OK first off quit Kissing the rocks ass he's not reading these forums. The rock is one man and though what he did was impressive for the buisness he's isn't the end all be all that created a global phenomenon. If the rock hadn't come along it would have still happened.
CM Punk has recently become huge and he's done so in a way similar to the rock. He wasn't created much like the Rock wasnt. In this day that's something.
Now if I'd been at a job lets' say a fucking McDonalds and I'd been working their for 5 years and I became a manager only to have someone that hadn't worked their in 7 years come back and take my place without so much as a hi nice to meet ya i'd be urked too. Simplistic example yes but same principal. Both men are in the wrong punk talking out of turn and the rock acting like hes god gift to the earth.
I'm not a Punk mark either but in this instance he's got some credibility.
Rock is the most transcendent star in the history of the business. Not Hogan, Austin, or anyone else. You think some one would magically have come along and made the impact in the entertainment world that he did even tough every other wrestler including Hogan and Austin failed?
Punk is big not huge. There in lies the difference. Rock was huge. Cena is huge. Batista and Edge were huge. Punk had countless runs, countless time, countless stables, and such invested in him. He even had the benefit of a diluted roster yet it took Cena campaigning to get him an angle and shot to get over after years of wasted investment by WWE with no real payoff. Rock clicked far faster as the guy.
He was the one who got WWe films off the ground by starring in their first 3 coproduced films. He was the guy selling out arenas around the globe and working nightly while Austin sat. He was the guy you saw on MTV music videos, SNL, Leno, Letterman, That 70s Show, and every big media outlet. He is the one professional wrestler in the world who took the stigma and shit on it to be taken seriously in the entertainment industry and gross billions in revenue. He has always drawn. smack down was named by the guy.
At some point you have to respect him if you are in that locker room. That is just how sports works in general. You respect the past greats who have set records and accomplished a lot for the team or company before you. The vets don't go out their way and say hey kid, how you are doing, I'm so and so. You are supposed to do it any locker room when you are the youngster or they return just for a visit. That is about respect. Rock has earned the respect of millions around the world and those in the industry before him because he helped define it and sell it. Punk hasn't come close to doing a tenth of what he did, so he should not expect a handshake or greeting because he is CM Punk, says what he wants, and recently became the flavor of the season after years of not mattering, drawing, or building the brand. That just isn't how it works in sports and locker rooms.
Tex Winters in Sacred Hoops called kids who didn't understand that locker room etiquette fools who are damned to be so wrapped up I themselves that they never see the big picture or pan out completely. There is a reason he was kicked out of TNA early on, had heat in OVW, and basically was a jobber to the stars for years ... His ego tends to need checking at the door, that is until Cena backed him getting this push he has gotten which gives him rope to play with and hang himself.
