The Rock-backstage politics
 

How much backstage pull do you think The Rock had? Or if he never took advatage of his status, how much do you think he could have had over the likes of HBK, Hunter, Taker and Stone Cold?

The reason i ask is because you never hear stories about The Rock and politics. I'd imagine that Triple H couldnt pull any shit on The Rock back in his prime cause he was so valuable. Do you think it ever happend?

From what I've heard The Rock didn't tend to pull strings that often, he put over more guys than anyone else in the upper card around that time, heck he put over Christian once!

The Rock was always booked in such a way that even if he loses he's made to look credible after, as the WWE wanted to look after their investment as he was one of the top earners.

So in conclusion, no I don't think he did lots of politicing, but then again, I don't think he had to as they looked after him, one hand washes the other

You've got to be crazy though if you think people haven't tried to pull sh*t on the Rock.

Rock realised that if he is already over as a superstar, he can still work in a way that builds stars and doesn't bring him down doing so. Triple-H has yet to figure this out.

And he also put over The Hurricane. And it was his idea!

If Rock wanted to, he could come back and run the show.

I miss the Rock :(

Rock has put over so many wrestlers, which is such a testament to the greatness of his wrestling career.

He was one of the first people to put over Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho when they were starting out in the WWE.

He put over Brock Lesnar clean in the main event of Summerslam, handing Lesnar his first WWE Championship.

He jobbed to The Hurricane on RAW and had those awesome skits with him, which helped Hurricane's popularity immensely.

He was eliminated in a battle royal before Mania XIX by Booker T, giving Booker the World Title shot against Triple H, and making him look very strong.

He jobbed to RVD during the Invasion angle.


Rock is the man. I miss him.

Yeah, most people seem to forget all of that.

Dude, Rock was so good that he could make anyone look good in a match with him. His fued with Al Snow was actually believable and resulted in a PPV match.
And yes, he was the first to put over Benoit Jericho and Angle.

Rock was awesome. And from what I've heard he didn't do much backstage politics. He was really looked out for by Undertaker from what I understand. That is certainly a good oldie to have on your side, so I don't think he needed to all that often.

:( Da_Rock :(










:shifty:

He made Triple H. He made him both as a midcarder, and then as a main eventer.
He complimented Austin down the road. He made Foley look good. He made everyone from Al Snow to Billy Gunn look like main eventers (not that Billy Gunn isn't TOVO, just saying) He also put over just about every up and coming talent there was from 1999-2002.
He made everyone look good, and he never had to worry about not making himself look good. He was never a politician, or outspoken or out of his mind. And he never hung around past his time, if anything he left too soon. He was everything Hulk Hogan was to a program, minus the insanity and politics, and had the will to put talent over and show respect, as well as actually work a great match.

When Goldberg came in, they went for Rock to be the one to put him over. That says a lot. His work with Booker T and Jericho in 2001 was remarkable too.
And lets remember, it was Rocks mini fued with Kurt Angle in early 2000 that got Kurt over. Before that, he was literally hated and floundering. Rock turned him into a real heel.
Then once he was ready, Rock dropped the title to him.

Triple H and Kurt Angle are probably the top guys of their respective companies, and they owe everything to The Rock. Sure they have it, but it was Rock who brought them there. And what's great is The Rock would never say this. Its something they would say about current young talent, or that Hogan would say about talent. Rock knows he's great, and he actually is but he has the class to never take the credit. He's a class act. Even Bret Hart respected the shit out of him in their short time in WWF together.
Austins a class act too.

Not compared to The Rock

Especially after that whole Jeff Jarrett thing

could you refresh me on the jeff jarret thing?

He refused to work in a programme with him, let alone put him over. Which led to him leaving WWF.

I know he refused to put over Coach which I understand, but I think he should of at least done a feud with JJ, it's not like they were going to put him over

ah. Well the only thing I can think of is that maybe he just didn't like the guy

That shouldn't have anything to do with it, It's business, you don't like everyone you go to work with, but you still work with them.

You're all forgetting the time when he took the Nation from Farooq.

What were Austin's reasons for not wanting a program with JJ?

