The last great heel in professional wrestling was The Rock…version Hollywood. Nobody did it like The Rock in 2003 and nobody has come close to doing it since. The run in 2003 that Dwayne Johnson had as The Rock is something I will always note as one of the greatest and underrated heel runs in the history of the business. The longevity wasn’t there (which is likely why this run is often overlooked), but he drew huge money in such a short time period. Not too mention, he made wrestling fun again.
The Rock – The People’s Champ DVD.
In my opinion, it wasn’t until this run that The Rock became an undeniable WWE Hall of Famer. Once The Rock turned babyface after his run in the corporation, he cut catchy promos and had a lot of exciting moments but he became stale towards the end of that run. The phrases started getting too gimmicky and the People’s Elbow routine was old. It took a lot of guts but The Rock did something that even arguably the greatest WWE superstar of this generation, Stone Cold Steve Austin couldn’t pull off. The Rock reinvented himself overnight going from the hearts of pro wrestling fans to becoming the most hated man in the business.
[adinserter block=”1″]The Rock’s promos during this heel run were golden and on par with Roddy Piper, Don Muraco, and Ric Flair. I watched a few of these great Rock promos back on the 15 Year Monday Night Raw DVD and I was just as glued to my television as I was seven years ago. There was something creative about the promos that got to the fans. It wasn’t like today where the WWE heels come out, cut robotic promos, and talk about how they don’t care about the fans. The Rock went to the jugular and mocked all of the fans in such a way that you laughed but at the same time wanted to see him get his ass kicked.
That was the ticket right and the formula for a successful heel worked. 20,000 fans paid to come see Jimmy Snuka try and kill Roddy Piper over twenty-five years ago on a nightly basis. The fans tuned in 2003 tuned into WWE Raw every Monday night to see someone shut The Rock up and kick his ass. The second The Rock walked through the curtain the fans not only stood on their feet, but they yelled and screamed at the top of their lungs in disapproval at their former hero.
The Rock-concerts were pure genius and often overlooked for their greatness. The Rock went out there and cut these musical numbers with a guitar and some great promos. The Rock had a blast with them and just as he would get the fans back with his quick wit, he would slice them up and take their adoration away. It was more like a beautiful symphony of fan reaction going up and down for ten minutes. There wasn’t a person in the building didn’t want to see this guy get creamed at WrestleMania.
The body movements were critical as well. The way The Rock would walk out of the curtain and just stare at the fans. The Rock would keep his sunglasses on and just laugh at the fans. The Rock would move slowly into the ring and during the matches he would jaw-jack back and forth and set up the babyface for an improbable comeback. There is more to being a great worker than a great promo and a cool move and The Rock will go down as one of the “great ones.”
Critics point to scripted interviews as a big problem with today’s wrestling but it is more than that. The Rock likely read some scripts but he took ownership of the promo, something rarely done today. The pace, the words, the inflection, the atmosphere, the diction, by the time it was over The Rock did his job with his promos which was make the fans want to watch him get beat.
[adinserter block=”2″]The entire run was to set up WrestleMania XIX with The Rock vs. Steve Austin. “Stone Cold” was the perfect opponent for the match as this would be the third of their WrestleMania trilogy. The chemistry between them was always good, but the love for Austin and the hate for Rock created the kind of passion that only comes along a few times in the lifetime of a professional wrestling fan. 54,097 fans attended this extravaganza generating more than $2.76 million at the gate. The buyrate was a huge disappointment, yet the increased price for the show made up for what could have been a huge financial bomb.
Unfortunately the shine came off the gold quite a bit with The Rock’s following feud with Bill Goldberg. The goldmine for the WWE turned into a disappointment at the box office in terms of revenue. Their first match drew a disappointing buyrate at WWE Backlash, which is incredible at that time for a show featuring one of the last dream matches. In retrospect, the booking of the feud was terrible and The Rock probably got more out of Goldberg than he should have.
Pro wrestling misses The Rock from 2003 and so do its fans. Not since The Rock has any heel been able to tap into the passion of the fans like The Rock. There isn’t anyone I can see in wrestling today who is going to take the world by storm like The Rock. John Cena, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Edge, Chris Jericho are all great talents but could never pull off the reinvention like The Rock did. Shawn Michaels came close with his SummerSlam build-up against Hulk Hogan several years ago, but it was one and done for the Heartbreak Kid.
Who would have guessed that the day The Rock went to Hollywood he took the last great heel with him? The WWE gave us a taste of what we are missing with the WWE Raw retrospective DVD set. Unfortunately it looks like it will be many years before the fans want to see the next great heel get beat. The Rock says, “Know your role and bring back the great heel!”
WWE: The Best of RAW 15th Anniversary
The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment DVD.
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“but The Rock did something that even arguably the greatest WWE superstar of this generation, Stone Cold Steve Austin couldn’t pull off. The Rock reinvented himself overnight going from the hearts of pro wrestling fans to becoming the most hated man in the business.”
And what you just said right there should let you and everyone know that SC was not the greatest. He couldn’t reinvent himself and pull it off. That’s why the Rock is THE GREAT ONE and the GREATEST one in wwe history. He reinvented himself like at least 3 times. Rocky Maivia, to the very serious, funny, but cool Rock Heel, to a very serious and funny but cool face, to a funny Hollywood Heel, to what we now have just a babyface..
At least, that’s how I see it.
triple h could never electrify the people like the rock did.. other heels hbk, rick flair, ravishing rick rude and bad news brown but never come close to rock concerts, classics!
Watching and remembering these videos I cannot disagree with the author that the Rock was last great heel in professional wrestling … maybe Batista was some great heel, but the Rock will always be the best!
Triple H was the better "pure" heel. The Rock definately played his part, no doubt about that but even as a heel people loved to hear him because everyone laughed. Triple H following his breaking away from DX was a monster. People loathed him and he literally ran the WWF/WWE from that point for several years. His presence rather then his lines drew the heat as sparty said. It was much more visceral.
boom. Rock didn't create the heat in the squared circle, it was happenstance and then built off of. nobody has been a better heel than HHH in the last 15 years. until he turned face and reformed DX, he was mercilessly booed by fans. his long promos talking about beating everyone are perfect, and he doesn't have to resort to insulting the fans to get cheap heat. that is what the Rock needed to do.
I do however think you sell Triple H a little short. I know you're not a fan of his but I thought he made a great heel as the leader of Evolution. Especially the way they built him up as being unbeatable. Even as Evolution dissolved I still felt he could draw good heat. His series with Batista was classic. I also loved the 2006 Royal Rumble where it seemed like every other entrant had some kind of beef with him.
I remember that heel turn fondly. To me, it seemed like it happened by chance more than by design. I remember watching Rock do a promo from a movie set (The Rundown I think) and the crowd starting to turn on him a little for being more about the movies than wrestling. I think that was the genesis for the heel turn. It seemed like creative saw the fan reaction and went with it. I always felt that it was very organic and natural how he turned. Not like today when guys turn for no apparent reason. But I don't think most fans loved it that much. Like you said, the buy rates for WrestleMania and Backlash were terrible. But what was the constant in both those matches, The Rock. I have always felt that WWE fans in general don't appreciate a great heel that much. But Hollywood Rock cetainly was one of my favorites.
Wow, the thing I miss the most from that first video, aside from The Rock, is heel Jerry Lawler. Why did evil King ever go away? He made bad guy segments so fun. So much better than Michael Cole's weird face/heel flip flopping now.