The Rock Battling Bitter Backstage Resentment From the WWE Locker Room

[Shockage]

Southern (or southern based wrestlers) never get put in the hot seat, Taker, Michaels, Flair, Austin, even Cornette, JR or Lawler. It's always the Hogans, Brets and Rocks that are vilified and to an extent viewed as not 'wrestling/rasslin' enough for the profession.

[metfan51]

If The Undertaker came back and demanded to go into WrestleMania as the WWE Champion and barely did any work on Raw or SmackDown in the months between the show, I'd have a problem with it. The Undertaker knows his limits. He knows he can have that one match and appear on Raw and SmackDown for a few promos. That's why he doesn't get criticized as heavily as The Rock does.

Let's face it, The Rock doesn't have to be the WWE Champion to draw ratings. If his match with Cena at WrestleMania is so 'big' why add a title to it?

[Turley]

but that logic means that the World Champ should never be the top guy as they wouldnt ever NEED the belt...

I am going to strongly disagree with you in regards to The Undertaker. You said that The Rock didnt deserve his spot due to inactivity and then suggested The Undertaker as an alternative marquee name. In the interest of fairness, you should have discounted him for the very same reasons you discounted The Rock.

Wrestlemania is the biggest show they have so I am staggered that there is criticism of booking the two men that have day light between themselves and the rest of the roster, in the main event for the very same world title that they are criticised for cheapening...

[metfan51]

There's a big difference between The Rock and The Undertaker and it's the Championship. I didn't care when The Rock came back opposed to how some fans resented him from the very beginning. It was a cool moment and to hear that he was wrestling again was a great moment. I can deal with The Rock and his three month stints. That's fine. We all know that The Undertaker is older, banged up and could probably get good use out of DDP Yoga. Until that day comes, Taker is suited for one big match and a year and I'm fine with that as well.

When I suggested Taker challenging Punk for the WWE Title, it's totally different than The Rock winning it at the Rumble. Why? Because Taker could have entered number 30 in the Rumble, last only a few minutes and win it. Then he could take off all he wanted because he has no reason to show up or compete for a while. The night after Elimination Chamber, he could show up, challenge Punk and go through his usual motions, showing up every week or two to cut a promo on Punk and finally have his match. Imagine how Punk could actually gain from a loss. It took The Undertaker, a legend and the Royal Rumble winner to dethrone a champion who held the title for over 500 days. Punk's stock would rise, as he beat all the heroes except for one. Taker could always relinquish the title the next night and that would be that.

When The Rock shows up in January and wins the title, it's fine. It's fine as long as The Rock shows up week after week and even at some live events. It was reported that McMahon himself wants live events to conclude with a WWE or World Championship match. The Rock won't even show up at a live event unless he's in the area. The WWE Champion for the first time in a long time didn't even appear on Raw tonight, two weeks away from a title match. That's my problem with him and how this has played out.

I never had a problem with The Rock wrestling even one match a year. When The Rock wins the WWE Title and will face John Cena at WrestleMania 29, lose to him and ride off in the sunset it's borderline frustrating. The Rock won't wrestle a match on Raw, appear at no live events, and the point of it all appears more and more that he won the WWE Title so he can drop it to Cena.

[piperfan]

You could argue what is right and wrong about who the champ is but at the end of the day the WWE is not out there to please a small sections of fans that feel this way. Look at the buyrates WM28 did 1.2 MILLION buys, which made it become the HIGHEST grossing PPV of WWE EVER! The PPV where Undertaker main-evented against Shawn Michaels did about 400,000 less. The point is the WWE is a business that is trying to make money. The Cena/Rock match was a special attraction match at first but now that they see casual fans still care about the Rock you bet they will try to replicate that. I'm sure those younger talents weren't so resentful when they saw their Mania paychecks. I'm not saying CM Punk was a terrible champion but they didn't even treat him like one so now that they see Rock can still main event might as well put the title in there and make the most important match of the PPV have a title for once. So far it's proven that having Punk as champion was poison to buyrates as they went down compared to others. If Rock proved that he didn't draw then he wouldn't even be invited this year.

Also why would you have a huge investment like the Rock wrestle week after week? Even if he didn't have the title if he were to get injured and not wrestle at mania it will ruin everything and their buyrates would go down the toilet.

We will see with the buyrates but if people are going to buy, just expect more of the same and I don't blame them.

