Suppose WWE did get rid of "authority figures"

[Guest Redhawk]

After the Evil Genius Mr. McMahon stuff had run its course, I always thought WWE should have killed the concept of owners/commissioners/GMs/Chief Morleys/etc. as on-air characters.

 

But suppose they did. No Stephanie. No Bischoff. No Commish or Chief Morley. Do they even know how to fill 2 hours of TV without all the "owner" segments? Do they know how to build up a heel wrestler without giving him the Evil Owner Endorsement? Do they know how to let wrestlers, announcers, and managers do the talking necessary to sell a feud?

 

Somehow I doubt it.

[Guest AndrewTS]

Vince has run out of new ideas, so he rehashes old ones.

 

Wait and see when Nathan Jones gets his huge monster Goldbergian push, although as a heel likely, and see what I mean.

 

Also, Vince thinks these figureheads are entertaining.

 

And he thinks fans give a shit about things like "contract signings."

[Guest Super Pissed Smark]

Double length of all Triple-H promos.

Bring back Steph as non-authority figure who just happens to talk a lot.

Entire segments devoted to Triple-H music videos.

HBK bible study hour.

Hot lesbian action, but without any actual action. Over and over again.

Jericho jobs twice a night.

 

Actually, pretty much what they're doing now. But without Bischoff.

[Guest Repo Man jr]

I guess the McMahon's think that cus they played a role in the Austin/Rock years that they/or people playing the same type role = good shows.

[Guest jester]

Here's how they could fill the time.

 

Quickie, pre-taped promos by wrestlers. That would help the ones that don't have great mic skills since they wouldn't have to improv in front of an audience. Also, it wouldn't mean we'd have to listen to someone's theme music every time they wanted to declare their intention to kick someone's ass.

 

Show retro footage, maybe even a classic match from yesteryear. Or the edited highlights.

 

Do more promos introducing upcoming wrestlers, like they did with Rey.

 

Uh, I dunno, how about some more wrestling matches, or longer ones for the people who can actually work?

 

More prematch/post match interviews. And I mean INTERVIEWS, not Terri-gets-halfway-through-one-question-then-wrestler-starts-ranting.

 

Or they could show dead air, just as long as it would spare us more of the Hunter/HBK lovefest.

[Guest DJ Jeff]

Somehow I don't think the WWE will drop the idea of the GMs, Owners, Commissioners, etc. being on TV. If they did, it would probably result in longer matches, which would be a good thing.

[Guest Redhawk]

Quickie, pre-taped promos by wrestlers. That would help the ones that don't have great mic skills since they wouldn't have to improv in front of an audience. Also, it wouldn't mean we'd have to listen to someone's theme music every time they wanted to declare their intention to kick someone's ass.

 

I like that idea. Kind of like that thing WCW did in it's last days, when the guy was talking to some anonymous person off-camera. But better.

 

Show retro footage, maybe even a classic match from yesteryear. Or the edited highlights.

 

Good idea, but that might make people realize how crappy they shit they're paing $40 to watch is.

 

Do more promos introducing upcoming wrestlers, like they did with Rey.

 

The problem with the intro pomos is that they work very well for some guys (Angle, Rey, Randy Orton version 2) but fails miserably for some and kills their heat right out of the gate (Real Man Steven Regal). Steiner's promos sucked ass (First line, keeping in mind that some WWE fans have no idea who he is: "I'M DA BIG BAD BOOTY DADDY!"), but at least he's over enough already to get past it.

 

Uh, I dunno, how about some more wrestling matches, or longer ones for the people who can actually work?

 

I know we all want this, but in actuality, wouldn't it lead to more injuries? Or more guys getting burned out like Jeff Hardy?

 

More prematch/post match interviews. And I mean INTERVIEWS, not Terri-gets-halfway-through-one-question-then-wrestler-starts-ranting.

 

Oh, you know you loved those:

Okerlund: Hulk Hogan, you have a match upcoming...

Hogan: WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING MEAN GENE!

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

Maybe Hurricane might get a match on Raw...

