Greatness has a couple limits...

[Berniewood Hogan]

Rock's good, but he has two major drawbacks, brother.

First, he's not the kind of guy who could have a great match with any opponent, dude.

His size limited his mobility and his lack of experience outside Vince's system means he never learned how to do things any other way. Did he ever go to the top rope, Mean Gene? Did he have any aerial/lucha offense at all? Did he ever have a good-to-great match with a guy using that style? No.

Matter of fact, even his hardcore matches relied completely on his opponents taking all the damage to make Rock look good. Did Mick get any unprotected chairshots in on Dwayne, brother? How many tables were cracked under the weight of Rock's heavy Samoan manboobs before they were surgically removed?

Has the Rock ever had a great match that didn't have the "well, for a WWE-style match" caveat, brother?

Second, Rock's legendary promo work can't be called timeless for the simple fact that Dwayne turned heel in real life on the audience that applauded that work. As a major Hollywood superstar, Mr. Johnson is a close friend and great supporter of the LGBTQ community and feminists, dude.

All of his mic work back in the day relied heavily on homophobia and misogyny for cheap pops. 2016 Dwayne would call for a boycott of 1998 Rock.


That said, he's certainly a pretty good worker, brother.

 

[Gangstar8]

Lol Rock was a great wrestler

And his stone cold promo 3 wrestlemania was

 

[Spyro]

Rock was a brilliant in ring worker. His matches actually had pacing, selling, story-telling, facial expressions, timing among other things. Better than the big spot/near fall spam-fest/indie flippy shyt we have today.

 

[R=G]

He's also a genius in the ring because he didn't have to take 11 chairshots to the head to try to stay "hardcore"

 

[Riley Escobar]

He's also a genius in the ring because he didn't have to take 11 chairshots to the head to try to stay "hardcore"

Geniuses tend to know the difference between "hit me in the back" and "hit me in the head"

 

[Osmosis]

Rock is probably the closest thing to a flawless wrestler.

 

[Riley Escobar]

Rock is probably the closest thing to a flawless wrestler.

Under what criteria? He was a solid 8/10 in most things but then again so were lots of other dudes

 

[Psychosis]

Did he have any aerial/lucha offense at all? Did he ever have a good-to-great match with a guy using that style?

Ehhh. I get what your saying but there's so much more to the game.

He's also a genius in the ring because he didn't have to take 11 chairshots to the head to try to stay "hardcore"

This is it.

 

[James Dean]

lol at this post.

he's not the kind of guy who could have a great match with any opponent, dude. Don't think anyone is that good.

Did he ever go to the top rope, Mean Gene? Yes, during his early days as Rocky Maivia. And some times after. As recent as his matches with Cena.

Did he have any aerial/lucha offense at all? Does this really need to define someone's ring greatness? Its a different style. Big deal.

Did he ever have a good-to-great match with a guy using that style? Matches with Eddie and Jericho say hi. Pretty sure there are others

Matter of fact, even his hardcore matches relied completely on his opponents taking all the damage to make Rock look good. This might be true in terms of his match with Foley but the story of that match was to make Rock look good. Im pretty sure every single hardcore/ladder/brutal etc match he was in did not follow this formula.

Second, Rock's legendary promo work can't be called timeless for the simple fact that Dwayne turned heel in real life on the audience that applauded that work. All of his mic work back in the day relied heavily on homophobia and misogyny for cheap pops. 2016 Dwayne would call for a boycott of 1998 Rock. lol have you even been listening to the man's promos from 2011-now. He still had been following that route. Promos with Cena, Bashing Lana and Vickie. Pretty sure a bunch of internet nerds were writing long ass articles about how misogynistic Rock was and how the 90s content Rock still puts out needs to stay in the 90s. And then you go on and say his promos are not timeless. Pure comedy. Strip away the misogyny and homophobic material and he still has a good range of other type promos. For example, some of his underrated work was his serious promos. His promo before Mania 2000. His promo before Mania 19 with Austin. His sit down with Austin and JR before Mania 17. The night after Mania 17 with Vince. He had some serious promos with Cena and Punk in 2013. List goes on. Lets smarten up here.

 

[R=G]

lol at this post.

he's not the kind of guy who could have a great match with any opponent, dude. Don't think anyone is that good.

Did he ever go to the top rope, Mean Gene? Yes, during his early days as Rocky Maivia. And some times after. As recent as his matches with Cena.

Did he have any aerial/lucha offense at all? Does this really need to define someone's ring greatness? Its a different style. Big deal.

Did he ever have a good-to-great match with a guy using that style? Matches with Eddie and Jericho say hi. Pretty sure there are others

Matter of fact, even his hardcore matches relied completely on his opponents taking all the damage to make Rock look good. This might be true in terms of his match with Foley but the story of that match was to make Rock look good. Im pretty sure every single hardcore/ladder/brutal etc match he was in did not follow this formula.

Second, Rock's legendary promo work can't be called timeless for the simple fact that Dwayne turned heel in real life on the audience that applauded that work. All of his mic work back in the day relied heavily on homophobia and misogyny for cheap pops. 2016 Dwayne would call for a boycott of 1998 Rock. lol have you even been listening to the man's promos from 2011-now. He still had been following that route. Promos with Cena, Bashing Lana and Vickie. Pretty sure a bunch of internet nerds were writing long ass articles about how misogynistic Rock was and how the 90s content Rock still puts out needs to stay in the 90s. And then you go on and say his promos are not timeless. Pure comedy. Strip away the misogyny and homophobic material and he still has a good range of other type promos. For example, some of his underrated work was his serious promos. His promo before Mania 2000. His promo before Mania 19 with Austin. His sit down with Austin and JR before Mania 17. The night after Mania 17 with Vince. He had some serious promos with Cena and Punk in 2013. List goes on. Lets smarten up here.

his promo about not caring if Austin was dead or alive after he tossed him off the bridge and Jim Ross going psycho

 

[TransJenner]

He's not bad but he isn't the best

 

[mrken12]

He's not bad but he isn't the best

Yes he is. Off the charts charisma, willing to put people over, multiple World Title runs, major success inside and outside of the WWE, entertaining feuds and promos, good matches, one of the top draws in all of wrestling, and the list goes on. He's in the all time great category without question.

 

[Riley Escobar]

Yes he is. Off the charts charisma, willing to put people over, multiple World Title runs, major success inside and outside of the WWE, entertaining feuds and promos, good matches, one of the top draws in all of wrestling, and the list goes on. He's in the all time great category without question.

I don't think anyone would argue with any of that.

Along with Jericho he's probably the most unselfish top guy in the history of the business.

 

[Tommy Fits]

He's basically Cena in the ring, both won't hurt the match but they can't carry a lesser wrest. Put them in the ring with a great worker and they'll do their part to make sure it's a great match

 

[TransJenner]

Yes he is. Off the charts charisma, willing to put people over, multiple World Title runs, major success inside and outside of the WWE, entertaining feuds and promos, good matches, one of the top draws in all of wrestling, and the list goes on. He's in the all time great category without question.

I'm talking about from a wrestling perceptive lol