Wait the Rock is coming back?

Didnt see it but apparently he was a great host.

The way i read it, he just distanced himself from his history in the industry when pushing his current project (some TV show if memory serves me).

He is almost certain to come back as a guest host. He and the company have been working on doing "something special" for his turn as host.

There are initial negotiations to have him come back for one more "last run" doing a short feud with Cena which will lead to them having a Wrestlemania match next year. As far as im aware no more news has come out of that, but its a lot more likely now than it was last year when he said point blank it wouldnt happen (relating to the WM 2009).

It started as Cena joking about it in some interview, then Rock put him down a little with a backhanded compliment about how he is "at the top" and then the company started salivating at the possibility this might actually happen.

He has exceptionally good relations with the WWE still and unlike Stone Cold (for example) he has zero health issues limiting having another run as a wrestler. But he gets paid over 10 million a film and there is zero chance WWE can pay him anything resembling that so the timing and circumstances would have to be exceptionally good for him to come back even for a month or two given he has spent a lot of time distancing himself from that character, dropping the Rock nickname etc.

How fun it will be to see cena destroy the rock at wm i quite simply cannot wait.

not.

I thought Undertaker vs. Cena was much more likely for Wrestlemania? Undertakers piledriver on Cena a few weeks back should lead to something, and Cena vs. Undertaker certainly fits Wrestlemania.

Given they are both working under contract with WWE then yeah, of course its more likely.

But given the opportunity they would snap call Cena beating Rock rather than Cena losing to Taker.

Personally i dont see Taker vs Cena at WM even if they dont get the Rock due to various reasons, but time will tell. If were in charge id have booked like a year in advance to set up Jericho vs Undertaker for WM or their first ever 1 on 1 match (with Jericho going in as champion), but they are happy just giving away that match on a couple of Smackdowns so its clear we arent thinking the same way about booking priorities. Id still assume he is front runner to take on Taker right now, they just dont have the same momentum and history behind the match to build it.

The only way I can conceive Rock/Cena happening is both Rock and Cena build up as faces however Cena starts getting agitated that Rock gets much bigger pops than he does (he will) and Cena begins to show heel tendencies. Then Rock goes over Cena at WM and Cena snaps and murders him to fully turn heel. There is somewhere around 1% chance Rock agrees to come back for a couple of months just to job to someone he probably legitimately sees as beneath him at WM.

I would build it as Rock is doing a guest host spot, he and Cena do a promo where he rips on him for not being a REAL movie star, like him. He will imply just how big a fail 12 Rounds was and they will brawl in the ring after Cena does promo number 3 where he will do whatever it takes to be a hero to the little kids etc or whatever.

Rock will play it face to begin with but he, the expert he is, will heel turn in record time.

As for your last sentence, i tend to agree. This isnt close to a lock but if he comes back the company cant have the golden boy from last decade beat the golden boy from this decade given Cena will also be the golden boy of most of next decade too since he is a ****e actor and wont get the breaks to move into Hollywood.

Maybe the Rock will beat him at the PPV before it then they "settle it" at WM. I dunno. Dwayne is well aware of how the industry works but he is also aware that when Mayweather can get paid a couple million for that abomination of a match with Show he can get paid the same amount AND not be hated as a complete douche doing so.

The rumor of Undertaker quitting has been going on for a few years now, but is getting more and more likely. Letting him quit without a last match against the biggest guy in WWE right now seems unlikely to me, and I don't see them letting a retiring Undertaker beat their golden boy, no matter how popular Undertaker is or how precious his WM-streak is.

These days it seems like WWE expects their fan-base to have very short memory, so I doubt they think too much about whatever history Jericho has had with Taker. From Rumble to WM there is probably enough time for them to build up a decent feud between Cena and Taker.

Of course they would love to have The Rock on WM, but considering how reluctant he has been to make appearances for WWE lately (they cant induct his dad to the HOF again) I don't see him committing to even a very short run.

WM is the biggest show, and Taker and Cena might be the two biggest names in WWE, so it seems fitting to have a match between them at WM before Taker leaves for good.

Of course if Taker is not retiring next year I don't see him lose to Cena at WM.

