CM Punk says The Rock in WWE hurts morale, wishes Rock would have said hello to him

by Geno Mrosko on Nov 21, 2011 8:00 PM EST in WWE

Look at him up there on his perch, too Hollywood to say hello to CM Punk. Photo via WWE.com.

Recently crowned WWE Champion CM Punk is unhappy with The Rock. "The Straight Edge Superstar" thinks "The Great One's" presence with the company, in the manner in which he goes about it, is bad for "morale."

Punk's subsequent complaint may be bad for his credibility.

Here's what "The Second City Savior" told the Daily News recently:

"He's not around. It doesn't help morale when the guy goes right from his limo to the dressing room to the dressing room to the ring. He's very bourgeois Hollywood. He came back, he did WWE Raw after that. He said he was never gonna leave. And the next time we saw him is a month later. Yeah, it does bother me. A little hello would have been nice. He could have run by with his own entourage."

While Punk's complaint is certainly understandable, the manner in which he's gone about it is baffling and, dare I say, a little too high school. I mean, come on. "A little hello would have been nice."

Really?

Punk was as over at Madison Square Garden last night (Nov. 20) at Survivor Series as he has been anywhere outside of Chicago but he's nowhere near Rock. It's not even close. I don't say that to dismiss his complaints outright. Certainly not. Just that he, as well as the rest of the roster, has to understand the situation being what it is.

Is Rock bad for morale? Maybe. Hell, he probably is. But you know what he's really good for?

Wallets.

As much as Punk has done for WWE this year, it doesn't even come close to what Rock has done. In fact, with his returning at Survivor Series for an actual match, Rock may have surpassed Punk in every way imaginable this year, despite how hot Punk was over the summer.

That has to hurt. And it clearly does. But complaining because Rock didn't stop to make sure he said hello to you in the hallway?

Really? That's a bad look for the guy that carries around pipe bombs.

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Comments

Ah, and all those wallets will never get bigger because WWe won’t build their guys up right. If they would then it would mean more money all the way around. In fact, it might be hypocritical of WWe to use Rock.. who got big only because of his mic work.. a mic that wouldn’t work in the PG era.. so they guys now don’t even get the same chances to get big. So, then they have to listen to Rock come out.. and the sheople who shower Rock with love only do it because of the old days. Of course so much time is given to Rock & to who’s expense.. Miz, Truth and even Cena.. to make some money in the short term you crush your future.. but that’s always been WWe’s model. The talent today is handcuffed not just by PG era crap.. cuz look at the 80’s.. they had PG.. but Hogan/Savage/Roberts and many others could cut promos.. its the writers & bookers. Oh well.. After mania what other 90’s guy will they pull out & dust off just to sell tickets & cut a promo for the sheople who don’t demand better.

by Rawuncutnxrated on Nov 21, 2011 8:11 PM EST reply actions

its all because of this stupid fear

wwe has to push heels nowadays, take last nights punk vs del rio match as en example, del rio was booked like shit, a weak champion, they got rid of all the heat he had a few months ago with the shity booking they gave him in the last months, punk goes and takes the belt from him.

Voila, you have all your punk marks happy and faping because punk is champion again, me personally as a punk fan, i hated it, i hated the bookin, i hated the randomness, the fact that punk got just a prop and not a title, because that thing was worth nothing, when the babyface takes the belt from a mediocre non credible heel champion that thing means nothing period.

They refuse to create new talents, they know the formula, you push a heel to the moon, you make him champion for a few months, then you have your babyface go against the odds and beat him, but no, they refuse to book heels the right way, xcept from mark henry, every heel in that roster is pretty much a buffoon.

They bring back the rock and there are guys saying, Rock is awesome !! rock is a better performer and mic guy than the whole roster,!! and its probably true, but a lot of that is simply because wwe has neglected to make new talents.

by chaggo on Nov 21, 2011 9:33 PM EST up reply actions

Rock is great for business

But what happens when he leaves? Then what? WWE will get the PPV spike they wanted, wrestling will be cool again, then Rock will go back to Tinseltown and they’re right back where they started.

It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.

by Jesse Holland on Nov 21, 2011 8:24 PM EST reply actions

Grown men complaining about not getting a 'hi'.

Really? (Crowd: Really!)

Really…

When has morale ever been high in a pro wrestling locker room? Think about that for a moment. Prima Donna’s the whole lot of em, so they get no sympathy from me if they don’t get to hang out with an Hollywood star (who, by the way, can take 7 years of, and still come back and kill it in ring and mic work).

Bad for morale…pfft.

Man, please.

Hey, I'll take it from here because you obviously don't know what you're doing... Lie down now, rest, and we'll talk about this when you regain your senses. --The Knockout Mechanism.

by battlestar on Nov 21, 2011 8:30 PM EST reply actions

Exactly.

Rock leaves for 7 years and comes back and he’s still the best promo and the best athlete on the entire roster. He may even be the best wrestler. Only Dolph Ziggler could match him last night.

All that and Punk is upset about morale and not getting a hello in the hallway?

GTFO.

Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.

by Geno Mrosko on Nov 21, 2011 8:32 PM EST up reply actions

Bunch of Rocky marks

It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.

by Jesse Holland on Nov 21, 2011 8:33 PM EST up reply actions

The Rock is great and all; but come on, man.

Also, I don’t see how CM Punk is in the wrong here at all. It doesn’t come off as whiny, just Punk telling it how it is. The Rock doesn’t interact with the roster to the point where he doesn’t even pop in for a hello. Probably true! I’m not saying he needs to do that, but it’s perfectly okay for an everyday main event wrestler to address his problems with it.

by Jon Knapik on Nov 21, 2011 8:43 PM EST up reply actions

He has a point but

He is going the wrong way about it. Punk should have taken this to Rock personally. Or at least Vince.

