King Of The Attitude Era: The Rock Or Stone Cold?

Just reading crips post in the Mania Disappointments thread had me wanting to create a thread to start debate about who was the bigger WWE star during the Attitude Era. I have a feeling the majority will say Steve Austin but I want people to put accross their views. Why was he the man? What did he do better than The Rock. You can argue Rocky was better on the mic and they were both great in the ring so why is it that Stone Cold was considered better? Is there anyone who disagrees and thinks The Rock was a bigger star?

As much as this seems like sitting on the fence, I always though that they were the two stars of that era. In my mind anyway they were always on a level par going from my memory of watching it as a child / early teen. But reading through other peoples opinions it seems Stone Cold Steve Austin really was the man.

Discuss...

I always preferred Austin to the rock. I think it was to do with the fact that it seemed it was always Austin vs the world whereas with the rock I felt he got it handed to him.

I would like to point out that I was in my early teens during the attitude era and didn't know anything about the politics behind the screen etc.

I can also think of loads more OMG moments for Austin than I can for the rock.

Personally it was the rock for me! He was genuinely electric! Played a heel and face perfectly! I was probably 10ish -12ishwhen I was watching the attitude era and as a black kid was cool to see this guy who was bigger than life at times at the top of his game.

But I do agree that rock and austin where a level above everyone else, probably why they fought each other 3 times at mania becoz they brought the best out in each other

At the time I lost interest in Austin around late 98 early 99, he was every bit as Superman like as Cena, theyjust do things differently but the pay-off was the same, anyway I preferred The Rock at the time, looking back at it retrospectively though I feel Austin was always the bigger star, I felt that way at the time even though I didn't like him as much but with the benefit of hindsight I actually do prefer him now.

I re-found wrasslin in mid-1999 and wasn't overly impressed with either of them, to be perfectly honest.

Sure they had great moments but as I wasn't there at the start I never had the affiliation with them that others had, and their in-ring work certainly didn't set them apart from Foley and a hungry HHH.

I preferred the Rock, found him to be more entertaining than Stone Cold. Little things like commentating on his matches gave him an edge to Stone Cold.

Also I preferred Austin's in-ring style as 'Stunning' Steve Austin in WCW to 'Stone Cold' as I felt the 'Stone cold' moniker meant he had to wrestle a more smash mouth brawler style.

I think the broken neck Owen gave him had a lot to do with his choice of in ring style to be fair

Nakatomi Plaza wrote:I preferred the Rock, found him to be more entertaining than Stone Cold. Little things like commentating on his matches gave him an edge to Stone Cold.

Also I preferred Austin's in-ring style as 'Stunning' Steve Austin in WCW to 'Stone Cold' as I felt the 'Stone cold' moniker meant he had to wrestle a more smash mouth brawler style.

While that's probably true, its worth noting that Austin's neck injury, did limit him in what he could do

I have to go for Stone Cold because while Rock obviously got bigger in the end, Stone Cold was the definition of Attitude, as a kid you really felt anything would happen and he would say anything.

I think it some ways it was a shame they both came along around the same time, as both were good enough to build the company around as top babyface.

The reason I said that Austin was the bigger star of the attitude era is because I think he's far more responsible for the upturn in business that the WWF experienced. It was his push as the top babyface in 97/98 that led to the WWF overcoming WCW in the Monday night war, it was his feud with McMahon that set business on fire, his t-shirt that became the iconic symbol of the era, and it was him standing tall at the end of most PPVs.

The Rock was a phenomenal performer, but he didn't change the landscape of the industry the way Austin did. Maybe he would have done so anyway, but we'll never know. With Austin, there is tangible proof that revolving the promotion around him as its top star led to a huge boom period; with Rock, all we know is that he was a major part of keeping that boom period going.

The rock was always a personal favourite of mine however Austin as mentioned above changed the landscape of wrestling and I don't think there will ever be a wrestler that will have that kind of impact on the industry again.

