Best Wrestler Alive Tourney 2nd Round --- The Rock vs. Stone Cold

[2CT]

due to the COVID-19 pandemic we'll be doing the rest of round 2 in reverse order starting with Rock vs. Austin

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Cast your vote for the best wrestler alive using the following metrics

Ring work (10)
Mic work/promos (10)​

Personality/gimmicks (10)​

Overall rating (10)
Number of matches you like from each person​

The poll closes after 7 days and if there's a tie the poll extends for an additional 24 hours

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The Rock

Championships and accomplishments

Pro Wrestling Illustrated
PWI Match of the Year (1999) vs. Mankind in an "I Quit" match at Royal Rumble
PWI Match of the Year (2002) vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8
PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1999, 2000)
PWI Wrestler of the Year (2000)
PWI ranked him #2 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2000
PWI ranked him #76 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003

United States Wrestling Association
USWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Bart Sawyer

World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment
WCW/World Championship (2 times)
WWF/E Championship (8 times)
WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
WWF Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Mankind (3), The Undertaker (1), and Chris Jericho (1)
Royal Rumble (2000)
Slammy Award for New Sensation (1997)
Slammy Award for Game Changer of the Year (2011 )
Slammy award for Guess Who's Back or Return of the Year (2011 )
Slammy Awards for LOL! Moment of the Year (2012 )
Sixth Triple Crown Champion

Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Best Box Office Draw (2000)
Best Gimmick (1999)
Best on Interviews (1999, 2000)
Most Charismatic (1999–2002)
Most Improved (1998)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)

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Stone Cold

Championships and accomplishments

Cauliflower Alley Club
Iron Mike Mazurki Award (2012)

National Wrestling Alliance
NWA World Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Brian Pillman

Pro Wrestling Illustrated
PWI Rookie of the Year (1990)

Texas Wrestling Federation
TWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Rod Price

World Championship Wrestling
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion (2 times)
WCW World Television Champion (2 times)
WCW World Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Brian Pillman

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
WWF Champion (6 times)
WWF Intercontinental Champion (2 times)
WWF Tag Team Champion (4 times) - with Shawn Michaels (1), Dude Love (1), The Undertaker (1), and Triple H (1)
King of the Ring (1996)
Royal Rumble (1997, 1998, 2001)
WWE Hall Of Fame (Class of 2009)

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[Ill-Yaz]

Spoiler

 

[VegetasHairline]

 

[Ill-Yaz]

I voted for Austin

Hes the reason why the tide turned in favor of WWE during the Monday Night Wars

And from what I remember, when Austin was out in late 99 and Rock was placed in the role of the main baby face, WCW was already a sinking ship at that point and you could never see them winning again

Austin was the difference maker and played a more important role than the Rock

 

[Devilinurear]

Well played

 

[Riley Escobar]

Without Austin there’d be no Rock, so gotta go with Austin , but goddamn, this shyt should be a final four match at minimum, not second round

I guess the key factor is that (barring live improvs/crowd interaction and putting people over) everything the Rock could do, Austin could do just as well or better

No doubt Rock transcended the business, but at one stage Austin WAS the business

 

[Hostile]

Austin. Rock's career was too short and I never liked him as a wrestler.

 

[Starboy52]

The Rock.

I'm not typing up a long ass dissertation. He's The Rock. He's literally the first name that is tied to my earliest memories of wrestling standom and is at the top of my GOAT Wrestler list off sheer entertainment value alone.

 

[NoMorePie]

Always preferred stone cold towards the rock

Maybe it's because I've always disliked my bosses

 

[Francis White]

Stone Cold all day.

 

[Playaz Eyez]

 

[Jmare007]

Ring work (10)

Austin gets an 8.5. Dude was really fukking good up 97' and his neck injury. Then he had to adapt and started doing more brawling which was fine but didn't create a lot of high end stuff. Then 01' came and dude had one of the GOAT performance years in company history.

Rock is so hard to judge imo, he had the very special quality of making his shyt fun to watch. His connection with the crowd and his ability to know what the fukk to do to get them to peak at the right moments is very underrated. I'd give him an 8 but again, hard to judge.


Mic work/promos (10)

Both 10. I lean a little bit more towards Stone Cold's style. After 01' his shtick did grow kinda old. It's wasn't until Tough Enough that dude made me go and realize he still had it. Rock was a pure entertainer, breh made famous a bunch of catchphrases that no one else could have gotten to even make the crowd chant for 2 seconds.


Personality/gimmicks (10)
Both 10. Come on now, legendary shyt all around. Rock gets the slight nod here as the little changes he did to his personality over the years were still unique. Corporate Rock, NOD Rock, People's Champ and Hollywood Rock are all A+.

Overall rating (10)

Overall I'd take Steve but I'll be honest, if Rock wasn't such a megastar and had the appeal to go to Hollywood I'm very curious as to how a 2003 to 2008 run would've looked. I think we would've no question gotten a "workrate run" from him like Austin's in 2001. And without the nostalgia and "movie star" baggage that clouded his 2011 to 2013 return, I really wonder how his wrestling mind would've evolved as he grew older.


Number of matches you like from each person

Too lazy to count but as entertained as I've been by Rock's matches, Austin has the more high end stuff. From WCW to 01', he just has more classics, memorable stuff in terms of matches.

Stone GOAT gets my vote but there's no wrong answer here

 

[luckyse7enz]

I mean...

 

[Metal Face]

The Rock.

 

[Tres Leches]

Picture me voting for the biggest piece of trailer park trash , na I’m going with rocky