Wrestlemania: The Rock

The Rock (from WWE)

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart on Twitter

While Kevin is doing a Mania’s Memories series, I thought I’d supplement it with looking at the Wrestlemania careers of the wrestlers competing in high profile matches.

Rocky Miavia vs. The Sultan

The Rock made his Wrestlemania debut at Wrestlemania 13 defending the Intercontinental title against The Sultan. A still green Rocky Miavia vs. a lame gimmicked Rikishi is about as thrilling of a match as you’d expect. Rocky was being pushed as the blue chipper third generation star and the fans were starting to turn on him. There were a couple “Die Rocky Die” signs in the crowd. The match was essentially a backdrop for the post-match shenanigans of Rocky Johnson making a surprise appearance to help his son fight off Bob Backlund and the Iron Sheik who were in the Sultan’s corner.

After a transformative summer that saw Rocky join the Nation of Domination and become The Rock, Wrestlemania 14 saw The Rock defending the IC title again. This time his opponent was Ken Shamrock. If memory serves right, the Rock/Shamrock feud was like the Kofi Kingston/Dolph Ziggler feud in that it seemed to last for almost a year. Shamrock won the match making Rock tap out to an ankle lock, but then Shamrock wouldn’t release the hold so the referee reversed the decision. Pretty disappointing finish for a Wrestlemania match especially since it meant their feud would continue.

Austin vs. Rock (WWE)

Continuing his streak of defending titles at Wrestlemania, Wrestlemania 15 marked the first meeting of the two biggest stars of the Attitude Era as Rock defended the WWF World Title against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. While Wrestlemania 15 came along when the Attitude Era was really starting to take off, I think the show is the epitome of Russo-rific booking. That’s a rant for another time. Austin and Rock had a heated battle and once the smoke was clear, Austin stood tall with the title while Rock was counting the lights.

With Steve Austin on the shelf due to injury, Wrestlemania 2000 saw each member of the McMahon family pick a wrestler to back in a Fatal 4-Way match for the WWF Title. Stephanie McMahon was with WWF Champion Triple H. Linda McMahon brought Mick Foley out of retirement so he could try to have his Wrestlemania moment. Shane McMahon was certain The Big Show would be victorious in the match. Vince McMahon sided with The Rock hoping to get a measure of revenge against Triple H for beating Vince at Armageddon the previous December. During the match Vince turned on The Rock hitting Rock with a steel chair leading to Triple H retaining his title.

Wrestlemania 17 is highly regarded as one of the, if not the, best Wrestlemania ever. The show happened a week after WCW was bought by Shane McMahon and, in my opinion, signaled the end of the Attitude Era. If this was the end of an era then it made sense to see Steve Austin and The Rock battle it out for the WWF title once again. The outcome was the same as their previous Wrestlemania battle when Steve Austin turned heel in one of the most nonsensical heel turns not booked by Vince Russo.

Rock vs. Hogan (WWE)

While this year’s match against John Cena is being billed as the biggest match in Wrestlemania history, I tend to think The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 18 is the biggest match to ever take place at Wrestlemania. No offense to Cena, but he hasn’t had the mainstream appeal of Hulk or Rock. I don’t think anyone expected the crowd in Toronto to be as firmly behind the Hulkster as they were once the match started. I doubt we’ll ever see another match with this much crowd intensity. That night the torch was passed and Rock ended his Wrestlemania losing streak as well as his streak of appearing in title matches.

If you want to debate the idea of Wrestlemania 17 being the end of the Attitude Era, it would be hard to say Wrestlemania 19 didn’t nail one of the last nails in the Attitude coffin. Due to injuries, Steve Austin was facing an early retirement from the ring. At the same time Dwayne Johnson’s budding acting career was taking off so the writing was on the wall that The Rock’s wrestling days were coming to an end as well. There was no title on the line this time. The Rock and “Stone Cold” went out there, did their thing to the delight of the crowd. Third time was the charm as The Rock finally got the victory over his nemesis.

The Rock made his last wrestling appearance at Wrestlemania 20 reforming the Rock and Sock connection with Mick Foley to battle Evolution members Randy Orton, Ric Flair and Batista. Even though Rock and Sock ended up on the losing end of the battle, the match was a fitting end for what was thought to be Rock’s (and too a lesser extent Mick Foley’s) last match. Going out on an anniversary show of the grandest stage of all passing the torch to the next generation.

Gearing up for 28 (WWE)

The Rock has a .500 average at Wrestlemania with 4 wins and 4 losses. Will that average improve or decrease in four weeks when The Rock returns to Wrestlemania to battle Mr. Fruity Pebbles lady parts Kung Pow Bitch, John Cena? Kevin and I will be there to witness history in the making. It’ll be interesting to see if it’s possible to blow the roof off an open-air stadium.

What are your thoughts on WrestlemaniaWrestlemania moment? Share your thoughts on the My123Cents Facebook page.