[metfan51]

We're missing the point. Why make him the WWE Champion in the first place? If he's such a special attraction, treat him as such. Any Rock match from Survivor Series in 2011 on should be a every now and then or once in a blue moon deal. When you make him the Champion and fans expect him to compete more and more, he loses a little of that appeal. Rock vs. Cena was a great idea and the buyrate proved it. A lot of fans, more than you think, don't want to see this match again, especially one year later. I could understand a match at WrestleMania 30 but not the very next year.

The whole 'why risk him getting injured' argument doesn't hold much water either. Anybody could get injured doing anything in the ring and The Rock has taken plenty of bumps since returning. I mean by that logic, every Raw from here on out should feature 60 minute Iron Man matches between Curt Hawkins and JTG.

When you become the Champion, you're expected to at the very least appear at every TV show you can because you're a regular, not a special attraction. Maybe that makes more sense.

[Shockage]

Be mindful that this is the Rock's first World Title in 10 years. That note was mentioned by JBL when he compared the win to Ali winning the World Title. There's more to the story in that the Rock needed this to prove that he still has it, and it was also to make the WWE Title the centerpiece of the quest. They tried different scenarios with different wrestlers, but the WWE Title hasn't looked this prestigious (around the waist of a prestigious wrestler) in a long time, even with CM Punk's kackanini claims of being champion for 400 days.

[metfan51]

I understand that point but doesn't it take a hit when Rock loses it in Met Life Stadium in about two months? No matter the hype, it'll be largely uneventful unless the unthinkable happens, that being The Rock retains and leaves WrestleMania the WWE Champion.

[Shockage]

In the Rock's case, the WWE have made it more about winning the WWE belt than maintaining it. Even if he Rock loses he has nothing to prove.

[AJ]

^ But then doesn't that make the Title look bad? You just mentioned about the prestige of the title

[Mighty Boosh]

The ring rust part surprised me a little. At Wrestlemainia against Cena, Rocky seemed exhausted, at the Rumble he seemed fine. Maybe this is because Punk is better in the ring than Cena, maybe the Rock prepared better, I don't know but there's no reason to pick apart the rumble match just because you're jealous of The Rock.

I do think Punk helped Rocky through that match though. Another reason why Cena/Rock 2 will suck.

[Shockage]

^ But then doesn't that make the Title look bad? You just mentioned about the prestige of the title

No because the belt gains value depending on the person who wears it, and the Rock is the guy who wrestled at a time when competition was greater than it is today, the wrestling scene was in much healthier shape, there were more 'who's who' of wrestling working in that era.

[Turley]

Metfan, I think that you are showing a degree of favourtism towards Punk and Undertaker.

Rock isnt active enough to be World Champion but Undertaker can come into the rumble 30th win that and win the main event at Wrestlemania? I might be missing something but clearly you are criticisng a guy for being inactive yet your alternative is to give the rewards to someone who is less active?

The part about Punk having a 500 day reign and then losing was interesting. I pictured a 13 year old boy with bad acne and obesity issues wearing a CM Punk shirt when I read the statement. I tend to tune out when people call for ridiculous things, and in this day and age a 500 day title reign is a ridiculous suggestion. Particularly when the cold hard facts suggest him being champion wasnt having a dramatic affect on the commerce of WWE.

[Darth Shizzel]

As much as I like Punk I have to agree with Turley yes he had a decent reign but Punk wasn't getting people to tune in if anything he actually dropped viewers.

[Shockage]

The part about Punk having a 500 day reign and then losing was interesting. I pictured a 13 year old boy with bad acne and obesity issues wearing a CM Punk shirt when I read the statement.

Don't forget the lisp and the constant anger in the voice.

[Darth Shizzel]

Punk has a lisp ?

[Mr. Tambourine Man]

Punk wasn't getting people to tune in if anything he actually dropped viewers.

Darth, have you seen proof of that or are you just speculating?

[Shockage]

CM Punk's pipe bomb promo failed to live up to the hype, the promo was a wrestling guy trying to change the perspective of a company that wasn't first and foremost about wrestling, and he knew it! When fans realised that it was a farce, Punk's popularity began to diminish. Turning Punk heel was an admission by the WWE that Punk's attempt to be the next Steve Austin was a failure.

[Darth Shizzel]

Unfortunately I can't find the ratings from the past year but I check them and the ratings while Punk has been champion have dipped below 3 million and this was before it went up to 3 hours.

[The Indy Junkie]

CM Punk's pipe bomb promo failed to live up to the hype, the promo was a wrestling guy trying to change the perspective of a company that wasn't first and foremost about wrestling, and he knew it! When fans realised that it was a farce, Punk's popularity began to diminish. Turning Punk heel was an admission by the WWE that Punk's attempt to be the next Steve Austin was a failure.

