Stock for stock…I’d take you on that bet. The rotors in the rotary “spin” 1/3rd the RPM of the actual eccentric and induce less wear than compared to a piston with side loading. On top of that the lack of all the moving parts in a valve train is less to worry about. Given proper fuel and oil in such a test you’d likely be very surprised. Since such a test will never happen, you and I wil never exchange monies on such a bet :tongue
Rotaries fail because of asshats pushing them way beyond their design limits(ones that are VERY tough to make better), or subjected tuning for that matter.
The only true thing that completely blows about a rotary is it’s fuel consumption. That’s pretty much it.