Undertaker will never lose at Wrestlemania. He will retire as undefeated because its a HUGE money spinning opportunity in DVD sales and other merch.

Edit, plus its a huge reward for him being at the top of the game and beyond loyal for 2 decades, never coming close to leaving to go to WCW unlike a lot of his generation etc.

I can see his last ever match being at WM against Cena, be it this year coming, next or maybe the year after (though its getting close) but they wont pull the trigger on him losing.

Isn't John Cena's merchandise-value a lot higher than that of Undertaker, especially after Undertaker has retired? I guess a 18-0 DVD-set could be pretty popular, but I really don't see how one loss at WM can be that significant considering he has had a hugely successful 20-year run in the company. His reputation shouldn't suffer much at all, and putting over a younger guy in your final match is hardly something people hold against a top wrestler.

Taker probably has the ability to decide whether he wants to lose or not. But for someone who seems to be so respectful towards the wrestling-business and loyal to the company; I don't know how much he values an unbeaten streak at WM compared to following the old custom of putting over younger talent on the way out.

And for WWE it does not make much sense to "declare" that their current top star is weaker than the guy who just retired.

Taker has said before he would be open to putting over a young star to propel him to the top.

This guy is not Cena, who is already at the top.

I mean its mostly my opinion, but ive read before that Vince doesnt want to break the streak. It would give a small boost to Cena, it would give a bigger boost to a guy like Morrison or Punk, but they can go over clean at a PPV outside of WM easily but this decision would have such huge implications that sometimes the easy and safe way is the best way imo.

You also have to figure in fan backlash. Do the viewing audience want to accept Cena going over. **** no. People still chant "you screwed Bret" at Shawn and whilst its not the same as the screwjob i can see it being accepted the same way by a huge chunk of fans. It doesnt serve well to break the streak to put over a guy who will be disliked for breaking the streak, and i dont mean heel/face disliked, i mean truly disliked.

Guess I'll pipe into this thread. I just spent the time reading 26 pages so I might as well voice my opinion :P.

I mostly watched WWE during the attitude era, and have only recently tried to get back into it because my brother and sister are getting to the age where they are getting into it, so I thought I'd catch up (watching a lot of the old PPVs i'd missed, reading synopsis' on wikipedia, etc).

Before I continue I'll admit something that will hopefully help not get flamed as badly:

I haven't followed wrestling in the last few years and don't follow the indy circuit.

The reason I admit that is that as of yet I have a hard time accepting some people as main eventers that are getting a LOT of praise in this thread. I think this mostly stems from trying to pick up where i left off though. For now I'd still much rather see UT, HHH, HBK, Orton, Jericho, Kane (lol, accidental Southland Tales reference), and any of the guys from the era when I watched than any of these younger stars. Though I have no doubt I'll grow into them.

I do have kindve a question for all of the wrestling superfans in this thread though. Why is there absolutely no love for any of the big wrestlers except occasionally UT i guess. I understand that as far as actual training goes, they have inferior movesets, and they don't move as well as the smaller guys who are better athletes, but this isn't a sport like MMA or something, where you always want to see the guys who are "technically" the best wrestlers.

For instance, in a competitive (read: non-fixed) sport, the amazing alure to me is seeing the best guys in the business and finding out who is better. Fights like BJ Penn vs GSP in the UFC sell because no one knows who is really the better fighter, and its intense to see. But in the WWE it doesn't matter who's technically superior, its about being able to create interesting storylines and vibes, which I'm sure you guys all know. Obviously we all know that just because The Big Show whoops all over Christian, it doesn't mean that The Big Show is the technically superior wrestler, he isn't.

That being said, I would be bored to death and die at card after card of only technically superior wrestlers. They are great to watch, but I need some diversity. Some guys are too bad to be enjoyable (Khali is a glowing example), but I enjoy a Kane match (another something I'll bring up later, as im a huge Kane mark) a lot, and the character of Kane is great. Its like Luchadors, I love watching a luchador here and there, but I wouldn't enjoy a card full of spinflips and triple reversals, I need some variety in fighting styles, and the technically less-superior power wrestlers, along with the more cold and calculating guys, can do a lot to mix it up, not to mention gimmicks. Anybody else here interested in and believing a storyline with a guy who looks like Jeff Hardy but with Kane's personality? You gotta have a big guy for that personality, and its a great one imo.

