Was the Rock the least selfish "top guy" in WWE history?

[corndog]

Jun 30, 2018 0:56:07 GMT -5 robferatu said:

Jun 27, 2018 12:51:20 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

Nope. He had creative control in his contract and his refusal was that he didn't want to lose in Canada, as was his right in his contract. He'd put Shawn over before and he would have done it again. The issue was Vince fearing Bret would take the title to WCW, based on nothing, and notorious shit-stirrers Shawn and Triple H getting his ear. Vince is in the wrong, not Bret. Bret's entire career was making others look good and being a professional. 

I give Hart a pass on the whole Montreal thing if only because it's been reported so many times Dave Meltzer, Bruce Prichard and etc. that he initially said he'd put Michaels over, only for Shawn to retort with "Thank you, Bret! But I can't say I'd do the same to you."

That in my opinion, gave Bret Hart every justifiable reason not to want to put over the Heartbreak Kid.

However, what sours me on Hart being the least selfish guy is the numerous reports about his constant need to look strong and beat everyone when he was champion. Kevin Nash has the infamous comment about his and Hart's "Steel Cage" Match at In Your House, where to add a little something extra to his and the Undertaker's match at "Wrestlemania" they wanted to make it appear like Diesel was on the verge of winning the championship after hitting the Hitman with a power bomb, and then do the Undertaker coming thru the ring spot.

Also, on an episode of "Something to Wrestle," Prichard touched on how adamant about how Bret was about going over and beating everyone.

Personally, considering the latter years, I'd have to the nod to John Cena as the most unselfish "top guy," his role in recent years has more of less been to put over other guys, from AJ Styles to Kevin Steen, and even during his reigns of terror he did put over the likes of Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton, Edge and Daniel Bryan.

So, while he may have held a few talents down, he's seemingly willingly put over more than he hasn't.

Cena is definitely a solid choice, although he still seems to have the Rock's power to bury people on the mic and even no-sell losses at times. But still better than most and I agree completely about Hart.

On the Shawn vs Bret DVD, Michaels explains his reasoning behind the quote was basically he always put Bret over earlier in his career when Shawn was starting to establish himself as a singles competitor, that he put Bret over enough times in the past, he really didn't owe him anymore. It also bothered Shawn that Bret was somewhat unwilling to truly pass the torch at that point in his career. Not completely justifying what Shawn did, he was a pilled out diva at this point, but the more you hear about Bret, especially from the bookers at the time, he wasn't easy to work with either.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Jun 29, 2018 13:07:10 GMT -5 Ben Wyatt said:

Jun 29, 2018 2:49:25 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

This is actually a really good point.

Sometimes, even if he'd lose the match he'd make them look like shit in promos.

I know it's popular, but the "God spoke to Billy'" promo followed by The Rock beating him at Summerslam with relative ease straight murdered any shot Billy Gunn had at being a credible main event/upper midcard guy.  

I know it's easy to say in hindsight "Well, it's Billy Gunn and he was never gonna be that guy", but the point is that they had him win KOTR and  had some kind of plan for him. His feud with the Rock killed it dead instantly 

I have to admit, I love this promo and the Royal Rumble 2000 one about Crash and Mosh, but they are absolute burials.

Jun 30, 2018 3:51:04 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

Thinking about it, would any other top guys other than Orton have jobbed clean for the WWE title, more than once, to Miz and Jinder Mahal, largely seen as jokes?

I actually think The Rock would have done that too; Cena I think would be willing but the office just wouldn't ask him to, same for Roman. Hogan might consider a dirty loss if he got the strap back soon after, especially to Jinder. Bruno presumably not, but I don't know how he was for jobbing to people. Backlund would probably have done it. Austin wouldn't, Hart wouldn't, Shawn wouldn't.