Pros and Cons of The Rock Being WWE Champion

By Park Henson

For 434 days, CM Punk held the WWE Championship in what has become the greatest title reign in 25 years. I was looking forward to his 500th day as WWE Champion, but sadly that idea came crashing down at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The main event match of the Royal Rumble was “WWE Champion CM Punk vs. The Rock” in what turned out to be a fantastic main event. CM Punk had gotten the three count to defeat The Rock after an attack from someone “unknown” (The Shield). As Punk celebrated his victory, “Cult of Personality” stopped playing. Then, “No Chance in Hell” hit, and out came the Chairman, Mr. McMahon. Long story short, the match ended up being restarted by Vince, and The Rock pinned CM Punk in what seemed like a split second, becoming the new WWE Champion. So with that being said, let’s get down to it: the Pros, and the Cons.

Pros: WWE has been in the slump when it comes to viewer ratings as of late, and with The Rock as WWE Champion, viewer ratings will definitely be up. Champion or not, The Rock brings in more viewers. Not only does he get more wrestling fans to watch RAW, he also attracts other viewers who otherwise would not watch wrestling. Simply put, The Rock is a ”viewer magnet” as well as a public icon. The Rock has been in many movies, TV shows, even Super Bowl commercials. “Dwayne Johnson” is a household name. He also is an energetic and, yes, “electrifying” WWE Champion. Not a boring champion such as when the Big Show is champion. If Rocky is on RAW, he will get the loudest pop of the night, hands down.

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Cons: While many fans say that The Rock is a good choice to put the belt on, there are also those fans, (including myself), who don’t think Rock is a good choice for WWE’s top prize. I’ll start with my opinions. First, I don’t think The Rock deserves the championship. He has been on RAW maybe 6 times since July of last year, and he wins the title? To me, that is robbing the title from a superstar who works day in and day out, working hard so that they can be in the spotlight, so they can lead the company as its top superstar. Rock being on RAW takes up a spot that could be used to promote other wrestlers such as Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, and Bo Dallas. Another problem I have with The Rock being champion is the fact that he is a part time wrestler. This past Monday night, RAW was live from Atlanta, Georgia, and I was in attendance at Philips Arena for it. In my opinion, the show was great, one of the best RAW’s in a while. Great matches, the return of Mark Henry, and CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho 2.0 in a rematch from WrestleMania 28. There was only one problem, there was no WWE Champion. Two weeks after winning the title, The Rock became what I like to call, a “No-Show Champion”. Former WWE Champion CM Punk was left to continue the feud solo. While he delivered an excellent promo, it still could have been better had the man who robbed him of the title had been there with him face to face. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section!