Has The Rock Failed to Live Up to Expectations?

I don't know if I would say that he's necessarily "failed' to live up to expectations. The problem has been that the IWC, since the day The Rock left the WWE, have built Dwayne Johnson up over and over again as the be-all-and-end-all of professional wrestling, and now that he's back, the fans who didn't see The Rock ten years ago and who have been hearing about how fantastic The Rock is are now seeing that while he's a very entertaining performer, he's not THAT great.

There's nothing "wrong" with The Rock. Like you said, he's simply doing the exact same things that he did a decade ago. There's nothing wrong with that, because clearly he's fun to watch, but I don't think many people can honestly and with an unbiased evaluation look at The Rock and say that he's as good as John Cena when it comes to microphone work (preparing for the wave of TD's here...).

The Rock oozes that pure star power that not everyone has, but on the mic, Cena OWNED him. All The Rock did for a month was appear via satellite and talk about how he doesn't like Cena's t-shirts. Great. Cena went out each and every week and just tore Rocky apart, and "the great one" had no answer for him. If anything, I think that The Rock's return to the WWE has only proved just how good Cena is when it comes to pure charisma, star power and mic skills. He's gone head to head with the supposed "greatest mic worker ever" and completely and utterly dominated him.

When wrestlers leave the WWE, especially really big stars, we as fans have a tendency to really romanticize and glorify them. The Rock and Steve Austin have been vaulted into god-like status since leaving, and now that Cena has clearly proven that he's better than The Rock, people have started to doubt the people in the IWC who regularly parrot about how "Cena sux" and "The Rock is the greatest".

So I wouldn't say that The Rock has been a failure, I would just say that while he's still very entertaining, he's really shown that the stars of yesteryear who we seem to continually pine over aren't any better than the superstars of today. It's rare when we get to actually see that happen.

A little but some expactations. Everybody wanted to see a Rock vs Cena feud and it has finally happened but some people aren't satisfied. The thing he only failed at was the promos. His first promos was cool but I just disliked his random jokes like fruity pebbles and yabba dabba b*tch. Also to answer your first statement, it is called a catchphrase for a reason.

LMAO at Fear the Spear. He is a 100% moron. He made me laugh. He is an Attitude Era fan but he claims that Undertaker had the same Entrance for 20 years straight? LOL, He is either a professional moron (like you said) or just a person bandwagoning that era. If he was a real Attitude Era fan, he should have known about Undertaker's biker entrance.

Through this whole feud, John Cena has been one thing. Original. Think about how many catchphrases Cena uses in his promos, none. I must say, Cena has been doing a good job of following the PG guideline of promo's. He doesn't have to say *ss a thousand times to extract emotion out of the audience. Its fairly easy to come up with jokes and mesh them with catchphrases. It actually eases the burden of doing a full thought promo. You have something fall on, If the crowd loses their attention. You take away the TV14 aura from The Rock and replace it with PG. His promo's wouldn't be half as good as they were in the Attitude Era. Saying 'Sumb*tches' and 'Candy*ss' got him a lot of pops. Remove those, he loses his touch. Most of Cena's promos are free thought, with no catchphrases attached. Not to mention the guy has to work with PG rules, so his arsenal of words are very limited. Cena is a terrific promo'er, most of his haters know it, but can't force themselves to admit it.

We've seen how edgy he can be on the mic, and how much of a renegade he can be. People don't realize that The Rock got creative freedom to do whatever he wanted, with no holds barred in his era. His potential wasn't limited like Cena's is now. Since Rocks return, he hasn't talked about anything else but Cena, Cena's shirts, and Fruity Pebbles. And people complain about Cena's promo's being kid friendly. Don't get me wrong, it was great seeing The Rock for nostalgia sake. But I was expecting a little more from him.

Getting? The Rock's promos have been stale because of the fact the 2d time he tried to make yet another promo in the direction of John Cena. The Rock brings no longer something to the table anymore, and his die no longer straightforward followers fail to realize that. The Rock has consistently been corny, yet its have been given even worse provided that his return. you won't be ready to blame the PG era in this thinking they have not bleeped out the words "b**ch" and "a**" yet on an identical time as doing the stale promos he does. The promo with the hat imitating Cena became by potential of a approaches the greater serious out of each of those he did thinking it became so rattling uninteresting.

This is exactly why I didn't want Rock to come back. Every since he came back Ive looked around, been on forums and its the same thing over and over. Oh hes not as good as he was, hes not living up to expectations and as Clark loved to put Cena "Owned" him. Get outta here. Why cant we just enjoy whats being given?

