Shanghai Kid

I said in another thread, Austin was probably the biggest draw, but Rock is going to be a bigger national media star than Austin could ever even dream of being. I agree, by 99 people were definetly tuning in to see the Rock maybe just as much as they were Austin. The thing about Rock is he was such a great heel. Rock's heel stuff is just more entertaining to me than anything Austin or Hogan have ever done. And some of his promos are on another level than anything Austin or Hogan could do. Austin's character is not timeless. I think alot of his popularity comes from the crazy stuff he did, all the great moments he had vs Mcmahon. Yet I don't think the character itself is even close to the timeless/eternal feel of Hulkamania. Austin was perfect for the attitude era, but I don't see drinking beer and giving the finger as anything timeless. It wasn't even original if you consider Sandman was doing it first. I'm not even sure if I see in 10 years Austin getting one of those pops where he just stands in the ring and the fans cheer the hell out of him. Those ovations Hogan gets when he's in the ring are all about respect and love, I don't know if Austin commands that. Maybe its cause in reality Austin didn't really stand for anything 'good'. Beating up your boss, drinking beer, fighting authority, that is good but it only appeals to a certain group of people. I think Ric Flairs persona will be remembered and respected more than Austins.

Shelton has become such a jobber. Whatever momentum he had with the IC title is gone, he's now Val Venis like fodder.

Shawn was not shoved down the fans throats at all in 95. First of all, he had been involved with the IC title for over 3 years by then. Call it a joke reign, but after the ladder match people were taking HBK very serious. Secondly, he was VERY over heading into Wrestlemania 11, to a point where most of the crowd was cheering heel HBK over face Diesel. He easily surpassed Bret Hart in popularity right when he turned face. The whole 95 even when having midcard matches he would get the loudest ovation of the night. If anything they hurt his World Title reign by waiting so long to give it to him. He was easily at his peak of popularity after Wrestlemania 11, but they drew it out all the way until the next Wrestlemania.

It will be interesting to see how this match plays out. I like the feud so far, but Shawn really needs to drop the whole "hey im still a nice guy I just want to face Hogan' and become a FULL FLEDGED heel. I'm just afraid the booking of this match is going to be lame. I don't think you can justify Hogan winning the match, I just don't find that realistic. Shawns been in an Iron Man match, Ladder matches, Hell in a Cell...he just beat Kurt Angle. And their going to have him take a boot, and a leg drop from a 50 year old and lose the match. That's the only way I see Hogan winning the match, but that's not realistic. Does even the most hardcore Hogan mark think that at this point in his career he's a better wrestler than HBK? The best ending would be Hogan missing the leg drop, Shawn kipping up and superkicking Hulkamania into the bowels of hell. Anyways, like the title says I hope this is Hogans last match, unless he faces Austin down the road.

Even as a Cena fan, I have to admit he's really starting to copy the Rocks style. Maria has become his own Micheal Cole. And the Champ is Here is obviously his attempt at a "Cause stone cold said so/smell what the rock is cookin".

Lol at the Edge trying to call out the Internet. If it's such a small thing than why is he and the WWE obviously paying attention to it and basing storylines off it?

He's only jobbed once CLEAN in a singles match since he came back from injury. Yup, you guessed it. WM 21. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Honestly, since when do top Faces lose clean to heels? As a heel I'd understand if was like HHH he was just burying guys and not losing, but as a top face who is looked at as a legend?

Holy crap.....Fro is exactly right, this is totally setting up the reformation of the 4 Horseman. Angle/HBK/Flair/HHH all heels? Even if you don't like the idea thats too good to pass up, thats the best formation of the horseman since the original. And you have a strong face like Cena to battle them along with Hogan.

Well this is pretty much awesome. HBK hasn't been a heel since 98, and for those of you who don't remember, he's a better heel than face. I wonder if he'll go the route of the cocky heel again because the man had more heel heat in his last run than anybody in recent WWE history. Shawn can easily become the #1 heel in the WWE again, I just wonder more than ever now how HHH fits in. I thought Shawn didn't want to turn heel because of his religion? I guess the prospects of a headlining match with Hogan were too much to resist. It doesn't make much sense, but it's just shocking.

