Bringing Back The Authority so Soon Hurts the Significance of Survivor Series

On the final WWE Raw of 2014, The Authority returned, erasing the importance of Team Cena's win at Survivor Series.

What the company billed as the biggest match in Survivor Series history didn't oust the corporate tyrants in power; it merely put them on a brief hiatus. Suddenly, Big Show's desperation-fueled betrayal, Dolph Ziggler's heroic comeback and Sting's arrival feel far less meaningful.

It now all feels like a fever dream. 

Before Stephanie McMahon and Triple H sauntered back into the spotlight, the fans inside Washington, D.C.'s Verizon Arena witnessed an edition of Raw that continually gained momentum in its first two hours.

Brock Lesnar intimidated Edge and Christian in a segment that blended humor and intensity perfectly. Ziggler and Rusev put on a good match, with neither champion looking weaker, thanks to the disqualification result. The Usos won back the tag titles in the best bout of the night.

Then, a hostage negotiation capped off the night.

Big Show held Edge's head over the Money in the Bank briefcase. Seth Rollins held his boot above the retired Hall of Famer's face and threatened to paralyze him. John Cena could prevent all of this by agreeing to bring The Authority back into power.

He hesitated but eventually relented, mumbling, "I bring back The Authority" into the microphone.

And with that, The Authority returned from an exile that lasted barely more than a month. The stakes WWE created at Survivor Series are now trivial. A story that had already reached its climax begins again.

Imagine if Shawn Michaels had come back from retirement just 30 days after Undertaker defeated him at WrestleMania XXVI. What if The Alliance hadn't gone away after Survivor Series 2001, instead re-forming at the end of the year?

Either move would have created the same stomach-punch sensation fans experienced as Raw ended. This quick turnaround leaves fans feeling foolish for having invested in the first place.

If they knew Ziggler overcoming 3-1 odds or Sting interfering would only keep McMahon and Triple H away for a month, it wouldn't have been nearly as compelling a match. The audience expected that result to have long-lasting effects.

That's a huge part of what made it a Match of the Year candidate.

In an interview on Monday night, Ziggler summed up the situation best. He told Eden, "It feels like everything that happened at Survivor Series, everything several Superstars went through for months, some of us years, put our jobs on the line. And for what?"

"For what?" is right.

Bringing back The Authority is not inherently a bad idea. It is just too early to do so. WWE hurried things along here, just as it did in 2010.

At Survivor Series of that year, Cena lost his job. The stipulation of the main event—which Cena served as referee for—was that if Wade Barrett didn't win the WWE title, Cena would be fired. Barrett didn't win, and so Cena had to leave the company.

He was back, though, just a few weeks later. On Dec. 13, Barrett reinstated Cena.

Here, WWE showed its impatience again. It leans on the narrative crutch that is a heel authority figure not even a full two months after breaking free from it. 

With McMahon and Triple H back on top, 2015 is going to feel a lot like 2014. 

Jeff Laboon of WWE.com listed The Authority losing power as the No. 3 biggest way 2014 changed WWE forever. By forever, it looks as if he meant 30-plus days.