I have beef with how a few wrestlers have been handled in the last few years by the look of it. Just a couple off the top of my head:

John Cena: FFS I hate this guy beyond belief, as does everyone. Not interesting, and i hate watching a PPV with what should be a good match just knowing he's winning or getting cheated period.

The HHH vs HBK vs Cena triple threat was a great example of this for me. As soon as I saw that that was the title match, there was no chance in my mind Cena wasn't winning. You can't put 2 guys who are supposed to be a team in there and have one of them walk off with the title. One of them has to screw the other either accidently or on purpose and the underdog wins. Or at least that was my initial reaction that turned out to be true. That match (in my opinion), absolutely shouldve ended with HBK super kicking HHH, HHH falls on Cena and wins. There you set up a couple angles ("You didn't beat me HHH, you just fell on the right place at the right time"). (I shouldv'e won that match and everyone knows it, I knocked HHH out cold") etc etc, and its not as predictable (Cena rant off)

Kane: Admittedly I love Kane, but they really shouldve, at least once or twice, used him properly. I notice people mention in this thread something about Kane, but it seems like they hold it against HIM instead of against the company. That is the fact that they book Kane as an absolute monster, he destroys the RR every year, has ******edly dominant victories over decent guys here and there (Chavo, WM?), but they never give him the WHW or WWE title ever.

I think with how many years he has been there, they couldv'e and shouldv'e found at least one time in the past to give him a 6 month stint of dominating everyone, with some vicious backstage attacks and generally devilish promos and antics. I have no idea why this has never happened once. Put him in the Elimination Chamber one of these years, and no one would give him a chance to win it. I say let him take it down and give him at least 1 title reign for his hard work, he's put a lot of guys over in the last 10 years.

Shelton Benjamin: This guy needs a better push. Of all these semi-recent wrestlers that everyone is loving on in this thread, this is the only guy that immidietly won me over after only watching like 10 of all the new guys matches. His athleticism is nuts and I'd really like to see them do something big with him (+ the kick heard round the world was one of my biggest WTF moments from the recentish years i caught up on)


All of the really old wrestlers in every promotion: I can't explain how tired i am of seeing Ric flair and Hulk Hogan fight. Please stop putting these guys and ppl like them on cards. Guys like HHH and HBK aren't over the hill yet and are still entertaining to watch in my eyes, but that has a lot to do with the fact that to me, they still look like guys I wouldn't want to mess with.

Every time Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan fight i just get a vision of some guy with 6 months MMA training beating the living hell out of them in a real fight. Now thats probably true of a lot of WWE guys, but they don't SEEM that way. First instinct before logic sets in, you tell me GSP is gonna fight Undertaker and im thinking GSP is a dead man, because UT still looks that damn threatening, guys like Flair and Hogan don't, they look flabby and old, get em out.

I will give the WWE due credit however for their handling of 1 superstar:

Edge: He's deserved it. He's a great wrestler, phenominal on the mic, and I'm interested in pretty much everything he's doing all the time. Really glad to see him become a big-time main eventer. My #1 biggest WTF moment that made me smile big time was "HES HERE, HES HERE" YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME. Also one of the biggest pops ive heard in forever, and I live for those huge pop moments (A chill goes through my body whenever I watch the clip of The Rock coming back to help eugene, the second his music plays)


All that being said, I'm interested to see if this new crop of guys can catch my interest in the future the way The Rock/SCSA/HBK/HHH and the attitude era guys did in their time. Im not sold on the whole Morrison, MVP, CM Punk, Miz generation yet, but I think in time I probably will be. Lagtard out.

not sold on cm punk =

that said, more power to you lag.

LagTard,

Good work on the post, I actually agreed with alot of what you said, especially with regards to Edge, Benjamin, and not wanting to see the ancient dudes like Flair/Hogan/Piper actually wrestling (I have no problem with them being at shows and talking on the mic, but seeing them actually wrestle is tough for me)

With regards to Kane, I don't think they ever should have un-masked him, one of the dumbest decisions they've made with a popular character IMO

Kane hasnt been booked as dominant for a long time, to the point it just doesnt make sense for him to hold a title higher than, err, none i guess.

