Will Cena/Rock be bigger than Hogan/Rock?
 

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For some reason Cena's promo monday sounded oddly familiar to one we heard a decade before... Hogan vs Rock was a huge match that pitted two of the greatest of all time, and now it is being redone with Cena vs Rock. Considering they have a year to build it up (where Rock Hogan only had about a month) which match do you think will be bigger in the history of professional wrestling? I gotta say Rock vs Hogan will be bigger, up untill we can have that Hogan vs Cena match were all waiting for :shifty:

Wow, a whole year of various Cena/Rock threads is going to be tough to handle...

The match will be big. But NOTHING like Rock/Hogan was.

Cena is not as big as Hogan. Not even as big as Rock in his prime (which is partly due to wrestling itself not being as big).

Hogan vs Rock will stay as the bigger matchup mostly due to the crowd's unexpected full turn against the Rock at Mania X-8 compared to the current crowd already split on booing and cheering Cena.

Match-wise, it probably will be as good as Hogan vs The Rock but in terms of promos, Hogan was as good as The Rock when it came to selling a feud regardless of who was the face and the heel.

Promos and selling are some of Cena's biggest weaknesses as a wrestler since his promos sound more like a monologue and he has a problem of timing with his selling of moves.

Rock/Cena will be bigger than Rock/Hogan.

Cena is the present day "WWE Top Guy", and love him or hate him, he is over HUGE, especially with kids. And, also, everybody will tune in: those who live Cena, those who hate him, and those who want to see The Rock back in action.

When Rock faced Hogan, nobody really knew what to expect, there was no real HEAT towards either of them, or any real support towards either of them, it was just Rock (the present) facing Hogan (the past), two generations colliding. Add the fact that Hogan has never been the best wrestler, and was already limited in what he could do in the ring. Cena, while most people say can't wrestle, I happen to think he is a pretty good wrestler, and he can turn it up when he wants to, he can go...he's athletic, young, and is much better than Hogan. So the match itself should be good.

No. Next question.

All this "Anti Cena" feeling is one of the reasons it will be bigger than Rock/Hogan...ya'll hate Cena, but ya'll wanna watch...ya'll are GOING to watch...

;)

Hogan is bigger than Cena is.

Rock is bigger than Cena is.

Therefore Rock/Hogan is bigger than Cena/Rock is.

Honestly, when I think of Rock/Hogan, I think of the crowd being ridiculously hot and the fact that they had a match...

The build is fuzzy in my mind. I don't really remember specifics of the match itself.

With what we can judge only having this past couple months of Rock-Cena interaction and only projecting what I think the match could be, I have to say Rock-Cena will go on to hold a bigger place in wrestling history. The build is already better and who knows what happens over the next year. And it being in Rock's hometown added to the reaction we would already expect points to an INSANE crowd for the match.

Not to mention Cena-Rock is locked in as the main event. Rock-Hogan was booked to where it's spot on the card was negotiable. There is no negotiating this one off the main event spot. It just feels much better.

You are the biggest mark in this forum. Shut up.


No is the correct answer to the thread question.

Well we won't know until it happens. I didn't think Rock and Hogan was a big deal until it was happening live.

Its gonna suck

yes. hulk hogan was a huge star in a small business and nobody could touch him at the time. so he got the exposure and had some small success outside wrestling. the rock became a huge wrestling star at the highest peak in wrestling history and the rock is a bigger star than hogan ever was or will be inside and outside the ring. wrestling is bigger now than in hogans (original) day, more people know john cena than know hulk hogan now ie Rock/Cena > Rock/Hogan

if cena and hogan were in a ring together this monday night i think we all know the crowd would be cheering cena. wrestling WAS hogan but right now the order goes 1. Rock 2. Cena 3. Austin 4. Hogan

Austin 3 and Cena 2?

What.

Austin>Hogan>Rock

Austin>Rock>Hogan

There is no fourth. At least not with the WWF/WWE. And that's assuming we're going to leave those little holes in history and forget about guys like Bret/Michaels etc. Is that a top dog list? Is it a popularity list? Either way.

You could debate that order in any way possible, but Cena should not be anywhere on it. Over time, it looks like Rock is creeping out over Austin, which is fine, but it's hair splitting close with them. It is almost impossible to judge until the both die, but Rock was a lot younger and less beat up when they started, he is going to last longer.

I almost agree. Probably not for the same reasons, as I can take a shitty match if there's enough psychology behind it. But I don't think as many people wanna see Cena beat The Rock as vice versa, and I don't think it would make sense for Rock to beat Cena unless Cena were either being deflated/put down or Rock was actually coming back.

I don't even think The Rock coming back would make any sense either. People would throw things into the ring if he jobbed to many of the guys on the roster now, and if he were booked too strong he would kill all of them. Which I guess isn't any different than what they're doing to a lot of them now, but still.

How long would The Rock last? Not long. Because it isn't all on Rock, it'd be on the talent as well. I think there are six viable opponents for The Rock.