Can I throw a left field consideration into the mix and say that the Mr McMahon character was also just as important as stone cold in that era and without that foly to play off, Austin and ultimately wwe would not have been as successful!

That gives me an idea for another thread!

It's Austin for me all day, he's the reason why I probably still watch WWE today. I've never heard louder crowd reactions to anyone else. While The Rock can often split peoples opinions, Austin was THE man and was loved throughout his run.

And he did it all with a career threatening injury.

Has to be austin for me, his promos were great, his in ring style, his walk, he was the sole reason i got into wrestling at that time. although the rock was good id hold austin a little higher, id have the rock on par with hhh at that time they were great but austin was that much better. his mic work is severly under rated, and the way he used to strare at someone you just knew someone was about to get layed out. and id even say he was probably more electrifying than the rock, i remember jumping out of my seat in excitement everytime i heard the glass shatter, way more times than the rock. austin had more classic matches aswel, hart, hbk, hhh. i think the rock came into his own after 2000, during attitude though, for me its the rattlesnake all the way.

someone compared austin to cena but id disagree and say it was the rock that was more cena like, childish promos, overcoming the odds more than austin, also for me the rock at times oversold too much.

Mr McMahon was a massive part of the success of the Austin character. He was the antagonist who took it up a notch. I would agree that he was arguably more important to the success of the attitude era than The Rock.

I've added a poll up for it, hope the OP doesn't mind!

How dare you trample all over my wonderful thread with your filthy polls!!! I feel so violated right now...

But I still voted Stone Cold...

someone compared austin to cena but id disagree and say it was the rock that was more cena like

That woulda been me, I think you misinterpreted what I said, I did compare them but not on performance, they had very different attitudes and ways of doing things but Austin was a superman, he would often overcome all the odds, he'd stunner 3/4/5 members of the corperation in the blink of an eye and even when he was out numbered could always find a way to succeed, that's Cena's character, its just Cena is so toned down, I do think Cena as a performer though is a watered down version of Rock

Kay Fabe wrote:

someone compared austin to cena but id disagree and say it was the rock that was more cena like

That woulda been me, I think you misinterpreted what I said, I did compare them but not on performance, they had very different attitudes and ways of doing things but Austin was a superman, he would often overcome all the odds, he'd stunner 3/4/5 members of the corperation in the blink of an eye and even when he was out numbered could always find a way to succeed, that's Cena's character, its just Cena is so toned down, I do think Cena as a performer though is a watered down version of Rock

Sorry i did misinterpret what you said, and even though i do see your point now, i still think there is a difference between austin clearing out people and cena overcoming the odds. The characters of the 2 are different, austins character was a bad ass, ass kicker, a straight up brawler, where as with cena it isnt the case. If i could use an analogy id say stone cold was like rambo. rambo was capable of defeating an army by himself because he knew how to, that was his field, austin could clean house because he knew how to, his character was that of a badboy. Cena is more like superman, can take a beating and out of nowhere can come out on top.

On the post, i think the austin and rock debate is similar to one in boxing off, floyd mayweather juniour or manny pacqiou, both the greatest fighters of this generation, and in their primes its hard to pick a winner, it jus depends on what you look for in a fighter, wrestler.

At the time I'd have to go with Austin, I grew up watching the attitude era; it was before I had any idea about politics or what goes on behind the scenes in wrestling.

He was the guy turned up every monday night and against all the odds would still be standing tall at the end of raw, when that glass shattered it was great you just knew(with the help of JR on commentary); "that business was about to pick up". Every week/month(ppv) McMahon would try everything in his power to get the wwf title from him it was 1 of, if not the biggest fueds in wrestling McMahon Vs Austin.

I never really appreciated what the rock did until after he left wwe, Yes he was a great face and an even better heel but during that period he was never the biggest heel or the biggest face mainly due to McMahon being the biggest heel and Austin being the biggest face of the company.

I'm a big Rock fan, I did enjoy his performances both in the ring and on the microphone but Austin came in no nonsense kicked ass, drank beer and raised hell and left.