

The Rock - This guy has been wonderful since he became "the rock" what more could you ask from him. His character much like Austins is something that had NEVER been done before. We have all seen cocky wreslters but wreslters that are so full of themselves they refer to themselves in third person ALL THE TIME? That was instantly a hit. Not too mention the guy has came up with more catchphrases, gotten more crowd participation than even Hogan himself. His character really can't get stale because its the perfect heel and the perfect face. Its one of those charcaters that all you have to do is present it in a certain light and you will get the EXACT reaction your looking for. He never rests on the things he has done in the past, he's always got new catchphrases, new character devlopments, there has never been a character that put everything together like the Rock. Never.

 

I was just thinking about that today.

 

Lata All,

 

Stennick

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

The problem is that the guy's heel stuff is so entertaining that the fans are bursting at the seams to cheer him on, and as a face he loses the edge and just appears to be burying guys.

 

He's also better in small doses. Part of the reason he got booed in the first place is because of Hogan-like overexposure. It can happen again even like this, but what can you do?

 

Greatest character ever? Could have been financially if they used him right. Creatively? Nah.

[Guest Stennick]

Not creativly? It has to be damn close! Nothing like him has ever been thought of or even ripped off since he came along. The catchphrases, the talking in third person, thats pretty damn creative no one else has ever done it and in pro wrestling thats saying a lot.

 

Lata All,

 

Stennick

[Guest Nanks]

I know I'm gonna cop it for this, because EVERYONE round here seems to hate him. But how about Dead Man Undertaker?? That character lasted a long time and was always over. He did evolve as he went with becoming leader of The Ministry and then the Kane feud changed him. He was never the top star like Hogan, Rock or Austin, but he was always at the top of the card.

[Guest Deebo]

Nobody entertained me more than the Ric Flair of the 80's. I think Rock is slightly below him.

[Guest Stennick]

Flair has another one of those characters that can live forever. I'm not sure if Rock is below or above him but the race is really to close to call.

 

As for 'Taker, he gutted it out during some rough times for WWF, he even had some great matches whil e nobody was watching. The only problem I have with him is that he totally changed gimmicks and kept the same name. After you have had the same name for ten years and main evented WM's and made your company millions of dollars I don't get changing gimmicks. Instead of changing gimmicks he should have came back as Mark Calloway and had Kane "remind" him of the darkside, then he goes on one last run and then retired, I remember telling people that WM X7 was his goodbye tour and that he would be out by the end of that year. Two years later he gives us no sign of letting up.

 

Lata All,

 

Stennick

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

See, I don't see where The Rock character changed anything.

 

The core of it all is a guy who thinks he's better than everyone else and is really obvious about it. Well, that's been around since Gorgeous George. Marketable catchphrases are nothing new. Yes, he's really good at crowd reaction and making everyone respond like Pavlov's Dogs, but he wasn't the first, neither in the past nor in the present era ("If you want _______, gimme a hell yeah.")

 

I think if they did the right things earlier on, Rock could have been one of the company's biggest moneymakers right up there with Austin and Hogan. Of course, they'd eventually find themselves at the current place they're at with him, I guess.

 

I think the only thing truly revolutionary in the past ten years has been Austin. First time enough people liked a heel enough to support him nationwide. Well, sort of. They liked the guy because of the heelish things he was doing. Rock's in that category too (obviously, since the smiling babyface persona has bombed on him twice now) but Austin was there first.

 

Rock's a lot better than a lot of guys at almost everything, but it's not like the character is breaking new ground or anything.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

I'm tired of him cause he comes back for a month, then takes six off. I can't make myself get into Rocky when I know he's going to be gone again in a month or less.

 

And he took WAY too long getting new material, which I don't think is even that good anyway.

[Guest Mole]

Rock is doing what he does best, being a heel. It looks like he has more fun being a heel than a face, he seems more into it.

 

I think acting has helped him in his promos also, he seems just better.

[Guest razazteca]

Crazy Randy Savage from the time period when he was jealous of another man using his woman Elizabeth (vs Hogan vs Flair) is one of my favorite characters along with the WCW Buff Hey Much Savage. Raven the spoiled rich grunge slacker was also a good character but went nowhere in the WWF, for shame.

 

The greatest character ever is of course the Heel.

[Guest creativename]

First time enough people liked a heel enough to support him nationwide. Well, sort of. They liked the guy because of the heelish things he was doing.

nWo came first, when it comes to fan favorite heels (real fan favorites, not "respect" favorites like the heel Horsemen were). Not that I disagree about Austin being revolutionary in his own right, but until nWo came about, wrestling was in an absolute crapper. Austin took over while nWo was getting played out, and was also a different type of character.

[Guest JMA]

The New World Order was cool because even the fans were divided. It was like the heel (NWO) fans were against the face (WCW) fans.

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

The great thing about The Rock is he is willing to work with anyone and put anyone over. Something these other guys aren't willing to do.