Series of Surviving: 1996

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart on Twitter

As the 2011 edition of WWE’s Thanksgiving tradition, the Survivor Series, approaches I felt it would make sense to look at the previous Pay Per Views. Originally I was going to do a review of all the previous Survivor Series but I didn’t know if I could watch all the shows in time to do reviews. Plus, I decided to do the Chikara High Noon promotion and there was no way I could have done two blogs a day. So I decided since I only had five days to write about Survivor Series I should pick 5 years that had some significance.  As I started to thinking about what shows I would write about I realized the first three shows I thought of were a year or two apart. That realization lead to picking out a 5 (technically it’s going to be 6) year span that I think are probably the most historically relevant in the history of the Survivor Series.

Since this year’s show sees the Rock returning to the ring after a seven and a half year hiatus, I thought it was only fitting to start this series in 1996 with the show where Rocky Miavia made his debut. The show had three main matches besides the traditional Survivor Series matches, Undertaker vs. Mankind, Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels vs. Sid for the World Title.

Undertaker or Batman?

RANDOM THOUGHTS

If you think Michael Cole is annoying, go back and watch this show. The announcer team was Jim Ross during his heel phase, Jerry Lawler as the prototype to what Michael Cole is now and Vince “what a maneuver” McMahon. Not a good three-man booth.

Doug Furnas/Phil LaFon came into the WWF at the wrong time. Other than the New Rockers and Owen Hart there really wasn’t anyone else who could keep up with them. Their lack of over the top personality was also a hindrance. Was surprised to see Doug Furnas be the sole survivor of the opening match.

Undertaker’s winged leather suit was an interesting look. Wonder how Mick Foley’s WWF career would have gone had he not feuded with Undertaker as his first major feud.

Forgot The Stalker wrestled on this show. His awesome mustache should have won the match. Watching Stalker and Goldust fight each other while not using their real names is slightly odd.

I miss the pissed off Stone Cold character.

Lenny, the ECW fan that looks like Rob Zombie is in the audience next to the entranceway. Wonder what that guy is doing now.

The New York crowd turning on Shawn Michaels is always entertaining.

Why hasn’t TNA brought in Sid yet?

Rocky vs. Goldust (from WWE )

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

This was the debut of the blue chipper, Rocky Miavia. Rocky, while a rookie, showed glimpses of natural athletic ability.  Since he was the sole survivor and with the way Vince McMahon and Sunny put him over on commentary, you could tell there were big plans in place for The Rock from the beginning. Rocky was on a team with “Wildman” Marc Mero, Stalker, and Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Mark Henry was originally supposed to be on the team but a leg injury took him out of action so Jake was a surprise replacement. They battled a team captained by Hunter Hearst Helmsley and featuring, Goldust, Jerry Lawler and Crush. While the big feud in the match was Mero and Hunter who were feuding over the I-C title, the focus of the match was Rocky.

The sole survivor

It would take a little under two years for Rocky to really transition into The Rock and convince the fans he really is the most electrifying person in sports entertainment. Though judging by his first six months in the WWF, I doubt many would predict the eventual outcome of young Rocky’s career. Much like Steve Austin, Rocky wouldn’t win the fans over until he had the chance to showcase his verbal skills and create a unique persona.

Austin vs. Hart

In addition to Rocky’s debut, the 1996 Survivor Series also marked the return to the WWF of Bret Hart who hadn’t wrestled since losing the World Title to Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12 earlier in the year. Bret battled Steve Austin in a well-executed technical match.  I really wonder how Steve Austin’s career would have played out had he not suffered the neck injury at SummerSlam ’97.  Austin went from a talented mat based wrestler to WWF style brawler. Not that there is anything wrong with that.  This feud will continue until Wrestlemania 13 where they had a match that many consider to be the match that turned stone cold steve austin into STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN. 

Hey yo! Is that Kane? 

In another highlight of this show was the return of Razor Ramon and Diesel. The two Superstars teamed with Farrooq and Vader to do battle with Savio Vega, Yokozuna, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and Flash Funk. Flash, aka 2 Cold Scorpio, had wrestled the night before in ECW coming up on the losing end of a Loser Leaves ECW match which was convenient for his WWF debut. I still don’t know if Vince really thought the fake Razor and Diesel idea was good or if it was just a ploy to gain some legal ground in WWF’s lawsuit against WCW. If I remember my dirt sheet gossip, the non-reaction to the Fakes proved WCW having Hall and Nash use similar mannerisms to the Razor and Diesel characters hurt WWF trademarks, or something like that. WWF winning the lawsuit is what would eventually lead to them being able to buy WCW for pennies on the dollar.

After re-watching this show if you take out the commentary it’s a pretty solid Survivor Series. There’s nothing horrible and the Bret/Austin match is just as good as their Wrestlemania match. Coming up tomorrow, a show I would like to wipe off the record books.

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