Probably because 'Jeff Jarrett can't draw a dime!!!!1!!1'

/politic/politic/politic

...

Anyway, I have no idea. Just a guess.

He didn't think that Jeff was at his level

To be perfectly fair, I believe that Jarrett actually jobbed to X-Pac and Howard Finkel in a hair-vs-hair match. So he might have had a point there.

Seriously though, was Austin's refusal a "no chance in hell" thing, or a "not the right time" thing?

Wasn't anything to do with that actually.

Yeah, wasn't it because Jarrett shot on him during Raw?

It actually dates back to Memphis, I think.

Austin was looking at his paycheck back then and Jarrett looked at him saying "It's not gonna grow by looking at it." The issue with that was, of course, that the promotion was run by Jerry Jarrett. Austin never really got over that.

That, and in reality, he's right. Jeff's run as WCW World Champion did that company TREMENDOUS business. :shifty:

Yeah, well it's good that Austin never worked with him then, Jarrett never should have been making fun of his ED like that.

In any case, The Rock super outweigh's Austin in the class department. In fact, it's pretty much for how much he's given back to wrestling that I rank him as the top superstar of all time (considering all categories, not just wrestling or technical skill).

Austin also refused to put Lesnar over, remember, and he's done some other things. He's not a egomaniac, but he's nowhere near The Rock's league in generousity.

Wasn't that around the time Austin was insanely worried over his neck and thought taking an F5 would finish him off?

Not that I have a problem with The Rock as far as this goes, but I really think some of you are giving him entirely too much credit, and the people he "made" nowhere near enough.

I hated the Rock.

I would give Mick Foley more credit for getting Triple H over than I would The Rock.

Not to say The Rock isn't the most selfless main eventer of all time. He's certainly up there.

As for Austin, he refused to work programs with Billy Gunn and Jeff Jarrett: I say "so what?". Austin had the business sense to realise that Gunn and Jarrett weren't main event draws (which has proven to be fact) nor did they work a style that would mesh well with Austin's. Plus, Austin was given that option. If WWE had told him flat out that they REALLY wanted him to do it, I have a feeling he may have gone along with it. He was consulted and told them he didn't feel it would work. And he was probably right.

In Austin's defence, prior to his walk-out, he had apparently requested a feud with Eddie Guerrero. He was making it his mission to put Guerrero over. How many main eventers can you think of that have ever specifically requested a program with a career mid-carder for the express purpose of giving said mid-carder a main event rub and a push? Very few, from my memory.

And for the record, Austin didn't flat out refuse to ever put Lesnar over. He just felt that WWE was throwing away a big match on free TV with no build-up, the sort of match that could eventually main event a Big Four PPV. He was willing to put over Lesnar, but as he stated, Stone Cold (as the WWE's biggest star in a decade) should have been the last person on the hitlist rather than the first. I don't agree with him walking out of the company, but I do agree with the reasons behind his frustration.

And as for the Rock and backstage politics, as I understand it, he wasn't one to initiate them, but could hold his own if need be. He had a lot of problems early on in his career with Shawn Michaels, and later turned around and refused to work a program with 'HBK'. Also, he and Triple H have a rather distrusting relationship with one another; not hatred, but at best intense professional rivalry and at worst distain and dislike for one another.

ya, Michaels tried to bury the Rock probably because Bret liked him and even want to job to him on Raw. Im not sure but i read somewhere that Bret trained the Rock..is that true?

I think Bret was involved somewhat in some of the training seminars/camps WWE used to run in the late 90s with Dory Funk Jr. Rock was part of one of these and therefore would have been trained a little by Bret.

I also think Shawn resented the fact that the very-green Rock was put over his buddy Triple H for the I-C title in early '97. That was probably something of an indirect punishment because Trips lost the belt on the same show that Shawn "lost his smile".

I read somewhere that Michaels tried to convince McMahon to take Rock out of the WrestleMania XV main event and push Triple H into that spot instead. This was when Trips was still a mid-card face after DX had cooled considerably due to injuries and absences.

Oh and he said that while driving away in his caddy while Austin was still scraping by on raw potatoes and tuna.