Steve Austin on his way out

[Guest bob_barron]

I understand you Hartfan. Rock left while still making money for the company and gave them advanced notice so they could book around this.

 

Austin did not.

 

Austin is not drawing though- His main event v. Bischoff drew horrible numbers and his return only spiked the ratings for one week until everyone realised Austin was a boring shell of his former self

[Guest bob_barron]

Fuck the Rock? The Rock is the one who actually bothers to do jobs to people.

 

And say what you will about Taker but the guy isn't hogging the main event anymore

[Guest HartFan86]

Double Post.

[Guest HartFan86]

If any of the 4 have to go...it must be HHH. I'm not saying that because of HHHate, but because of the fact that he's the one running how things have been going with his influence of power.

[Guest HartFan86]

Austin is not drawing though- His main event v. Bischoff drew horrible numbers and his return only spiked the ratings for one week until everyone realised Austin was a boring shell of his former self

Then again...do the fans really care about Bischoff/Austin II? And to defend the Rock...they don't care about Rock in Concert either.

 

I think the focus of blame should go on the booking and not the preformers, as far as the buildup goes.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Raw after Wrestlemania 17 and a couple weeks after Wrestlemania 18. Sure Rock didn't "walkout", but he left the company on those two seperate occassions for himself...and turning his back on his "wrestling fans", according to most fans.

 

Yes, and Rock & Vince took advantage of it with the heel turn.

 

Besides, Rock makes more money for Vince doing movies than he does when he's around and that's what Vince ultimately cares about.

[Guest Dangerous A]

Fuck the Rock? The Rock is the one who actually bothers to do jobs to people.

 

And say what you will about Taker but the guy isn't hogging the main event anymore

My problem with Rock is he isn't the jobs. We know he's jobbing. He's really not putting them over though. That isn't necessarily Rock's fault, but when Rock jobbed the spotlight went on Rock for losing and not the person he jobbed to. Hurricane and Booker are no better off for beating Rock. Rock is also not there on a consistent enough basis for me. That's just a personal thing. I know a lot of people are ok with him in small doses, but he hasn't done anything for ratings or buyrates (with the exception of WM19) the last 2 times he's returned. Right now isn't the time for a part timer to hog up the spotlight.

 

Good point on Taker. He may be coming around and not on top, but he hasn't bothered to put anyone except Brock over in a year and in his age he needs to be putting over people.

[Guest HartFan86]

Yes, and Rock & Vince took advantage of it with the heel turn.

Yeah, 2 Years after people stopped giving a fuck. If Rock turned heel at Mania 17, WWE would be so much better off (Hey, I like Austin as much as the next guy...but his heel turn pretty much was a failure in 2001).

[Guest THE MIGHTY THOR]

The fact of the matter is this Austin is not hungry anymore, he's been a champion so many times and has made a lot of money, he is bored with his job b/c he can't draw anymore, that didn't stop him from receiving that huge Mania paycheck instead of giving his spot to somebody that was there working for the company last year while Austin was at home beating up his woman.I hope is true that he wants to retire b/c his character is a joke.

[Guest bob_barron]

Yes, and Rock & Vince took advantage of it with the heel turn. 

Yeah, 2 Years after people stopped giving a fuck. If Rock turned heel at Mania 17, WWE would be so much better off (Hey, I like Austin as much as the next guy...but his heel turn pretty much was a failure in 2001).

They couldn't turn Rock heel at Mania 17 because he'd be gone and there'd be nothing for them to cash in on. They also wanted to make sure he was a face for when Scorpion King came out.

 

Rock's face run didnt really start losing steam until his last couple weeks in the company- Summerslam was when people stopped giving a fuck. He was still very much over around Mania 17.

[Guest Trivia247]

I don't think Austin is going to stay around long enough to face Hogan.

Its kinda a sad state of affairs when someone says

I don't think Austin will hang around long enough to face Hogan...

 

like as If Hogan was gonna have a longer WWE career now than Austin does currently

[Guest bob_barron]

Fuck the Rock? The Rock is the one who actually bothers to do jobs to people.

 

And say what you will about Taker but the guy isn't hogging the main event anymore

My problem with Rock is he isn't the jobs. We know he's jobbing. He's really not putting them over though. That isn't necessarily Rock's fault, but when Rock jobbed the spotlight went on Rock for losing and not the person he jobbed to. Hurricane and Booker are no better off for beating Rock. Rock is also not there on a consistent enough basis for me. That's just a personal thing. I know a lot of people are ok with him in small doses, but he hasn't done anything for ratings or buyrates (with the exception of WM19) the last 2 times he's returned. Right now isn't the time for a part timer to hog up the spotlight.