It may suck that you see WWE having to resort to their past star to be used as a huge main event at WM and be pretty much the main focus (along with Cena) for the WWE. But don’t bitch about it to a newspaper journalist >_<

@Mrosko Rock is one of the best workers, not wrestler. That said he was a good wrestler. But In terms of working the crowd and getting you invested in the match though he has very few that could match him.

by TheMysticalNinja on Nov 21, 2011 8:51 PM EST up reply actions

There is every chance in the world that CM Punk has, in fact, said something backstage to people that are supposed to listen to this sort of thing. Punk’s thing is saying publicly what he feels, and he’s doing it here. Also, he could just be talking in character.

This may be newsworthy, but it’s not something to roast Punk over.

by Jon Knapik on Nov 21, 2011 9:00 PM EST up reply actions

I did think he could be "In character"

Still part of me thinks it isn’t. Ah well we’ll see if there is any fallout or it blows over.

by TheMysticalNinja on Nov 21, 2011 9:08 PM EST up reply actions

@Mrosko Rock is one of the best workers, not wrestler.

Agreed, I still remember that RAW match against Guerrero in which Eddie completely outclassed him (only to lose via people’s elbow… stupid booking sigh)

by ihatepressingf5 on Nov 24, 2011 10:53 AM EST up reply actions

Valid complaints, but they were expressed with a high school attitude

The only reason The Rock is back is because years of back decisions forced Vinny Mac’s hand into giving Rock a deal he couldn’t refuse. It’s nice for a handful of PPVs and RAWs, but longterm it only helps further show how bad the state of the WWE is.

It had a guy who was pushing merchandise on the same level as “Austin 3:16” at one point and managed to kill all of his heat. How is The Rock going to help that long term?

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by Jonathan Loesche on Nov 21, 2011 8:42 PM EST reply actions

Is it even possible that The Rock doesn’t go over every time he wrestles?

by Jon Knapik on Nov 21, 2011 8:44 PM EST up reply actions

Seriously???? Rock was the go-to guy to put over a new star. Jericho, Benoit, Goldberg, Lesnar, Kurt Angle, even Mick Foley won his titles off the Rock so don’t tell me Rock doesn’t job. Rock is the only one from the ‘attitude era’ that didn’t play politics so he wouldn’t ‘lose.’ When the time comes the Rock will put someone over like he ALWAYS has.

Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...

by Major on Nov 21, 2011 9:31 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs

If my wording made it sound like I was referencing the Attitude era at all, I think I chose my words poorly. That’s neat he put people over 10 years ago.

Also, I was asking a question, not stating a fact. I’m actually interested to see what people think about him going over upon his return.

by Jon Knapik on Nov 21, 2011 11:41 PM EST up reply actions

I don't get why

People would bash Rock for coming back when the majority was pleading him to come back in the first place…

In addition, guys like Cena, Orton, and apparently Punk, cannot blame Rock for having this kind of spotlight on him since he did not really ask WWE to bring him back. It was Vince who did everything to bring Rock back into the WWE.

It is not Rock’s fault if the so-called morale in the locker room is bad because I think it’s already like that when he got back, and MAYBE Rock did act all Hollywood on them, but can you really blame him? He came back to help boost ratings and revenue, only to get bashed by the “top players” who are too afraid to get out shined by the Rock’s popularity.

For Punk’s sake, I hope he was in character when he did this interview because like it or not, you know Vince will not be happy happy about it.

by Man from Manila on Nov 21, 2011 9:04 PM EST reply actions

First off, I'm a huge Rock mark

But, I know that if I was in Punk’s shoes, I would probably feel the same way. Punk is actually here til after Wrestlemania unlike the guy everybody thinks will save WWE despite wrestling in 2 matches.

You don’t have to be a genius to know Hollywood can swell your head. This is probably Punk speaking for essentially every wrestler not named Cena. I mean come on, I can guarantee that everyone criticizing Punk would be just as annoyed if you won the WWE title, yet some actor returned to the ring nearly 10 years after being a legitimate week to week wrestler, and was main eventing instead of you.

by KidGre on Nov 21, 2011 9:46 PM EST via mobile reply actions

I find it interesting that Punk made these comments

On the day of the infamous promo Punk said Rock was one of the first to text, along with Foley, Austin and Cabana, congratulating him. Then I recall the Rock tweeting about how it was Punk’s time and to enjoy his run. I think these comments are WORKED.

Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...

by Major on Nov 21, 2011 9:48 PM EST reply actions

Something I’ve noticed over the past month or so is that the writers at this blog are eternally cynical about everything, except The Rock and all of WWE’s top heels. One even wrote an article about being tired of Punk and solely citing the fact that he can’t spend all his days responding to idiot marks and ‘intelligent level headed wrestling fans’ on twitter. Is there anything more juvenile than that type of attitude? Talking about a workers affect on morale isn’t ‘high school’ just because the opinion isn’t one you share. I guess what I’m trying to say is stop being neckbeards or fanboys, it’s making your mascara run. :)

by HouseRN on Nov 21, 2011 11:30 PM EST reply actions

I definitley see what he means

Take Survivor Series for example. The championship matches played second-fiddle to the Rock-Cena/Miz-Truth match. The WWE crowned a new champion, and that wasn’t the main marquee. Same thing with Wrestlemania- the championship match(es) will play second fiddle to the Rock-Cena match.

Regardless of who it is that is coming back, the Rock or the Bushwackers, I definitley can see how one might become a little peeved after you spent plenty of time working your butt off, and when it’s supposed to be your turn to shine, you get overshadowed.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

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by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Nov 22, 2011 12:42 AM EST reply actions