You saying Oh he is using the same catchphrases he used years ago. Damn right he is, and why is that such a big deal. You want Rock to change a major part of his character and legacy just because you don't like it? No. If its not broke don't fix it. Its why Taker still use the same mannerisms today. Its why Cena still does his You Cant See Me stuff. His catchphrases are apart of him and even if they are old, He wouldn't be The Rock if he didn't go out there and be himself. (The Jokes he has been using against Cena aren't even old anyway. Its new material, like it or not)

I agree he isn't the best ever but that comes down to it being peoples opinions when they say that, Rock is great on the mic and will always go down as one of the best ever, but saying he is THE best will always come down to opinion.

Also, what proof do you have that says he is going off script? You must be going to that interview good ol Randy Orton gave. Its been a known fact That for Years Rock has been going of the cuff and hitting on key points on promos. and if true about Cena, he does this as well. Its not a matter of Oh Cena keeps it fresh so he better!1!! Chris Jericho, who knows Rock a hell of alot better than Orton, confirmed this.

And to all of you saying Oh all Rock did was appear via satellite for the coming weeks. You do know that was apart of the storyline as well right. Having Rock cut his promo via satellite was used to give Cena leverage towards his promo and that T-shirt, draw out the feud, and keep the in ring confrontation on hold until that last Raw till mania.

BTW Clark, no one is THAT great. Not even Cena. Its just hype from die hard fans, something that you should know about and something that shouldn't be taken seriously. You saying that Rock "owned" him or that he clearly proved he is better is typical fandom and you once trying to pass of your loving BIG love over Cena as fact. If you payed attention to everything, Rock did respond to Cena's initial comments on the promo he gave at his home. There was minimal catchphrases, he answered Cena's questions, and he was more serious. Dont know what your going on about Rock not being able to respond to him when he clearly has responded to Cena after Cenas every jab and vice versa. It was a good and even back and forth between both men. Each week they got the best of each other and that is how it was booked and played out. Open your eyes. Some people enjoyed Cena's comments on The Rock, , alot of people agreed with him and then there were some people that enjoyed The Rock talking trash ripping the Cena character. Because you know, that's The Rock and that is what his character is based upon. But saying that Rock isn't on Cena's level is pretty out there and Cena himself would tell you the same.

So all in all, I have been enjoying everything and not looking so far into things and worrying about whether or not Rock lived up to expectations. Both men are doing a great job, they both respect each other and Cena is finally living out his dream of being able to get involved with The Rock. After all, its something that he has been pushing for, for YEARS.

I agree that he hasn't lived up to expectations. People went crazy on here when he returned, flooding this section with questions about the PG Era ending because the Rock is back. Newsflash- The Rock sounds significantly more "PG" than John Cena. While John Cena raps about Brokeback Mountain and d*ck sucking, the Rock goes on and on about the color of Cena's shirts and Fruity Pebbles? Not saying John Cena's raps are amazing, he just sounds more "TV-14" if you catch my drift.

The fact is, he does say variations of the same thing every week. He said he'd never leave again, then went on to appear via satellite the next week. He hasn't been making strong arguments. Like I said before, the basis of his arguments are the color of John Cena's shirts. While I'm not denying he has charisma, his arguments SUCK. Plain and simple. Anyone who doesn't see this is stubborn.

No, he has not fail failed to live up to my expectations.. for the Rock to be himself he needs, to return wrestling full time.. Maybe he's a little rusty or has lost touch? if you know anything about Rock's past is that nobody beats him in the War or Words. Just give him another year in time for Wrestlemania 28..then you will truly see him shine, I just think Rock could have been testing Cena out to see if he's in same league as him. as in a test run..

but now he sees Cena is worthy opponect, he wants wants come back one more time. and by in time for next year, You will see the Best Mic Skills from the Great One.Nobody beats the Rock. he isn't going to let Cena beat him in Mic skills. sure Cena may have won this round but he didn't win the War..Rock will Go out on top

1) What is wrong with catchphrases? Lol. It is his thing, just like Stone Cold always kicks, Stunners, and drinks.

2) IMO, he is. Not because of the catchphrases, not because he is funny, none of that but it is because everytime he talks, he actually makes me believe what he is saying, he makes me believe he really hates the person he is talking to.

3) Actually, he has been coming up with some new things. Fruity Pebbles, Barnie's Turd, Power Ranger, BUT it isn't enough and he has pretty much been doing the same thing over and over, you are right.

4) Everyone ad libs.

Despite me pretty much defending him in this question, he has failed to live up to expectations. Why? Well, let me put it this way, watching The Rock is like watching a movie, it gets old after watching it too many times. :/

yes he did. Rock is overrated on the mic. Rock is still the best but overrated and Cena won the war of words! he failed to come back all humble like and give power to the young guys. he ended up burying Miz and taking time away from real matches with his repeated overrated promos.

NOTE:im not a cena fan or hater

A little bit, it is probably because it's been awhile. Even when he was using his catchphrases years ago, he still did different stuff and said more funnier things on the mic. I wont say he failed to live up to expectations. But it hasnt been the best of The Rock.