[Guest Austin3164life]

I'm not sure if The Rock is the greatest character ever. He's basically (if you get right down to it) a mixture of Hogan and Austin. I'm not trying to downplay all the work he's done for the past 6 or so years, because I like The Rock and I think he's great for pro-wrestling. But let's take a look.

 

Catchphrases:

 

"If Ya smell what The Rock is cookin'..."

 

I don't know about anyone else, but this phrase is extremely similar to Austin's "And that's the bottom line, 'cause Stone Cold said so" phrase. Both end a promo, and both focus on their characters in an arrogant sense. Austin used this a year before The Rock became The Rock.

 

"The millions......and millions of The Rock's fans"

 

Other than the third person mention, this is basically Hogan saying "And all of my Hulkamaniacs" (or whatever he used to say with Hulkamaniacs). I think it's funny and it's a cool modern twist, but again, nothing really new.

 

"Know your role, and shut your mouth"

 

This is the catchphrase that made me like him a lot in his 98-99 heel run. Any variation of it that he used was golden. This time, this is completely his though.

 

There are a lot of other similar comparisons with Rock and Austin/Hogan. Rock's superman comeback throughout all of his face matches reek of Hogan's (minus the Hulk-up). The Rock wears black boots and black trunks (much like Austin's no-nonsense plain look). The Rock has gone and made two movies so far, and has signed for another one(Hogan made a few). When you get right down to it, Rock is a cool character and is extremely over, but it's not something we've never seen before and completely innovative. Hogan came out of no where, and so did Austin (he was different than the NWO). Rock is definitely top five of all time (perhaps top three), but not #1. Just my opinion.

[Guest Downhome]

The Rock isn't anywhere close to my favorite "character", and especially not on my list of the "all time greatest characters". I love what he does, but it is rather cheep to say it's all that great when you really think about it. If you take away his sexual refrences (which I think is simply a fucked up way for people to notice him and go "tee hee hee, he said poontang and monkey's anus!!!!!!!". I don't find that entertaining at all, it comes across to me as him simply being a moron.

 

His heel work, when he's more serious, I love and it is great. If he just was the cocky heel as he was when he first turned heel, and how he's somewhat doing now, he would be higher on my list. I hated his face character, HATED it, I don't see how anyone could like it all that much when you I really think about. You know how some people go out there and get cheap "heel heat" by just putting down the town they're in, and that type of thing? Well, I consider Rocky a guy who get's cheap "face heet", and to me that doesn't make for the greatest character of all time. Here are some characters who I love a LOT better than Rocky...

 

1) Ric Flair --- The greatest of all time in terms of all around Pro. Wrestler. His character is timeless, and it should be a MUST for anyone to break into the business, to analyze his work as both a heel and as a face. He has the basics which everyone could use down perfectly, everyone could learn from this guy.

 

2) Hollywood Hogan --- Like him or not, his heel character was on fire when they really worked with it.

 

3) Mankind --- I'm not talking about his shit after he "turned human" so-to-speak, when he began acting like a moron, in his sweat pants. I'm talking the Mankind that debuted, the deranged demented soul wanting to seek revenge on the world for his shortcomings. That was brilliance, and was perfectly performed.

 

4) Bret Hart --- He was a version of Ric Flair in my eyes, in terms of being the character of "World Champion". He just looked like a champion, acted like a champion, and was a champion in his character. Some people just work the character of "World Champion" to the effect where it seems they should always have the title, and Bret was one of these guys who perfected it.

 

5) Owen Hart --- Two brothers, and two perfect characters. Owen Hart pulled off the greatest peformance in terms of the "jealous" better than anyone I've ever seen.

 

6) The Undertaker --- There wasn't much to it when you think about it. He just had to go out there, no-sell a lot, and almost never talk, but damnit, this one is a must on this list. He was the third wrestler that I truly began to LOVE, right behind Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan.

 

7) Mr. Perfect --- He was the "perfect" character, period.

 

8) Vader --- The Vader character as a heel is the greatest monster character I've ever seen. In his matches, I truly believed that he wanted to kill whoever he was in there with.

 

9) Jake "The Snake" Roberts --- He may not be the best all around Pro. Wrestler of all time, but in my eyes, he was the master of psychology. He was a lot more than just a guy who carried a big snake around, much, much more.

 

10) Cactus Jack --- In the same vein of Mankind, this one was great.

 

...each of those above I feel is a better "character" than The Rocky. I could name plenty more that I deem better, but hey, this is just my opinion.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

nWo came first, when it comes to fan favorite heels (real fan favorites, not "respect" favorites like the heel Horsemen were).

Hmm.. Personally, I think if it weren't for the gang undertones (black clothes, spraypaint, etc) that attracts a bazillion angsty teenagers desperately searching for an identity, nWo wouldn't have hit it mainstream as it did. Perhaps it would, if Scott Hall did enough surveys and Nash went over enough guys. Can't say for sure.