Has The Rock tarnished his legacy by coming back?

It was actually Rocky's return that got me back into watching wrestling again, so much so that I booked the Monday off work so I could stay up and enjoy WrestleMania 27. I didn't enjoy it by the way! Awful but that's another matter..

Perhaps I - like countless others - expected too much form the Great One? Has his return been a thorough success? I suppose from the office's point of view it has been but the fans? Opinion seems to be divided. His schtick during the attitude era seldom grew tired, in my view anyway. Does it come across as tired now? Possibly. Does it come across as uncomfortably forced now? It looks that way to me but what do I know!

Looking past his promo work what's been his best in-ring performance since his return? I'd say Survivor Series 2011. The fans hollered "you still got it" and got it he did, that night. His two matches with Cena were 3 stars at best and after watching the WM29 affair I'd say the 28 encounter just about shaded the two. Both were sloppy, in my opinion.

Maybe his (alleged) personal differences with Cena made it nigh on impossible to make a silk purse out of both bouts? Who knows. If you was to put together a DVD documenting Rock's greatest feuds would his work with Cena make the cut and/or Punk? Where they that memorable that they should?

I like Dwayne Johnson and I loved the Rock during the attitude era and admire him for coming back and trying to electrify the people once more but he's a parody of his old self. There are those that take him for what he is and I appreciate that. The right guy at the wrong time perhaps? His future within the WWE appears to be up in the air. Will anybody be prescribed sleeping pills should he not return?

Cheers guys.

I was going to put this in a reply to has the rock tarnished his legacy by coming back thread but I thought I have wrote such a good piece for someone like me on a forum that it deserved its own thread so here are my thoughts on "the jabroni beating pie eating trail blazing eyebrow raising heart stopping locked cocked peoples champ the rock"

he has returned and done the same things as usual like finally the rock has come back to (insert city name here) but also he has started things that are childish just to get over with the crowd. fruity pebbles etc. I preferred the old days of "the punkass sucka and the silverspoon mother****er" I just think that in todays p.g environment he cant be as on the edge as the attitude era which has in turn made him less exciting to watch as he spouts off some made up name for the wwe "universe" to chant and says the same stuff everyweek.

he also has movies to star in which is his first love so he cant do all the moves he did in the ring when he was younger yes hes older now but I still think he is young enough to show far more in the ring more regularly than he has done due to film commitments if he didn't have a film to make then im sure we would have seen him in the ring a lot more.

also the popularity he now has has made him have a huuuuuge massive sexual chocolate lovin' ego where he demands in the words of the primetime players "millions of dollars millions of dollars millions of dollars" from vince for performing what 4 times a year? (rumble,elimination chamber,wrestlemania,extreme rules)

I feel if he had any kind of real love for this business he would agree to do a lot more than that for the money he is on regardless of his film schedule. so no hes not as good as his last run........in fact I would dare to say he is a completely different person. thoughts?

I think if The Rock's character now was not preceded but his character of the Attitude Era then people would say how good he is. He has been the best face the company has had when hes been on the screen, affable, honourable and fun without being childish and pandering to the young market.

Austin would not be anywhere near as good if he returned, I wouldnt be surprised if the limits on what he could say is a reason he doesnt feel like coming back for one big match. Its circumstance of time. I think The Rock put over Cena in defeat and Punk in victory with how he played the matches. He still delivers his moves well but he probably suffers from having more muscle mass nowadays. I also think Punk took a real dip in form between Rumble to Mania so that didnt help.

Chris, what did you you make of the Rock/Cena feud as a whole? Do you think it would have been better served if Cena had gone over Rock at WM28?

I guess that if people liked Cena then that story would have gone down a treat. One mistake costs Cena in the biggest match of his career, but he gains redemption and the WWE title in one swoop. Two year story that made a lot of sense. The problem wasn't Rock not losing at WM28, it was Cena beating Lesnar and being the main event for the majority of ppvs during the supposed slump.

I dont think he has. Obviously he has had to water it down a lot from the Attitude Era and that his the only thing that is hampering him as all people will ever do will compare it to then "he isnt as good as he was 98-02" etc.

