People the Feel Austin was the Bigger Star

Nobody was touching Austin from his rise in 1997 to WM 14 until late '99. In merchandise, interest, pops, etc. He outsold Hogan, he was the focal point of the most important and game-changing rivalry in the entire industry, he was THE MAN for the WWE during that run.

Rock was there, and Rock was absolutely a top star, think "1-a"...but he didn't really start to become the bigger star until later in 99 into 2000 when he became a babyface again, and had multiple world title wins. That and Austin was kind of on a different direction, heading to the eventual heel turn...etc.

Thing is, during Rock's popularity, Austin was almost always there....and still viewed as the "top" guy. HHH, Angle were there too. You could say those 4 guys kind of ran the early 00's. But the thing that Austin will always win out on is his 2+ year rise to the top is unmatched in terms of immediate popularity, pop culture "acceptance" (Austin made it cool to wear wrestling shirts) and being the focal point of the biggest boom period wrestling had seen since Hogan's time and even bigger in terms of money and attendance

While I wasn’t a big AE fan Austin was the bigger star. Rock is the bigger star now because of his movie career, but I never considered Rock as “the guy” during his wrestling career.

Will you stop! I'll have you taken out of here.

Ahhhh kids... they say the darndest things!

Roman Reigns' only weak spot is the solar plexus.

From a main event stand point, The Rock isn't near the level of Austin. Consider these numbers:

Between December 98-March 99 The Rock held the title for 98 days with two short Mankind victory squeezed in. In that time frame the WWF had 4 Pay Per Views where The Rock was either the Champion or in the Title Match, he was in the Main event of none of them. The main event of Capital Carnage saw a four way match that didn't include The Rock (He defended the title against X-Pac), In You House Rock Bottom had the Buried Alive Match main event, the Royal Rumble was the main event of it's event with the main story being Austin-McMahon and it's interesting to note that the three previous years Royal Rumbles 96, 97, and 98 the title match went on last, and the final PPV before dropping the title to Austin at Mania saw Austin-McMahon in a cage match as the main event.

Between March 98-Oct 99 Steve Austin was in the main event in some capacity either be Royal Rumble or special referee on 20 PPVs out of 24 PPVs. That number 24 includes the Survivor Series 99 where they pulled him out, but he wasn't in the match so its not represented in the 20. In the same time frame The Rock was the main event of 6 times with Austin being involved in 3 of them and 1 of them is the Survivor Series 98 tournament which wasn't advertised as The Rock being in the main event.

With Austin on the shelf for a year The Rock and Triple H go back and forth between the Main Event spot. When Austin comes back his first PPV match isn't the main event. However one month later at Survivor Series 2000 Austin is back in the main event against Triple H while The Rock is mid carding against Rikishi. From December 2000-March 2003 The Rock was in 10 main events, with Austin being involved in 5 of those match.

So it is safe to say that barring injury if The Rock was in the main event, Austin was involved in some capacity and Austin was the guy while he was with WWF.

Is there evidence about Austin outsolding Hogan? He obviously made Vince a billionaire, but I'm not sure about beating Hogan. Okay maybe Austin did sell more shirts, and that's probably where he has the advantage. The way merch worked in the 80s compared to Attitude was different. For example a typical wrestler got paid 25% of licensed merch (Hogan probably had a different deal), and house shows were big in the 80s where alot of merch was sold, and you had to buy through a catalogue mail-in-order etc, while in Attitude, it went through the typical distribution cycle to retailers, so Austin would've made less this way, plus guarantees worked different (80s: $200 for tapings vs. a minimum sum payout in Attitude). So Hulk was making big on merch I'm sure and he obviously had more tenure in the WWF then Austin (as in-ring performers).

Sorry have to disagree Austin was bigger star man.

When Rock turned back babyface in April 99 he was CRAZY popular.....no doubt about it...but he was #2 to Austin. Rock obviously became the guy when Austin had to go out for 10 months to get his neck fixed. But he was back to 2nd fiddle when Austin returned....


There will likely NEVER be another like Austin.


Also NOBODY could take away from the Rock and how popular He was. I also think they were popular in different ways....the crowd used to be fevered for Austin's arrival..... it was different with Rock. He was crazy over too but in a different way.