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

The Authority Figure is a quick fix, an easy way to explain away weird booking, dumb choices, granting of title shots, if a wrestler is heel or face or not...

 

Basically, it's the key to lazy writing, and with only 4 shows to build to each PPV, it's how the creative staff members are keeping themselves from working too hard.

 

If we scrapped them, the writers would at least be forced to conjure original angles and ways of storytelling...but obviously, that's not the answer.

[Guest jester]

I like that idea. Kind of like that thing WCW did in it's last days, when the guy was talking to some anonymous person off-camera. But better.

 

They used to do it a lot on the old Saturday morning show (can't remember the name...Superstars?). I remember one about the time that No Holds Barred came out. Curt Henning just said this "I saw your movie Hogan, and it's good. It's very, very good. But not *perfect* [shit eating grin]." They need to do more stuf like that.

 

 

Oh, you know you loved those:

Okerlund: Hulk Hogan, you have a match upcoming...

Hogan: WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING MEAN GENE!

 

Seriously, watch ANY WWE show now with a backstage segment. See if any interviewer, Coach, Funaki, Terri, ever manages to finish a question. It rarely happens.

 

Coach: Excuse me Brock Lesnar. In your match with the Undertaker-

Heyman: What did you say? How dare you blah blah blah

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

The WWF likes to be the wild west of wrestling: "Anything can Happen" and all that bullshit.

 

A governing body is fine, because sometimes you need to progress a plot by using em, but it has come to the point to where it has become a cliche to have "in this very ring tonight" and the "evil owner".

[Guest AndrewTS]

I miss the WCW Executive Committee.

 

You never saw them, and occasionally JJ Dillon would come out and announcer their decision on something or whatever. That was it. No bullshit, no commish, no GM, no chief of staff, no owner...

 

Oh, and Gorilla Monsoon was fine as President of WWF. Other than that, all of the authority figures have been really grating, repetitive, and boring.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

NO authority figures?

 

Oh please. You guys, there's always been a JJ Dillon or Jack Tunney somewhere.

[Guest Fook_Hing_Ho]

yeah, but they only came out for special announcements once every few months instead of appearing in 25 segments per show

[Guest JMTapes]

Quickie, pre-taped promos by wrestlers. That would help the ones that don't have great mic skills since they wouldn't have to improv in front of an audience. Also, it wouldn't mean we'd have to listen to someone's theme music every time they wanted to declare their intention to kick someone's ass.

 

hell hell HELL YES!

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Yeah, I'll second that promo thing. Was watching a Sherri-era Shawn match where his entrance was splitscreened with a pre-taped promo pissing on Bret.

 

That works so much better than having both a promo segment AND a match. HHH take notice.

[Guest Michael Joel Benoit]

I miss the WCW Executive Committee.

 

You never saw them, and occasionally JJ Dillon would come out and announcer their decision on something or whatever.

J.J. Dillion was fine. He played into the storylines well and he didn't take alot of T.V. time. I especially liked his segments with Chris Jericho during his cruiserweight title reign.

 

Oh, and Gorilla Monsoon was fine as President of WWF.

 

His reign was alright, but it wasn't memorable. I still forget from time to time that he was WWF President.

 

Other than that, all of the authority figures have been really grating, repetitive, and boring.

 

You sure of that? You didn't find Commissioner Mick Foley's memorable skits with Edge, Christian, and Kurt Angle (and Rock and Triple H too sometimes) entertaining and laugh out loud funny? That was one of my favorite reasons to watch RAW and SmackDown! back in 2000.

 

What about Commissioner Regal? He and Tajiri had a few funny segments with Stone Cold.

 

I also thought Shawn Michaels was an okay commissioner once he turned face again because he only show up once every few months. And everytime he showed up, you knew it was a very special annoucement.

 

But Mick was my favorite authority figure. Everytime, from his "That's final!" catchphrase with the gavel. To him being in a weird office every week. To the skits with Edge, Christian, and Kurt Angle bascially screwing them at every turn. To the cheap pops. He played an important part in the storylines, but was entertaining at the same time.

 

That was a great time period.

 

Damn, I miss the old head writers.