And the reason is he is in the PG era, edgy is not being allowed. Punk has always been edgy since his Indy days. Hard to make the fans interested and live up to the hype when you can't be what you have always been.

[Darth Shizzel]

We can't blame the PG era forever it was PG before the attitude era and people were edgy then no reason why people can't be edgy now.

[Shockage]

Era shmera, CM Punk hides behind that excuse. If you're that great, then circumstances shouldn't matter. Look at how Hogan shined in both 80s cartoon and NWO eras.

[The Indy Junkie]

Era shmera, CM Punk hides behind that excuse. If you're that great, then circumstances shouldn't matter. Look at how Hogan shined in both 80s cartoon and NWO eras.

Before or after he was booed? in the 80s he was a face if you couldn't be over as a face something was wrong. nWo Era he did a flip and was fresh, something he needed to do badly. So your telling me without the Beer, Middle finger, swearing, and crazy wild edge Austin still would have been the top dog? Had the nation not been around forcing the Rock to take command would he have gone above and beyond? Are you saying the Goof Ball Rocky Maivia would have been the star? I think not!

I can blame the PG era till it is gone. Once there is contrast to which you can see a character then you know if it is the era or the wrestler. Here is what i know: ROH- Punk and the freedom to do and say what he wanted and was over insanely, WWE- Held at the PG rating not over except for the one time he was allowed to cut loose. Stop the PG era and if he is not over after time then I will stop blaming the era.

[metfan51]

Name calling is a classy way of winning an argument, isn't it? If it was Turley and Shockage would be in great shape. Just so happens that I wrote several columns for this website eight years ago. That should at least make me older than 13. Whatever, you can't change people's opinions, especially when they're absurd like you two.

[Mr. Tambourine Man]

Unfortunately I can't find the ratings from the past year but I check them and the ratings while Punk has been champion have dipped below 3 million and this was before it went up to 3 hours.

That may be, we’d have to check. But if you’re talking about overall ratings, that’s not so much up to Punk. If a show sucks overall, but people tune in just to see a few faces, those few faces aren’t going to drive up the overall rating a whole lot.

I did a quick search on the internet just now for ratings breakdowns.

Looking at last week’s RAW, his confrontation with The Rock gained 279,000 viewers, making it a 4.03 quarter which is tremendous for WWE today. Now I know you may say that probably has to do something with The Rock, so lets go back to December when Rock was not even on the show.

12/3 RAW – Punk and Paul Heyman gained 24,000 viewers. Miz entrance lost 214,000 viewers. To cap off the show Punk’s lie detector test gained 509,000 viewers
12/10 - CM Punk and Paul Heyman gained 223,000 viewers.
12/17 – Ric Flair, John Cena, CM Punk, and Paul Heyman gained 605,000 viewers
12/24 - CM Punk, Paul Heyman and Ryback also gained 140,000 viewers
12/31 - C.M. Punk, Paul Heyman, Doctor and Vince McMahon gained 465,000

As you can see the only time in the month that a Punk segment lost viewers was with The Miz, who if you look into it is perhaps the biggest ratings loser in WWE.

As for the year, these are the top 10 segment gain ratings of 2012 (found on Wrestling Observer)

1,181,000 - John Cena vs. Big Show for SummerSlam title shot
1,122,000 - Undertaker/HHH in-ring confrontation
1,084,000 - John Cena & Ryback vs. C.M. Punk & Dolph Ziggler
1,058,000 - C.M. Punk vs. Sheamus champion vs. champion lumberjack match
1,036,000 - Brock Lesnar return, F-5 on John Cena
1,033,000 - John Laurinaitis fires Big Show
990,000 - John Cena/John Laurinaitis confrontation
978,000 - Daniel Bryan, Kane, C.M. Punk & A.J.
878,000 - John Cena & Sheamus vs. Tensai & Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler
877,000 - Mick Foley return, confrontation with C.M. Punk
873,000 - Brock Lesnar/John Laurinaitis/John Cena in-ring confrontation
869,000 - Undertaker/HHH in-ring confrontation
823,000 - John Cena & Sheamus vs. C.M. Punk & Alberto Del Rio
822,000 - Shawn Michaels return
817,000 - Punk & Bryan & Jericho vs. Henry & Ziggler & Otunga (Foley involved)
817,000 - Brock Lesnar breaks Shawn Michaels’ arm
803,000 - Chris Jericho return

Punk is all over that list, being in six segments. If I'm doing my math right, he's one segment behind only John Cena for the top spot.

So pretty good actually.