 

Good point on Taker. He may be coming around and not on top, but he hasn't bothered to put anyone except Brock over in a year and in his age he needs to be putting over people.

They're no better off because they dont follow through with them- Rock is the guy who made Chris Jericho (well for a month) and Brock Lesnar. Rock helped the buyrate for Summerslam IMO and we'll see what he did for No Way Out in a couple weeks.

 

I don't have a problem with Rock hogging the spotlight because he's over, entertaining and is willing to make himself look bad and have fun. I don't mind him in small doses because I respect the fact that the guy is making movies and doing what's best for himself and his family.

 

Taker is trying to get some young people over but the problem is that it's not the right guys and it's just killing his heat hanging out with Nathan Jones. If Taker went out there and had a programme with Rhyno that would be beneficial for everybody but instead he's wasting time with people who will end up failing

[Guest HartFan86]

They couldn't turn Rock heel at Mania 17 because he'd be gone and there'd be nothing for them to cash in on. They also wanted to make sure he was a face for when Scorpion King came out.

 

Rock's face run didnt really start losing steam until his last couple weeks in the company- Summerslam was when people stopped giving a fuck. He was still very much over around Mania 17.

I guess that's true about Mania 17..and that's probably the only reason WHY they didn't turn him heel.

 

I'd say Rock's been on the downward spiral since Hogan/Rock at Mania 18. Rock did shit for ratings over the summer of 2002 (Can't blame him..WWE was a mess) and then like you said, Summerslam the fans just got sick of it.

[HurriShane 0]

I think that Austin will probably be gone from the ring in summer time but only doing one final job to Batista

[Guest ViciousFish]

I wish Austin would go away after 1 incredible match with someone who can preform. One great match to remember Austin by instead of a series of matches that make us lose respect for what the man has accomplished.

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

I meant he's doing the exact same stale character he's been doing since before he left. He's doing the exact same god damn thing. That's probably what he's unhappy with. And the writers are probably the same gang of idiots as before when he got fed up with them.

[Guest Your Olympic Hero]

Wrestlemania 19 was the 63rd PPV in a row headlined by either HHH, Austin, Rock, or Taker.

.

Sure, Austin & Rock was high on the card, and HHH was in a title match... but wasn't the show technically headlined by Brock vs. Angle?

[Guest Dangerous A]

Wrestlemania 19 was the 63rd PPV in a row headlined by either HHH, Austin, Rock, or Taker.

.

Sure, Austin & Rock was high on the card, and HHH was in a title match... but wasn't the show technically headlined by Brock vs. Angle?

Angle vs Lesnar happened to go on last, probrably because they wanted to give Angle a last match hurrah since he may be out for a year or more and they wanted to get over Lesnar doing the Shooting Star Diving headbutt...I...uh.... mean Press.

 

 

Rock vs Austin and Vince vs Hogan were what were pushed as important and that's why they are considered headlining.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

not to ruin the thread, but maybe he really is just banged up?

 

He's not the most healthy guy. Of course, being pouty isn't really unprecedented for him either. It just seems weird to me that he would already be giving up when he's only been back for a month.

[Guest Brian]

Rock took the spotlight away from both guys during their wins. In an old tactic and it does no good.

 

Austin's on SmackDown, with who he wants to wrestle and who he wants to put over.

[Guest creativename]

Wrestlemania 19 was the 63rd PPV in a row headlined by either HHH, Austin, Rock, or Taker.

.

Sure, Austin & Rock was high on the card, and HHH was in a title match... but wasn't the show technically headlined by Brock vs. Angle?

Angle vs Lesnar happened to go on last, probrably because they wanted to give Angle a last match hurrah since he may be out for a year or more and they wanted to get over Lesnar doing the Shooting Star Diving headbutt...I...uh.... mean Press.

 

 

Rock vs Austin and Vince vs Hogan were what were pushed as important and that's why they are considered headlining.

No way dude. Officially speaking, the streak ended at XIX.

 

If you're gonna play that game, that opens up a whole other can of worms. You just can't do that. The Main Event was Lesnar-Angle, end of story.