He had a feud against Rey which lasted like 3 months and he didnt get a single win over him in that time.

I like Kane and think he can work higher than he does, he is certainly one of the better examples of a big wrestler (along with Taker, who always gets huge props) but he just hasnt been the same wrestler since he was demasked. They could have remasked him during that Rey story as the set up was perfect for how they built that up to do so, but chose not too. One mask, one six month period beating on some midcard talent and a couple key victories over main event guys and he could have a title run. I mean he worked none stop for like 5 years straight since that movie he was in came out, until they forced him to take a holiday over the summer to go off to India (iirc) to promote the company.

He is such a reliable worker and his matches whilst not groundbreaking are always solid. But even when he gets big wins (he beat Punk after Punk won the MITB at WM) its easily forgotten.

I also agree there is a place in any promotion for a solid big guy who can move. Big Show is basically a tank who bulldozes through wrestlers and cant do anything like what Taker, Kane, Matt Morgan and Hernandez (to name two from both of the big companies) can pull off which is why i personally dont rate him highly at all. I mean can you imagine Show ever taking that spot Taker took at WM where he dove out the ring and hit the cameraman. And that is a guy who was working the match broken down with so much pain its unreal. But just because a few big guys can work great doesnt mean guys like Khali deserve a job, too many big guys have come and gone in the WWE in the time that Taker entered the company and remained at the top for virtually all of his career.

It frustrates me that you need to be some hot-shot Hollywood writer for soap operas or daytime TV OR know someone/be a celeb like Freddie Prinze Jr. to get a writing job on the creative team. I'd love to do something like that and would snap-up any sort of internship job that could lead to a position like that. I realize they don't want marks/smarks writing most likely but still, pretty sure I can do better than a freakin Championship showdown with Q&A

I'm pretty sure Mayweather getting paid 2 million or whatever was a work.

I totally agree with you on the great khali, but i think big show is a little bit higher tier than that. Big show is no Kane or Undertaker for sure, but I have hard time grouping him with Khali. That being said, I'd much rather see the slightly more athletic big guys than the totally unathletic ones, but they dont have to be morrison or hardy-esque to make them worth time is all I'm saying, which ppl seem to generally agree with

I think WWE limits Big Show in terms of his arsenal as well. Granted he was much younger in WCW, but he did a few moves off the top rope and took more risks as well. The knockout punch is stupid but he is awesome when they allow him to be completely dominant.

The work was he got 20 million.

The reality is he probably still got 1 or 2.

Yeah, the potential fan backlash is the one thing that makes me think that the WWE won't let Cena beat Taker at WM. But the fans that are likely to backlash against this is probably not the main demographic the WWE are targeting these days, so I am not sure how much it will worry WWE. Lots of Taker-fans will be cool with him putting the top guy over, and the males 16-24 that are too cool to like a goofy white rapper that is popular with the kids will hate Cena as long as he is a face anyway.

There are few potential match ups that makes more sense than Cena-Taker at WM, and letting the top guy lose to a retiring wrestler makes zero sense. If they let Taker beat Cena at WM they may let the feud go on further, with Cena coming out on top in the end, meaning they can keep Takers streak intact as well as letting Cena come off as the strongest in the end.

Isn't this mostly Kane's own choice? From my understanding he prefer to be a upper midcard jobber, and doesn't want a big title. He's excellent at what he is doing, and while he undoubtedly could be pushed a lot harder, it seems like he is happy not being the center of attention. And he is the one that does not want to wear the mask from what I have heard.

I don't think there are any big guys/top carders in the WWE that does not have a pretty strict limitation on what moves they get to use.

In 2008 John Cena sold more merchandise than anyone since Stone Cold, and more than Hogan ever did. I am pretty sure that means that not everybody hates that guy beyond belief. He is actually a pretty good wrestler when they let him, he is good at getting new guys over, he is extremely reliable for the WWE, and huge with the kids.

Miz says 'What?'