Wrestling fans stopped caring about Austin a couple of years ago? Seriously? Maybe I'm going crazy, but didn't he get like thunderous ovations at his No Way Out 2003 and WrestleMania 21 returns? Didn't he get massive pops at Survivor Series 2003? WrestleMania 20? Even during his worst ever era since Austin 3:16 began, he got some of the biggest responses of the night, week in, week out. Sure, they weren't exactly the same pops as he used to get, but neither are Hogan's and his legend's not exactly eroding, is it? And while Rock is more well-known mainstream, that's not the issue here. I have a theory about it and while I've yet to be proven wrong, I'm sticking by it: if it had been Austin/Hogan at WrestleMania 18, as it always should've been, I honestly do not think Austin would've been booed the way the Rock was. Rock getting booed didn't surprise me in the least because Rock couldn't rival Hogan. Never could. Austin easily could've. I think Austin's the only man in the industry who can rival Hogan in the "could never be booed against anybody" reign. Another point is that the Rock got booed and jeered for being an alleged "sell-out" when he gave notice, still jobbed for anybody and everybody and left on good terms. Yeah he got good pops as a heel, but he still got booed before he ever turned, even before Hogan came back. Austin, left on bad terms, walked out on the company, which is a cardinal sin that got Brock Lesnar booed out of MSG. When he returns, he gets a hero's welcome. You've got to be pretty well adored by wrestling fans to get the welcome Austin got, considering how much worse Austin's situation was. It's nothing against the Rock- I've been a fan of his for years. But the way I see it, Austin > the Rock as far as legendhood goes. /rant <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Funny that most of your examples come from 2003, which was a couple years ago. Yes, I stand by the fact that the fans right now do not really care about Austin. Nobody watches Raw to see Austin, when he leaves for months the people don't really care. He's become a caricature of his former self, he's been beyond stale for a long time. The Rock left in his prime, never became a caricature of himself. Would the fans of cheered Austin over Hogan? HA, hellllllllll no. Hogan has a legend status that Austin cannot touch, and a big part of Hogan being cheered was because it was in Canada where they LOVE him. Does Austin raise the ratings when he makes an appereance? NO. Does the Rock raise the ratings when he makes an appereance? YES. Whats a bigger deal, Rock coming back or Austin coming back? Rock. The reason is because Rock guarantees entertainment whenever he appears, Austin does the same old thing and bores or irritates alot of fans who are watching it on TV. Isn't Rock's This Is Your Life the highest rated segment of all time? I agree with what your saying, from a wrestling fans and legend perspective, nobody can touch Hogan and Austin. Those two are the biggest draws and biggest superstars or their eras. Nobody is deying the legendhood thing. Personally, I can honestly say that Rock at his peak was more entertaining than Austin has ever been, and I think his catchphrases will be eternal just like Austins. But, the Rock is as much if not more of a household name than Stone Cold has ever been it's true. Rock is making legit movies , he's making a legit transistion into a Hollywood superstar that Hogan nor Austin has ever done. Rock is present at every big awards show, has hosted SNL twice he STILL has many loyal wrestling fans who will see his movie and follow him, and his career is far, far from over. I just guarantee that as of now Rocks every once in a while appereances would get MUCH, MUCH, MUCH bigger pops and get MUCH, better ratings than Austins every once in a while apperance. It's because Austin is so stale that the fans don't miss him, but I guarantee they miss Rocks promos.

F U Hogan. Such an unappealing surprise.

Will it be, BRET HART?

It would still make no sense, why would Shawn have Rocks number? Naw no way thats happening. I think its going to be a let down if its Hogan. He's too old to wrestle. What about Stone Cold?

Please GOD be the Rock.

Lawler has always seemed like an intelligent, likeable guy in regular interviews. I think his on screen persona is just that, he really has to try hard to be that irritating.

These girls make Carmella look charismatic! Seriously, none of these girls have any appeal. At least last year you had Joy and Amy.

I want Trish...or Stacy...get these horrible pretenders out of here.

It was NOT better than Angle/Shawn from Wrestlemania.

If you think about it Raw has the workers to put on great matches every week if they want.

Wow it sounds like Sheltons push has been stopped fast in it's track and all the momentum he had is being buried, so much for the WWE building him up right.

Rock right now is EASILY more recognizable than Austin has ever been. The reason is, all the wrestling fans know the Rock, and now everybody mainstream knows him because of the movies, talk shows, awards shows, and all the media stuff he does. Austin was on Nash Bridges a few years ago, and is in the Longest Yard, but he's not in demand in Hollywood and the wrestling fans stopped caring about him a couple years ago. Nobody is touching Hogan or Austin as a wrestling draw, but Rock is definetly as well known as Austin. Hosting SNL solidified him as the biggest mainstream wrestling star since Hogan. I look at it like 3 eras- Hogan/Flair era Bret/HBK era Rock/Austin era ...Now we're in the HHH era, sadly enough.

Netflix is the easiest way to see WWE DVDs without having to buy them. For 18 dollars a month you can get just about any WWE DVD that comes out and decide if you want to buy them.

Having Cena feud with a new formed Horseman would get him even more over and after they screw him out of the belt it would make for a nice buildup/road back to the title. I would do it.

I'm a Muslim living in America with the Middle Eastern heritage ala Hassan without any of the drama, and I have no real problems with Hassans character, but I agree obviously Austin's comments were in bad taste. In general it would be hard to do this kind of storyline over a long period of time and not blatently or mistakingly introduce true racist remarks to the crowd. What's sad is how open and willing the WWE is to go over that line and get the audience to not only condone but participate in it's racial themes. It's hard to be surprised though because as examples in the past have shown Vince has no problems going over that line with all colors. I have no respect for Austin the person or the character anyways, so it makes no sense to be upset at him. He serves no purpose on the show other than to bury the talent. It'd be nice for the media to call the WWE out on it but the fact is Vince probably already has a PR friendly statement ready saying that it's only a storyline similar to something CSI would do. It's a lose lose situation cause anybody with half a brain watching the show is knowing it's openly facilitating racism to it's audience, but maybe Vince is right in that some of his audience is already racist? Certainly the live crowd isn't going to crap on it since their hero Austin is calling the bad guys "Sand People" and putting the "foreigners" in place. WWE is catering to the stupid with this stuff, it's not putting wrestling as a whole in the most intelligent light, but hey what can the fans do? If a percentage of them are already racist they'll keep eating it up and the WWE will keep feeding them.

Yeah, but HOLY SHIT, how STACKED is Raws main event now compared to Smackdown? Raw has HHH, Angle, Batista, HBK, Cena, and it actually has a decent developing midcard also with Shelton, Hassan, and Christian. Maybe I'm crazy but with Cena and Angle on Raw it already feels more fresh and less like the HHH show. Now you have legit main eventers instead of HHH and others.