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11. The Rock
Score: 211
# of Lists: 15
First Place Votes: 2, junk_funk, Rock

Writeup: scarletspeed7
The Rock may very well be the greatest sports entertainer of all time. Of course, that wasn't always the case for the People's Champion. Most people tend to look at the last five years of his full-time career, running from 1999 to 2003, as his apex. A time period filled with headlines at Wrestlemania, where a four-way, a match against Hogan, and a trilogy against Austin capped the most successful period of his career, the Rock helped brand WWE as the premiere wrestling company of all-time. The Rock was more bankable than wrestlers often considered more talented - Shawn Michaels never drew the sort of crowds the Rock could draw, and Hogan was not able to capitalize on higher-priced tickets in the way the Rock did. And never forget, the Rock and Cena were able to put together the most profitable wrestling shows in history in their duology that also, for some reason, featured the Miz.

The talent of the Rock was innate and raw from the get-go. His charisma and his look were undeniable, but it took the assistance of an all-star roster to overcome the bad booking that easily turned crowds against a young Rocky Maivia. Sitting in sessions with talent like Steve Austin and Vince McMahon helped the Rock craft and hone his unforgettable style of promo. The Rock relished in subverting the cartoonish style of Hogan's bygone era, utilizing overselling and goofy larger-than-life power moves to capture fan attention with his tongue-in-cheek antics that, when necessary, could be turned on their heads to create great intensity and high-caliber drama in the right places and at the right times. The Rock knew his audience, and more importantly, he knew the men across the mic from him - the Rock could churn out chemistry with nearly anyone, and thanks to the murderer's row of talent at the turn of the millennium, the Rock never had a dance partner he couldn't lift to the challenge.

It's important to note that every talented wrestler has dabbled in the entertainment industry, but only the Rock was able to pioneer a successful path for future talent to emulate. Without the Rock, Batista and Cena wouldn't have a surefire road to success. Even Hogan couldn't translate from in-ring godhood to box office glory. That's because the Rock has a keen self-awareness of his talents and his shortcomings. This self-awareness is exactly what the Rock used to capitalize on his talents in wrestling, taking a genre that had some of the worst writing and plot pitching of its time and pushing that aside. The Rock could take a terribel unscripted concept and turn it on its head with well-placed, tested and practiced formulaic promos, knowing where to change a word or how to find a perfectly timed insult. His ability to act always relied on his own personality shining through his character, and that's exactly what has led to the Rock becoming one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.

It's easy to dismiss the Rock's Hollywood success as separate from his in-ring career, but that celebrity status derives its origin from the Rock's wrestling talent - more specifically his ability to be the very best of the sports entertainment style. Steve Austin was still a wrestler at his heart, regardless of what tales were spun around him, but the Rock was groomed from the very start in the WWF style of sports entertainment, and he was able to flourish and thrive, driving WWE to its greatest peak alongside Austin. The two were the ultimate dance partners, the greatest and pulling the best from each other, on and off camera. Without them, the industry suffered a slow decline. Truly, it's clear that the Rock was the truest draw, thanks to his brief return against Cena in a high-profile year-long feud.

It's easy to forget that wrestling has objective metrics. Money is undeniable. It represents the only true sign of success in this industry. And while artistically the Rock lacks the attention to detail or the emotional resonance of the apex of the wrestling crop, he was able to become the most thoroughly successful wrestler ever by knowing how to cater to a large-scale audience, ravenous for his every word, every eyebrow quirk. And while we can spend years arguing Okada or Tanahashi, neither man has ever proven themselves as truly household a name as the Rock. Hell, who is Hulk Hogan in comparison to the Rock? A second-rate also-ran. A rudypoo candy-ass. The Rock truly, truly is the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.

https://www.facebook.com/NewAttitudeAggression/videos/454443221587419; The Rock vs. Triple H, Iron Man (May 21, 2000)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vqnqh; The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (April 1, 2001)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz5oko; The Rock vs. Chris Jericho (October 21, 2001)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7laqzs; The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan (March 17, 2002)

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"Hope is allowed to be stupid, unwise, and naive." ~Sir Chris