Lesnar/Goldberg/Austin/Rock

[Rock Bottom]

Hi, these are just my thoughts basically on a bunch of loose ends the WWE likes to leave around and have you wondering about certain things. This is more focused on The Rock.

It is a given that The Rock likes to leave for a bit, to do a movie, or have a kid, or something like that. So it is understandable, in this sense, that The Rock could be used as a great utility to put people over. I'm sure most will agree, that The Rock losing to anyone above the level of let's say, Spike Dudley, will not harm his credibility. He is still "The Rock."

An example is, The Rock has lost clean matches to just about anyone. The Undertaker blatently pinned him with the Last Ride on a Smackdown episode, he has lost to Lesnar with the F-5 right in the middle of the ring, and has lost to Goldberg.

Let me jump timeframes again, apologies if this harms my chances at making sense. The Rock came back a while ago and he was kicking ass after ass after ass until he became the Undisputed Champion. Brock Lesnar wins the King of the Ring, and almost anyone could see it coming that Brock was getting a huuuuuuuuuuge push and was going to go on to beat The Rock for the title. If I recall in that match, there was some minor degree of 'cheating,' but in the end Lesnar pinned The Rock. Rock disappears.

Well The Rock makes another return, this time he is feuding with Steve Austin. At this point, they're attempting to make him a heel. He does dumb things like goes and plays guitar in the ring and sings songs, has this weird Hollywood angle (that he could actually get away with if they didn't do this next part) but acts like a total pu**y in running away and cowering, and seeming hesitant to fight, etc. But at Wrestlemania 19, he goes to obliterate Steve Austin like no one has ever been obliterated by The Rock before, save maybe him vs. Mankind at the 99 Rumble. Ok... I am a Rock fan, I was happy that he picked up a pretty clean pinfall over Austin finally, to "equalize" them or maybe even put Rock over at this point.

Then all the sudden Goldberg shows up and annihilates The Rock. (No other way to put it really) shortly after The Rock just owned the f*** out of the company's long-time main face. Rock disappears.

Understandably, the WWE seems to have disregarded the sudden Rock disappearances after Lesnar and Goldberg losses. My question is, what is becoming of The Rock with all this disappearing and returning? Will they be able to keep on doing the same thing with him? Everyone probably knows The Rock is happy to put people over and doesn't act gay about it (let's say oh like, HHH..) but in the long run, I think they are going to batter his credibility. Given, he disappears alot, but the way they are using him when he is there is kind of retarded. I'd look forward to seeing The Rock have a post-Foley match feud with Randy Orton and go on to kick his ass, and continue to kick the asses of people. But my fear is that he will end up jobbing to someone and disappearing again.

I'd have put The Rock in the rumble as a surprise entrant and have him eliminate Goldberg as a sense of revenge and have them go at it at Wrestlemania, and for God's sake give The Rock the win if Goldberg is leaving. Don't put Goldberg in a title match everyone knows he isn't going to win (that is, if he is leaving) and give it up to a heel who is afraid of friggin Hardcore Holly. That way, they could restore some type of credibility to The Rock rather than just having him forget about all the times he's lost a match and disappeared. Have him take some names and kick the asses of Goldberg and Brock if he is sticking around this time. Not have him crush Austin like a beer can (no pun intended) in between getting his ass whipped by two people as if he were nothing again. Any thoughts?

[MVP]

That's a good anaysis, but the thing is, The Rock's credibility isn't important anymore in the ring. The Rock is mainly credited with his mic skills, now that he's only a part-time worker. I highly doubt that The Rock will ever hold a WWE title again unless he returns full time, and even if he does, it's too difficult to work him into the storylines without burying somebody. The Rock is best used as someone to put people over since he's only here part time. Most likely The Rock will job to Randy Orton at Wrestlemania seeing as how Randy's on a huge role currently.

[Corkscrewed]

The thing is that if The Rock isn't going to be wrestling too much, he technically should even be at WM at all, to be fair.

Feeding Goldberg to Lesnar is a good move (I still would have preferred Lesnar vs Benoit) because casual fans are instantly intrigued by this potential dream matchup.

As for the Rock, even though he beat Austin, he came back to put Goldberg over, just like the last time he came back, he put Lesnar over. The Austin win is actually more of an anomaly in recent years.

[Rock Bottom]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was worried about, being a Rock-fan, is this part time thing. Don't get me wrong, I like Goldberg and Lesnar. (and Randy Orton for that matter) It's just odd in the mean-time having him bounce all around. Wonder what will happen with him, I guess time will tell, but I agree, he should be totally in or totally out.

Edit: Austin has been talking about his last match, wonder if The Rock would be a candidate. They're fought too much though, that probably wouldn't do anything for anyone.

[The CyNick]

Austin at the time felt his last match was at last year's Mania against Rock. However, its likely he'll end up in the ring again in some form, but more likely in a gimmick match with a guy like Vince where he doesn't have to take any risks.

As for Rock, he is used perfectly. He doesn't need to win all the time, because he's not going to be around, so there's no point of having beat key guys, unless its going to be part of a long term fued.

Now, with that said, I dont think he should lose all the time. He still has to be percieved as a top guy, so that people still take him seriously. Thats what was good about last year, they had him beat Austin and then had him JOB to a guy who they thought would carry the company. Unfortunately they flost their minds when it came to booking the angle, so it didn't work, but thats another tale.

I dont know his schedule post-Mania, but if he's just doing the one match it might be a good idea to have him and Foley win their tag match. I've mentioned this before, but then they can do Orton-Foley in a singles at Backlash, and have Orton win there. But by having Rock win at Mania, he still looks like a top guy, and if they get another chance to use him down the raod, he will be able to give someone who needs it a rub by putting them over.

It would be nice to have him around full time, but for his own well being he's better off trying to be huge Hollywood star. He can always come back to wrestling if the movie thing doesn't work for him. I think having him show up every now and then is a good way to boost a TV rating or get some extra PPV buys, so I dont want to see him leave wrestling for good. Plus, aside form business, he's one of the best alla round performers of all time, so its cool to use him whenever they can.

[Rock Bottom]

Yeah, excellent points all around. I just wonder how long that is going to work, like how long they can maintain a balance of win/job/win/job/win/job while keeping The Rock as a top face and a good way to put someone over... Oh well, thanks for your input everyone, all good points and things to consider.