Spin it a different way. Forget all about when he was in WWE previously and just focus on the now. He is still one of the best talkers in the ring. Second probably only to CM Punk. His promos had intensity as well as comedy. Ok some of it was a bit cringeworth but there was still plenty of times where I laughed out loud.

If I was given the option to go back in time and fix it so he didnt return, I wouldnt...

I think he has tarnished his lagacy, for me apart from his initial return when he was announced as the host of wrestlemania, was the only time i felt yess, he still has it, that moment electrified me from my head to my toes, buttt, since then i think we didnt get to see the real rock, but got dwayne johnson instead.

Agreed we are much older so dont see things in the same light as we did back then but, he he could have done much better than, tell lame stories, talk about fruity pebbles and boots to asses. His in ring work wasnt as good, fair enough his older and alot more rustier. For me his work in the 90s is unquestionable but what his done in the past couple of years has left abit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Completely agree that we've got Dwayne Johnson rather than The Rock. Its like we're getting 80-20 split with Dwayne over the Rock. The lame stories of buying a pick up truck off a druggy and things like that doesn't do anything. I liked it when he got real serious with Cena twice but apart from that the charisma has gone and I simply believe its just down to him not loving the business anymore. He's moved on, gone onto have a fairly successful acting career and he's having a blast. Wrestling is just merely something on the side unfortunately.

The Lance Armstrong line was gold

I think he still loves the business, he wouldn't have come back otherwise.

Everything has changed, he's part time so he can't run everyone down on the mic like he used to (as he can't lose continually to make up for it), can't say half the things he did as its pg etc

Enjoyed him since his comeback, his return in 11 is probably the best moment in wrestling in the last 5 years.

Ent wrote:I think he still loves the business, he wouldn't have come back otherwise.

$$$

xviperx wrote:

Ent wrote:I think he still loves the business, he wouldn't have come back otherwise.

$$$

Don't think so, making more money than ever from movies - why not come back earlier if it was for the cash?

Ent wrote:

xviperx wrote:

Ent wrote:I think he still loves the business, he wouldn't have come back otherwise.

$$$

Don't think so, making more money than ever from movies - why not come back earlier if it was for the cash?

He also had GI Joe to advertise as well, he clearly didn't really care about the WWE...all the times he wasn't on Raw but instead was at some press thing...not wearing the belt.

I wouldn't say the rock has tarnished his legacy but he certainly hasn't enhanced it, when people talk about the rock or the wwe in years to come they won't be harking back to the cena rock fued that engulfed two years. I haven't been that impressed with him either in the ring or on the mic, his highlight for me was the promo via satellite before wm 27 where he brought in the mini John cena "it's because your just not that talented John" and the rock concert before the rumble "no biatch you look horrible tonight" two mediocre highs right there speaks volumes. The cena factor hasn't helped the fued, it's hard to get anything of quality out of him weather that's in or out of the ring and the constant heal turn speculation left most of us feeling underwhelmed.

In short the rock will always be regarded as an all time great but this run has done very little to cement that. If I was to pick a hash tag to define the rocks return it would be #underwhelmed

I do find it quite funny that everywhere else he's referred to as "The Rock" and this is almost seen as something he should be embarrassed about. But in wrestling, it's referring to him as Dwayne that they try and get at him with.

xviperx wrote:

Ent wrote:

xviperx wrote:

Ent wrote:I think he still loves the business, he wouldn't have come back otherwise.

$$$

Don't think so, making more money than ever from movies - why not come back earlier if it was for the cash?

He also had GI Joe to advertise as well, he clearly didn't really care about the WWE...all the times he wasn't on Raw but instead was at some press thing...not wearing the belt.

He carried the belt with him on the red carpet.

The Rock came back, got a couple years in the spotlight and put Cena over. I don't think you could ask for much more really.

The original gi joe grossed $300 million and Bruce Willis is in this one.

I doubt this was all a ploy to boost their coffers from wwe fans.

He mightn't be as dedicated as he once was but I'm pretty sure he is back to enjoy himself and give something back, sure he's getting paid well but wwe are making a fortune too.