Cena, Miz, Punk, Orton, ADR, Edge. HHH and Taker, but the latter two we've seen more than enough, and it would be the same sort of situation with a hyped ass match and not many appearances/in ring things going on and it would serve zero purpose. At least Cena and Rock can be booked as a "dream match" even though its similarities to Rock/Hogan are few.

I suppose that could all be argued, the point being, the roster isn't what it used to be.

I'm pretty sure nobody's saying it won't be a big match. And yes, we will all watch it. But nobody is being "Anti Cena". I watched the Rock/Hogan match a couple of nights ago and it was magical. Even my house mate who doesn't like wrestling watched the whole thing and was blown away.

There is just no way Cena and Rock can duplicate what Rock and Hogan had. Not because we are "Anti Cena", it's just a fact.

Since the IWC has a soft spot for the Rock/Hogan match (and rightfully so), I doubt the thought of Cena/Rock being 'bigger' will be given a chance.

It'll likely be a 'better' match psysically, since both guys can actually move, but I think to determine if it will be 'bigger' really comes down to the state of pro entertaining next year. I won't dismiss the possibly though.

Cena sux. Hogan roolz.

I don't think it will be bigger but I probably have a bias regarding that. I grew up watching Hogan and then got into The Rock so for me it was perfect. I feel like Hogan is a bigger established name than Cena. I don't really know many people who know who Cena is(even kids at times) but everyone sure knows who The Rock and Hogan are.
It could be bigger..there is a year of build up to get it there but I don't think it will be at this point.

I feel this is one of the best rosters in a while. The mid card is pretty solid. I like the main event scene and I like most of the divas. We get some pretty quality matches almost every week. TNA hasn't produced anything great other than the Knockouts division for months. I like that Sting is World Champion, but I hate Bully Ray and Matt Hardy being the top guys all of a sudden. The Angle/Jarrett feud is good, but I liked their 2008 feud better when it was MEM vs. TNA before they added Samoa Joe, Traci Brooks, and Sharmell.

Easily Rock and Hogan. The build for that match certainly wasn't a year though. It was the night after No Way Out going into Wrestlemania, but it did include the famous scene of Hogan running a semi truck into the Rock's ambulance (nWo had struck him with a hammer in the ring).

They have a year to make this match look ridiculously huge. With that said, no, it wont be. Hulk Hogan is wrestling to most people. Rock was one of the biggest stars of the Attitude Era, and in WWE history during a huge boom period. Everyone and their grandma knows at least what those two do/did. The fans were clamoring for it. The guy who put wrestling on the map, vs the future. Now, Rock is ridiculously famous after becoming an actor, on top of his wrestling past. Cena, though the face of the company, most people outside of wrestling dont even know who the hell he is. So yeah, itll be big, but it wont touch Rock/Hogan.

Rock/Hogan easily. Right place right time.

popularity list and right now today. not including hbk cos hes finished. austin is included cos he's returned many times. the order is because when austin comes out these days the pop is nowhere near what the rock got and cena kinda edges him now too. hulk hogan is finally irrelevant for the first time in 30 years

No, not a chance. You had the arguably the two biggest stars of the two biggest boom periods.

Hogan was the main star of the first boom and, with the NWO, was at the center of the 90s boom period. He was relevant for two generations. Rock was in his prime.

Rock now is much farther removed than Hogan was at that point, and Cena is nowhere near either of them nor is the state of the wrestletainment industry.

Cena is bigger than Hogan now. Rock is bigger than both. Hogan couldn't wrestle at WM18, Cena can wrestle a bit. It will be much bigger. Already the storyline and build is better (minus that gay ending on Raw last week)

Cena/Rock would obviously be better in the ring, but not in terms of hype....

Your both wrong. The list goes...

Macho Man > Anyone

Dig It?

Rock/Hogan by a mile

quiet down now nazi

Cena is not bigger than Hogan

Did you hear the pop that The Rock said when he said "Why don't you main event one more WrestleMania....with the Rock!" It was massive....massive pop and the Atlanta crowd booed when Rock challenged Cena. Maybe it was because they were just jealous cause they had just saw a bad WrestleMania.

I think with Rock/Hogan it is an example of less is more. They only had from No Way Out to WrestleMania to make the match and to promote it. It was a dream match of the fans of the attitude era/80s wrestling. The Rock and Cena is a dream match for the fans of this era.

It's a Dream match of a younger audience. Hogan/Rock was a dream match for the real fans.

this is a silly question. wrestling was multiple times more popular back then than it is now.

additionally, hogan was a megastar in the 1980's. on a worldwide basis, much more popular and recognized than cena could ever hope to be.

hogan/rock wins no comparison.

Damn...for once I agree with HBPunk.

even though cena is better than hogan, nothing can top rock vs hogan, except austin challenges hogan

Hogan > Cena

Rock/Hogan wasn't even booked well enough to lock itself as the main event on the card. We may have disagreed with it not being the main event but people weren't exactly like "Holy shit, what!?!?"

Booking-wise, this has already locked itself in as the last match on the card. The hype already has been better. The feud is more well done than Rock-Hogan was which ended up just being a typical feud of the era. You've got arguably the two greatest wrestlers of all time. A storyline that writes itself... and you start doing silly "running a semi into a bus containing The Rock" gimmicky stuff? It turned it into a typical wrestling bad blood feud as opposed to the icon vs. icon match that it actually was. The whole feud was pointless. No one cared about Hogan and the nWo almost murdering the Rock with a semi-truck. lol

So, with that rant being over, again, Rock-Cena has been done BEAUTIFULLY. Feud is hotter, match will liekly be better, I'm willing to bet the crowd will be just as hot as it was for Rock-Hogan especially with it being in Rock's hometown, anticipation will be higher, there's more at stake (Cena is the future, Rock was gone two years later for Hollywood), there's unpredictability (Everyone knew Rock was gonna win. While it seems like Cena should win, it being in Rock's hometown, Cena winning would end WM on a horrible, pissed off crowd.)

So, yeah. Everything says Rock-Cena is bigger than Rock-Hogan.

I think it's hard to tell right now. The match is set, and none of us know what type of crowd this is going to draw, and what type of atmosphere it will create. The crowd in Toronto is what made Hogan/Rock.

Now, with that said, let's not try and downplay the epic encounter that this is. People have clamored for Rock/Cena for years. Both are the faces of their generation of the industry, and unlike Hogan and Austin before him, Rock never hung on too long or oversaturated himself in the buisness. He is fresh. He is current. And his return meant something.

You have fas who will show up who grew up with the Rock, and remained fans during the current Cena era. Those fans include many of us here. Then you have the young fans of today's era, yes, including kids, but also inlcuding fans who are in their preteen adolescent years back when Mania 21 was Cena's arrival, and, 7 years later, are fans of his because that was their first real hero.

This is, to me, going to be the Rock/Hogan of this generation. You had the 80s icon who epitomized the golden era going against the biggest homegrown star of the Attitude era. Now, we have the latter going against the biggest homegrown star since the end of the Attitude era. Add to that, you have an in his prime Cena going against the Rock, who hasn't had a match in what may be 8 years, in great shape, and with no injuries.

Rock knows how to work an exciting match that gets the crowd going, despite not being a "strong" technical worker. Cena has shown that, with the right worker, he can be a strong presence as well. Will it be bigger than Hogan/Rock? With the high regard that match is held in, it'd be unfair to even compare them. But it will be this generation's version. I have faith.

the audience was so swelled back during the rock/hogan match, the audience who was loyal to WCW came over to WWF and casual fans jumped all over this match. A year build gives them 11 months to get people who havent paid attention to the product for a long time interested in this match. However if I turned off the WWF in 02 cam back in 11 to see john cena all over my tv i wouldnt stay long

I don't think you can objectively say you wouldn't stay long, because you have no idea how the product would appear to you after a 9 year lay off.

I do agree that having a year to build this could possibly work in their favor. The fact that they can promote the Rock on a Mania card is going to sell tickets on its own.

And like what was said earlier, the Hogan/Rock build wasn't all that great, but rather the match that put it over as the epic encounter that it is. Depending on how they book Cena, this could end up being a hot build and result in a hot match.

i think you canobjectively say that if you stopped watching in 02 and came back now you would say the product has gone downhill in almost every key area except maybe pyro and production values. and when things are down the leader gets the blame, that leader is cena

Cena is not Hogan let alone The Rock. Cena maybe the biggest star in WWE for the past 6/7 Years but Hogan was the biggest name in wrestling for nearly 20 years.

You can't objectively say anything. All you're doing is speculating about how you may or may not feel about the product after a 9 year lay off. Who's to say you wouldn't tune in be drawn in byt the newer guys who have taken the reigns?

Punk, Orton, Cena, Miz, Barrett, Morrison, Sheamus, Mysterio, Batista and a few others were not around in 2002. All of those guys have main evented at some point or another in the past year, with Bats and Cena being the faces of the company from 2005 on.

If anything, WWE is going uphill. If you don't think so, you're either being bias or ignoring facts. They are a publically traded company. That's an upgrade. They have a big money toy deal, move a shit ton of merchandise, sell out stadiums yearly for a PPV that people buy for the name of it alone, and have stars, unlike Rock and Austin, who project to be in the company for many years to come on top of the length of time they've been there already.

WWE is not going downhill. At all.

I think the crowd was more rabid back then, and the generational gap between Rock and Hogan felt much larger.
It was more surreal back then because of how much things had changed from Hulkamania to the Attitude Era.
It seemed like something we'd never see, and that gave it that legitimate dream match feel.

Now, things haven't really changed as much. WWE has just refined their production quality, but the eras and the model for what a superstar is aren't nearly as different.
Rock and Cena is exciting, and it's grown to be a huge match for fans, but I don't think it's close to the same thing.

That's a fan perspective though. The atmosphere of the crowd and the generational changes don't change the fact that this match will still do huge business, and possibly even bigger business.
WWE is promoted much differently now, and even if the crowd isn't as directly into this match, it could still do bigger numbers. Either way it's going to mean a lot for this current audience and era, and that's really all that should matter.